1970sDynamic Abstract Watercolor by French Artist, Marie Luare-Ilie

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Marie-Laure Ilie’s “14 Juillet 1789” (1973) is a very dynamic watercolor that channels history through gesture, color, and rupture. The … Read more Marie-Laure Ilie’s “14 Juillet 1789” (1973) is a very dynamic watercolor that channels history through gesture, color, and rupture. The date as the title is significant because that is the French National Day - referred to as 'Bastille Day' in English-speaking countries - which is an important day in French history: July 14, 1789, the storming of the Bastille. This event marked the symbolic beginning of the French Revolution, when a Parisian crowd seized the prison—long a symbol of royal oppression—triggering the collapse of the monarchy and igniting a nationwide upheaval.

This piece was created the same year Ilie arrived in the United States so the work carries an emotional undertow that feels deeply personal. Rather than being a literal depiction of the event, this reads more like a memory of the homeland, holding onto France through its most defining symbolic moment.

Signed by Artist on bottom right corner.

Frame size:30 1/8" w x 24 1/4" h x 3/4" d (76.5cm x 61.6cm x 2cm)
Painting size (within the mat): 27 1/2" x 22 3/8" (69.9cm x 56.8cm)

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Marie-Laure Ilie (b. 1945) is a native of Paris, a former Fulbright Grant recipient and an MA graduate of The Sorbonne. Upon moving to the United States in the 1970s, she acquired formal art studies at the University of Michigan where she held a Teaching Fellowship and acquired an FBA. Her post graduate work includes painting, engraving and silk painting in Paris at Atelier de la Grand Chaumiere, Atelier Luçio Loubet, Atelier Friedlander, and Atelier Liza Bain where her extensive training complemented her personal art research.

She has shown her art extensively in the United States and Europe, in both solo exhibits and juried group shows, in galleries, universities, and museums. In addition to many private collections, corporate collections include the Bank of America, the Bank of New Zealand, Neiman-Marcus, Marshall Field and Company, Gale Research Company, and the Nicolaysen Art Museum. See less