Alon Zakaim Fine Art

André Minaux was born in Paris in 1923. He was a French painter and lithographer who produced figurative works, still lifes and landscapes. He began as one of the post-war group of young French artists interested in a return to realism.

Minaux studied at the Ecole des Arts Decoratifs between 1941 and 1945 under Maurice Brianchon. His first solo exhibition was held in 1946 at the Galerie des Impressions d'Art, Paris. In 1949 he was awarded the Prix de la Critique, and exhibited in 1949 and 1950 with the group 'Homme témoin', which also included Lorjou, Buffet and Rebeyrolle. His early works mostly utilise a sombre and earthy palette, with expressionistic simplifications. Amongst his subjects were figures or still lifes in his studio, or dead animals in butchers' shops, followed later by scenes of rural life and landscapes in brighter colours. In 1953, Minaux had a show at Adam Gallery in London, from which the Tate acquired a work. He made over 300 lithographs and illustrated a number of books, including Renard's Les Philippes 1958. Partly through his friendship with Beaudin, and his admiration for Leger, his work developed away from naturalism in the early 1960s, and became more stylised and colourful. Enigmatic women in interiors became a favourite theme, as did less figurative subjects including a series of musical imagery, a popular subject of which were depictions of trombones.

Minaux lived in Paris until his death in 1986.