Max PAPART
1911–1994, France

Max Papart\'s paintings and graphics are suffused with the sunny humor and bright colors of the French Riviera, where he was born in 1911. Working in a Cubist style, Papart depicts circus scenes, flirting couples, soaring birds, and similar cheerful subjects with flat, overlapping planes of contrasting colors and textures which suggest many levels of depth. Often he also achieves what has been called a \"time window\" effect, through which the viewer senses the past or future. This is not to say that Max Papart is simply a purveyor of superficial entertainment. For all their decorative gaiety, his works also force the viewer to think. As the noted critic André Parinaud put it, \"We are going to rediscover Max Papart as one of the masters of the second cubist generation.