Maurice Chabas
{{Short description|French painter (1862–1947)}}
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{{Expand French|topic=bio|date=April 2009|Maurice Chabas}}
Maurice Chabas (21 September 1862, Nantes – 11 December 1947, Versailles) was a French Symbolist painter.[http://oxfordindex.oup.com/view/10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.B00034837 Benezit Dictionary of Artists]
Biography
Chabas came from a family of painters. Being the eldest child, he had to take over the family business, although he was interested in painting. His younger brothers, Maurice and Paul, were renowned painters.{{cite web|last=de Palma|first=Myriam|title=Maurice Chabas|url=http://www.artexpertswebsite.com/pages/artists/chabas.php|publisher=Art Experts|accessdate=30 July 2013}}
Chabas was a prolific artist, and debuted his work in 1885 at the Salon, where he would continue to present his works until 1913. Chabas was also a sensitive and often mystical artist and participated in many Rosicrucian meetings in the 1890s. His reputation spreads and by 1895, is the subject of an exhibition at a gallery in Paris.
In 1900, Chabas moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, where his studio became a hub for scholars like Camille Flammarion, Charles Richet, Maurice Maeterlinck, Léon Bloy, Lucien Lévy-Brulh, Joséphin Péladan, Edouard Schuré, and René Guénon. Until he moved to Neuilly-sur-Seine, Chabas was a little-known figure. That changed after 1900, when his popularity escalated.
In 1910 he met the Belgian Gabrielle Storms-Castelot, and they had two children, the writer André Castelot and the actor Jacques Castelot. In 1917, he became a member of the Theosophical Society, although he also maintained friendships with leading Roman Catholic intellectuals such as novelist François Mauriac.Myriam de Palma, [https://wrldrels.org/2017/04/12/maurice-chabas/ Maurice Chabas], World Religions and Spirituality Project, April 10, 2017.
In the last years of his life, Chabas mostly cultivated his personal mysticism and lived as a recluse. He died in solitude in his Versailles home on 11 December 1947.Myriam de Palma,Maurice Chabas (1862-1947), peintre et messager spirituel, Paris: Somogy 2009, 11-20.
Gallery
File:Maurice Chabas - Néméa 1894.jpg|Néméa, 1894
File:Maurice Chabas - L'Apparition.jpg|L'Apparition, circa 1900
File:Maurice Chabas - L'Élegante dans l'Atelier.jpg|L'Élegante dans l'Atelier, circa 1900
File:Maurice Chabas - Return to Cythera.jpg|Return to Cythera, circa 1900
File:Maurice Chabas - Reverie au Bord du Lac.jpg|Reverie au Bord du Lac, circa 1900
File:Maurice Chabas - Two Women in a Park.jpg|Two Women in a Park, circa 1900
File:Maurice Chabas La chaste Suzanne.jpg|La chaste Suzanne, 1903
File:M. Chabas, Pins de Kerdruc.jpg|circa 1905
References
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Category:19th-century French painters
Category:20th-century French painters
Category:20th-century French male artists
Category:French Symbolist painters
Category:19th-century French male artists
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