A 1940’s Chiaroscuro Watercolor of Moroccan Figures by Andre Delfau

1940’s Chiaroscuro Watercolor of Moroccon Figures by Andre Delfau. Image size: 6 3/4″ x 8 3/4″. Provenance: Estate of Artist.

Born in Paris, France in 1914, Andre Delfau became an internationally acclaimed stage, set and costume designer who worked world-wide from the 1930s to the 1980s. Delfau was a life long artist and painted independently of his noted design career. His artwork is recognized for it’s vibrant color and form, and a particularly keen use of line. He was highly influenced by the French Modern trends of Cubism and Surrealism, and his artwork is often infused with a dramatic sense of architecture and perspective.

Delfau created fashion designs for such major Paris couture houses as Balmain, Jean Patou and Balenciaga. He completed noteworthy set designs and costumes for numerous international operatic and ballet productions, including those at the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Ballet of Great Britain, the Paris Opera, the Dance Theater of Harlem, the Ruth Page International Ballet, the Civic Ballet of Chicago, the Chicago Opera Ballet and the Lyric Opera of Chicago, among others. Most notably, Delfau designed the elaborate stage sets and costumes for the 1986 PBS television production of the Viennese operetta, “Die Fledermaus”.

Delfau lived primarily in Paris and Chicago. He frequently traveled to Morocco. One of his favorite subjects to paint was the historic Jemaa el-Fna market in Marrakesh. Late in life, he married Chicago ballet impresario Ruth Page. Delfau died in Chicago in 2000. at the age of 86.