Max Moreau portrait - need advice

I acquired this portrait today and I believe it is original art. I have no information about it from who I got it from.

Looking for help to identify if it is original and if so who I should turn for appraisal.

Looking for any advice… thank you!

Sorry the glass is full of dirt but photos are attached. Overall frame size is 26.5”x36.5”

 

Welcome ! That's a superb watercolor-looks original (easier to tell in person).
Here's more info on Moreau-he seems very well listed,if he's this chap-
https://www.askart.com/artist/Max_Leon_Moreau/11055769/Max_Leon_Moreau.aspx
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attract...au-Granada_Province_of_Granada_Andalucia.html
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&sa=N&cs=0&q=max+moreau&tbm=isch&source=univ&fir=BlwBsqUOQKrjSM%2CZ2BiriDIgqCmpM%2C_%3BpOz7ePlJUR_2wM%2CZ2BiriDIgqCmpM%2C_%3B3Uj3rfLxfr2nqM%2CXp1JsZVxQLbD6M%2C_%3BHrVxnEyw7vfMbM%2CiysD19P8ZBg-GM%2C_%3Bxg-LItSjHAaEiM%2CZ2BiriDIgqCmpM%2C_%3Blo3FhSxmhYn75M%2CliNKhaY830ak3M%2C_%3BxkKvoyYlviXw4M%2CdbzDUe4MV5UOdM%2C_%3Bmk4vwOsg30mA5M%2C9VlKHS8tz0NeKM%2C_%3Bbf7Ur6KR-6bhZM%2ClgSFJlECLxtsOM%2C_%3Bs0AsaXe8T8umXM%2CcF0drXt4EgYFjM%2C_%3BNQijoNBuN0lwjM%2CJ1JNUFCoSZxyNM%2C_%3BCkwywxD33gH3eM%2CdbzDUe4MV5UOdM%2C_%3Bjv-AgWNmYd0NxM%2CHBQ8OcTUvStY0M%2C_%3BbDNyr5Z9CrWDVM%2C-6tmtxzqGgKa9M%2C_%3B-QrkNo10GcWIjM%2Ckl1TR4tDdkA9GM%2C_%3Bz0WOqlUUc3hmgM%2CNHGld6tfaexStM%2C_%3BqPKc5xxGVMF9kM%2CvYOtLKFpBCm07M%2C_%3BGljVxxmIJK7zuM%2CKN0PcZ9pcgvLzM%2C_&usg=AI4_-kSgItLYVl94BWdRvVLWZ6FrjUoaxw&ved=2ahUKEwjRltHS6JGAAxV1DjQIHTFDAnw4ChCMmQR6BAgzEAI&biw=1141&bih=550&dpr=1.67

 

Don't see any reason why it wouldn't be original. He was commissioned to do a lot of portraits. Unless of a celebrity, doubtful they have as much collector interest as his Orientalist work. He worked a lot with gouache on paper which may be what your work is.

Debora

 

Thank you! I do believe it could be Gouache. I do see a portrait listed online for $4500 smaller in scale. I agree it isn’t a collector piece but for decorative value (especially if someone is getting 4500 for it online) I wonder what it could fetch and who I should turn to to sell it?

I’m in small town Wi and don’t know if any real art galleries…

 

No one is getting $4,500 for a portrait online. That's an asking price, not a sales price. (Assume you're referring to this portrait.)

https://www.blueiris-irisbleu.com/product-page/portrait-of-young-girl-gouache-painting-by-max-moreau

I would suspect the resale value of a school girl portrait would be quite low. It's my understanding that collectors are more interested in portraits of pretty, young children or pretty, young women. If you can identify the sitter, there may be some family interest. (To do so, you would have to carefully open up the backing, making sure to preserve the gallery sticker, and see if the name of the sitter is written inside.) It's not unlikely though that it was put on the market when the original sitter died and no family member wanted her portrait.

Debora

 

Here's another school girl portrait. On offer on eBay France for 350€ but, as yet, unsold.

https://www.ebay.fr/itm/22563849529...55-0&campid=5338722076&customid=&toolid=10050

Debora

 

Q. do you luv the work...or just the name ?

I wouldn't hang either of these portraits in my home , if you paid me.

I find the artist to be very skilled.....but these two works while pensive at best , seem sad and sour.

& I have no emotional connection to either......... as only a family member might.

 

Great links! Thank you! I’m so curious how his process worked making portraits. And how this one ended up in Milwaukee/small town Wisconsin. Can’t wait to dive further into the links you posted.

 

I love your opinion, would be exactly what my mother would say! Lol. I actually spent over 16 years as a portrait photographer so I have a connection with it and a curiosity around it. I love the technique he used to finish the edges. Plus, I’m not a wealthy person and am trying my hardest to find any original pieces to put on my walls instead of mass production art from Target like everyone else my age is doing at the moment.

I see it a bonus that it isn’t a relative or someone I know because if I do grow tired of it I can easily sell it or pass it on.

 

love what you sell !

Today anyone can sell anything online........but if you have joy in the items you own, passing that on to others is rewarding !!

I passed on some big names, because the work didn't captivate me , and bought and sold many lesser names....because the work touched me in a way I could explain to the buyer.......and get them all hot & bothered too !!

Some may consider that a fault.....& there's room for debate.......but I never bought or sold anything that I didn't have an emotional connection to !

Even today...some of my favourite works....that I just can't let go of.....are not the most expensive works I've ever owned !!!
& a few aren't worth much at all !!

don't discount original prints....as not being OOAK , in favour of a painting....that does not speak to you !

 

It may have been commissioned somewhere else and sitter's family returned to Milwaukee and had framed. I enjoy portraits too. Delighted you're going to hang and enjoy. Bonus that attractively matted and framed.

Debora

 

I see a number of Parisian street scenes signed by the artist and dated 1959. Perhaps your portrait was commissioned there.

Debora

 

the one in the original post ??????

with the roached frame and cracked glass...?????

really?

 

Yep. The glass can be replaced. The frame can be improved with a bit of tlc. But importantly -- original, period correct and appropriate for the work. (Look how the mat color matches the background.) And the proportion of work to mat to frame is lovely.

Debora

 

you see things very differently than I do...

 

She does look very sad. Her parents probably forced her to sit, because having painted portraits of one's children was the thing to do.
But I can understand your interest from a portrait photographer's viewpoint.

 

Her eyes have a natural, slightly exaggerated bend at the bottom which makes her look sad.

Debora

 

Debra,
couldn’t agree more! Thank you for your thoughtful reply!

 

Agree. I also think her age spans between 10-14. In person she sometimes looks like a very young girl and other she looks like a young teen. Either way we are calling her “The Young Secretary” and she’ll hang in the office of our 1960’s cottage colonial.

 

To me it is mainly the way the head is tilted, and her forward sloping shoulders.
I am used to that shape eyes, my mother had them too. She used to call them "Greek eyes".