* ANDRE QUELLIER (FRENCH 1925 - 2010),
MAGPIE ON A MAIZE PLANT
oil on board, signed
120cm x 60cm
Framed.
Note: André Quellier began painting at the age of 11. He joined the National School of Fine Arts in 1941 and took classes in classical painting with Jean Dupas and Edmond Heuzé. During the Occupation and following years, he followed the work of choreographer Katherine Dunham, with whom he collaborated for the sets but also to make sketches of the dancers. Dunham recognized him to have captured the spirit of her ballets. He notably illustrated Dunham's book The Dances of Haiti and worked as an illustrator for several other publishing houses. In 1945 he received a prize from the Institute of the French Academy, and in 1955 won a prize from the Casa Velasquez. In 1961 Quellier produced a series of 104 paintings dedicated to the mime of Marcel Marceau. He also made portraits of several personalities from the arts: Brigitte Bardot, Gerard Philipe, Jean Cocteau (acquired in 1990 by the Los Angeles Museum) and Marcel Jouhandeau. Other notable portraits included Mother Teresa, John Paul II, the Dalai Lama and Felix Houphouet-Boigny. Throughout his life he exhibited in Paris and around France, notably at St Tropez and around the world including in New York, London, Moscow, Tokyo, Leningrad and Tehran. Quellier's work rarely appears at UK auctions but "Amorous Couple in a Garden with a Hoopoe" was sold by Christie's (London) lot 317 7th February 2012 for £5000 (premium) and "Flowers in a Glass Vase, in a Landscape" (lot 293) sold in the same sale for £3500 (premium).