Maite Delteil

Maite Delteil is a distinguished French artist known for her figurative paintings portraying nature, people, and scenes from everyday life. Born in 1933 in Fumel, France, she received her art education at Ecole Des Beaux-Arts Academie de la Grand Chaumiere, Academie Julian, and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts from 1953 to 1959. This was followed by a fellowship from the Government and Institute De France to study in Spain and Greece.

Maite Delteil’s works are well-known for their old-world allure and leisurely quality. Initially, her works may appear to express a fascination with the traditional genres of still life and landscape, yet they explore the boundary between memory and fantasy. Delteil’s work delves into the multifarious cycles of life and the profound delight that it brings, such as flowers, fruits, and the arrival of birds and butterflies. Her early landscapes and still lives are influenced by her childhood spent in the French countryside. Delteils nude paintings are an expression of her femininity.

Delteil’s idealised gardens with flowering and fruiting trees represent changing seasons of barrenness and fecundity. Her gardens are vital, especially in an age of climatic disaster and deforestation. Her portrayals remind us of the beautiful natural world from which we have alienated ourselves. Maite Delteil’s canvases encompass a variety of birds like robins, magpies, ringdoves, and grebes perching and courting in the courtyard, representing the little things and joys of life.

She has worked with artist Roger Chapelain-Midy and printmaker Robert Cami. This has helped her to create artworks that exhibit the range of a traditional painter with the technical accuracy and detailing of a printmaker. She received the Prix De la Casa Velasquez in 1959.

Delteil’s work has been exhibited widely in several cities in France, Europe, America, Japan, and India. She has extensively exhibited her works in solo and group shows in India. Maite Delteil’s solo exhibitions include The Secret Sea in 2018, Enchanted (2013), and Fruits of Grace in 2007 at Art Musings Gallery, as well as The Garden of My Soul in 2022 at Art Alive Gallery.

Maite Delteil’s group exhibitions include HARVEST 2024, A Tribute to Suneet Chopra; Unclaim Boundaries, organised by Arushi Arts (2024); The Journey of Love, Faith and Inspiration at Nayan Naveli Gallery (2023); The Celebration of Solidarity by Sanchit Art (2023); Harvest by Arushi Arts in 2022; and Sanchit Art at Art Stage Singapore by Sanchit Art (2017). She also participated in the India Art Fair in the booths of various galleries, such as the Art Alive Gallery in 2017. 

Art Alive also has an illustrated publication on the lives and works of the three renowned artists in the Burman family, including Sakti Burman, Maite Delteil, and Maya Burman, titled “Life, Soul, and Games”. The book features a collection of recent works by the artist with a text by the renowned poet and cultural theorist Mr Ranjit Hoskote.

Maite Delteil’s works are part of many public and private collections in France, Japan, India and other parts of the world.

She lives and works in New Delhi & Paris.

Artworks By Maite Delteil