20th-century Moroccan carriage – signed, original pencil and paper (Mariano Andreu Estany)

Exquisite signed, original pen and paper modernist drawing from master artist Mariano Andreu. This scene of a Moroccan carriage ride, carrying European travelers, masterfully captures movement and shadow. Untitled, it may be an original from Andreu’s work on a series of 30 literary books (livres de luxe). Measuring 10.5″ x 8″ sight, the work is unframed, on very thin layout or tracing paper, and in excellent condition. This piece will be shipped via tube.

Well over 100 Andreu works have come to auction, however completed pencil drawings are rare. Two similarly untitled pencil drawing hammered for $1,164 and $1,376 in February 2023, at 83% and 116% over estimate.

Mariano Andreu was born on November 7th, 1888 in Mataró (Barcelona) and died on March 27th, 1976 in Biarritz (Basque-French country). A multifaceted artist, he developed and achieved success in all the artistic facets he undertook such as enamel, drawing, engraving, painting, fashion, decoration, book illustration and designs for figurines and stage sets for ballet, theatre and cinema.

His artistic career first developed in Barcelona and, from 1920, in Paris, with long periods in other countries. In his work an aesthetic evolution is detectable that stylistically approaches an Anglophile modernism, then later a ‘noucentisme’ in contact with the earth and finally a stylized classicism, in which he incorporated cubist elements and the imaginary world of surrealism. In addition, the influence of the palette of the great masters of the Renaissance and the Baroque period is evident in his paintings, but always with an elegant and refined touch that distinguishes and characterizes them.

Although he spent much of his career in Paris and London, his paintings are rooted in a Spanish tradition: his elongated figures have their roots in El Greco, while Salvador Dalí’s known admiration for his compatriot reflects Surrealist undercurrent which pervades Andreu’s work.

The artworks of Mariano Andreu were exhibited at the Art Institute of Chicago (Illinois-USA), Australia, Barcelona, Bayonne, Brussels, the American Gallery and County Museum of Los Angeles (California-USA), Dublin, London, Madrid, New York (various galleries such as the Valentine Gallery and MOMA), Pittsburgh (Pennsylvania-USA), Paris, Prague, Munich, the San Francisco Museum (California-USA), Saint Louis City Art (Missouri-USA), Stratford upon Avon (England) and the Claridge Gallery of London, Toledo Museum (Ohio-USA), Tokyo-Osaka and especially in the Salon d’Automne and in numerous Parisian Galleries and others in French and Spanish territories.

Andreu also had a very intense dedication to literary books (livres de luxe), for which he early on gained an enviable reputation as one of the finest illustrators of his day. Illustrated in drypoint, woodcut, lithograph or with photomechanically reproduced originals, works by moderns or classics such as Vaudoyer (1928), Ors (1928), Toulet (1933), Aymé (1942), Voltaire (1946), John Gay (1947), Gide (1947), Racine (1961), Mérimée (1961), Juan Ramon Jiménez (1964) or Labé (1975), although he had a special dedication to two authors: Giraudoux (1931, 1936, 1942) , 1946, 1947, 1955 and 1958) and Montherlant (1937, 1945, 1947, 1948 and 1958), with whom he had a strong friendship and of whom, in addition, he made remarkable portraits. The collaboration with Montherlant was also important in the theatrical field.

He was twice awarded the Carnegie Institute of Pittsburgh Prize, in 1933 with ‘Harlequin’ and in 1939 with ‘The Duel with One’s self’. In 1953 he received the Prix de l’Île de France for ‘Le Potager de Corot’ (1926). He was Member of the Académie de Beaux Arts in France (1958) and was appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur (1931) and Officer of the Légion d’Honneur in France (1966). He received the Gold Medal of the Arts Escèniques awarded by the Theatre Institute in Barcelona (1963), among other honours.

Mariano Andreu was elected a member of the Académie des Beaux Arts of the Institut de France, where he occupied Chair IX in the category of Foreign Associates, the same where Frank Brangwyn had sat just before him and which, upon Andreu’s death, would be occupied by Salvador Dalí.

His work is held in many public and private collections in France, the United States, Great Britain and Spain.