Inde, les éléphants sacrés de Madurai, 1939
Oil on canvas, signed and dated lower right.
150 x 95 cm
Provenance :
Galerie Charles et André Bailly, Paris
Collection particulière, France
Galerie de Souzy, Paris
Collection particulière, France
Exposition :
André Maire, Galerie Bailly, Paris, novembre-décembre 1989.
Certificat of authenticity established by Marie-Laure Torrez.
Under the blazing light of southern India, André Maire captures the solemn bearing of the processional elephants of Madurai, draped in colors and guided by their mahouts. The vertical and monumental composition stages the tranquil power of the pachyderms advancing slowly at the foot of the great temples.
In the background rise the gopurams with their countless sculptures, the towering sanctuaries characteristic of Dravidian architecture, whose hieratic silhouettes converse with the massive presence of the animals. Maire’s art lies precisely in this balance: blending a precise observation of local traditions with a decorative stylization that lends the scene a timeless strength.
Painted in 1939, following the artist’s travels in Asia, this work reflects Maire’s fascination with the Orient and its rituals. More than a simple ethnographic scene, it expresses a quest for monumentality and the sacred, where the animal becomes a symbol and the landscape, a spiritual stage.