French Impressionist Oil Painting Potted Plant and Bright Garden

Maggy Clarysse (1931-2011) Oil on board, unframed 8.75 x 10.75 inches Signed condition: excellent provenance: all the paintings we have by this artist have come from the artists estate Born in Belgium, Maggy studied at art college in Brussels with the aim of becoming a Paris fashion designer. To that end, she eventually approached a leading couture house to show them her designs. To her delight, they agreed to take her on immediately. However, they did not want her as a designer, but as a model. This led to work in Paris, London and around Europe, with Maggy basing herself first in Germany and then in Paris as a couture house model and then a model that appeared in Vogue. She was photographed by Terence Donovan and David Bailey, with one shoot ending up with her pushing the then leading film star, Norman Wisdom, into a swimming pool – her reasons for doing so remain shrouded in mystery. It was while on holiday in the south of France in the late 1950s that she met her future husband, an English businessman, and they then married and move to London. From there, she painted from dusk to dawn for many decades up until her death in 2011, and enjoyed considerable success commercially, selling through the galleries along the French Riviera. It is easy to see how the unique light of the South of France inspired her, and one of the many strands of her talent was the ability to capture its warm, shining glow in her colourful composition.