French painter, poet and theorist, born in 1927 in Paris, died in 2000.
Life
Drawn to painting very early on, Maurice Rapin studied mathematics and biology to earn a living. An admirer of René Magritte, he kept up a long correspondence with him.
He exhibited at L’Étoile scellée, the gallery run by André Breton, and belonged to the Surrealist group from 1952 to 1954; he distanced himself from it by rejecting Charles Estienne’s theses on Tachism, and broke with Breton in 1958. He contributed to the reviews Médium (1953), Temps mêlés (Verviers) and Gradiva (Brussels). Within the group he met the painter Mirabelle Dors, whom he married in 1954.
With her, Jacqueline and Jean-Pierre Duprey, Clovis Trouille and Magritte, he founded the Tendance populaire surréaliste, which he led from 1957 to 1978: publications, exhibitions and political statements. The couple, settled in Vélizy-Villacoublay, published the movement’s collective works from 1971 to 1980. In 1978 Rapin created the Salon Figuration critique association with Mirabelle Dors and Yak Rivais. He is buried in the small Bercy cemetery in Paris.
The work
Painter and poet, Rapin pursued creative work and theoretical reflection side by side within his groups. Among his known works is a Sans titre of 1964, watercolour and felt-tip on paper (28 x 38 cm).