24th Sept - 12th Oct
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I first met Jeanne Maze when I was a frequent visitor to Paul Maze’s studio between 1976 and 1978. I was doing research for my book Paul Maze, The Lost Impressionist and I often noticed with amusement how his young granddaughter would observe his every move, watching his long bony fingers running effortlessly over paper, covering the surface with delicate powdery pastel colours.
To us both, it appeared as a miraculous explosion of life and colours. Jeanne told me that her grandfather refused to teach her how to use his precious pastels. Instead, he exhorted her to compare all tones of colour and observe every detail, as well as the changes the light inflicted on them. She learnt that lesson well.
Brought up in London by Anglo French parents, she went straight from the French Lycée to the Byam Shaw Art School, London. She started her artistic career after her grandfather approved of the chinoiserie mural she painted secretly in her bedroom!
After a successful career as a chinoiserie muralist in England and the US, she embarked on a new adventure as a painter learning the art of gouache and oil painting.
She had many exhibitions in London and travelled to many countries for inspiration. She and her husband, Robert Churchill, departed for France with their two sons in 2006 to the family property and vineyards in Cognac which her mother had asked her to manage. In this exhibition you will witness the culmination of her work both as an accomplished artist and as an imaginative entrepreneur.
Jeanne uses the astonishing collection of pastels inherited from her grandfather who died in 1979. She had received these precious pastels neatly packed according to shades of colours in wooden trays, which stayed unopened until 2018. When Jeanne started working with this new medium, she concentrated on varied subjects such as still lives, flowers, landscapes, as well as trees and animals.
She has worked mostly on the vineyard theme over the past two years, but she told me that she intends to move on and has already started working on a series of abstract pastels. Of the use of pastels she says “Pastel colours encourage me to be bold and push me to achieve effects which I would probably not have done earlier in my career.”
In order to complete her collection of chalks Jeanne rekindled an old tradition of her grandfather’s which was a yearly visit to the Parisian niche boutique “La Maison du Pastel” - originally “Maison Henri Roché” started in 1720, the oldest manufacturer of pastels in the. world. Paul Maze was introduced to maison by his friend and mentor Édouard Vuillard
The lure of the vine came to Jeanne around 2022 when she started noticing the effects of seasons on the leaves and grapes while walking dutifully along the rows of grapes to observe the maturing and good health of each plant.
Of course, at the same time, she was drawn to the innumerable tonalities of the leaves, the ripening of the grapes and the gentle changes which would pop up each day, her grandfather’s words ringing in her ears: Observe details! The body of work chosen for this exhibition shows how confident Jeanne Maze has become as a pastel painter.
Her hand is so assured, each detail so pertinent. The overall effect of each work leaves us breathless as the surface exudes the scent of the vine. Every inch of pastel reminds us of nature’s lushness and ability to renew itself.
These powerful and very accomplished pastels are a testament to a miracle of nature shown through colourful lenses and a dexterous hand with which she manages to express the varying lights and changing atmospheres of each season. Jeanne was probably originally influenced by her grandfather, but she has managed to create her own stamp with the use of much bolder colours and more adventurous subjects.
Anne Singer
Editor and Author, 2024
