Les années parisiennes (1955-1959)

Curated by Christian Alandete

Maryan arrived in Paris in the early 1950s to study at the Beaux-Arts de Paris. His work was close to that of the artists of the Cobra movement, who in the post-war period were trying to abolish the separation between abstraction and figuration. Although he was not an official member of the movement, his work found echoes in the work of other artists exiled in Paris, such as Asger Jorn, Wilfredo Lam and Roberto Matta.

In 1959, Maryan took part in the first edition of the Paris Biennale created by André Malraux, where he won the Art Critics’ Prize. The aim of this international biennial was to re-establish Paris as a central place for the art of its time. For André Malraux, then Minister of State for Cultural Affairs: “It is necessary for French culture that Paris should remain, in art, the city of welcome and freedom”.