Ultra Modern Abstract art

Maximillien de la Fayette

In 1973, Dr. John Chen wrote about Maximillien de Lafayette: “He took his colors from unspoiled nature, forgotten places and temples, folkloric tales, mystical metaphysical dimensions, and from within…up to a certain level. Because, in his black and white series, the student and connoisseur of abstract art would easily recognize the paramount influence of Italian Ultra Modern Abstract art, the Romana geometrical school and in many instances, the progressive New York school of Minimalism. 


The Black and White ensemble and composition were influenced by the “Mystique” and “Spiritualism”, as well as by the contemporary style of Italian architecture and “industrialism” of the post Cubism era. His teacher Gino Severini was his major and original source of influence that defined forever the style, concept and message of his Neo Cubism and Progressive Cubism “genre”.

Maximillien’s vivid and vibrant colors reflect his intense way of life, quest for the unconventional and love for adventure and the risqué.

Whether he paints in black and white or in colors, his message is clear; The Form, the Composition and the equilibrium of a projected idea or a feeling on a canvas must be intellectually, intelligently and emotionally free, unconditional, non-traditional and above all, straight from within and from a “parallel world”.

During his apprenticeship he was asked, trained and taught how to “break one color into thirty different shades and tones” and foremost how to create his own palette from “unrevealed sources”, meaning finding THE colors not in the tube but, in and from his mind and heart. 


He confessed to me once, that while working on a painting, he never cleaned his brush (or brushes) and his palette. He did not want to miss the last drip of paint color that was left or hidden in the brush, because it was there… the “undiscovered, the ultimate, the parallel and the most spiritually sensitive color nuances…He said “ Never clean your brushes until there is no more feelings or warmth in your hands”. He added “The best part of an old good red French wine bottle is the last few drops in an empty glass.”

Maximillien de Lafayette: Paintings, Prints and Lithographs in Black and White.Vol. 2. 4th Edition (Maximillien de Lafayette's Progressive Neo-Cubism)

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