Paul Lucien Maze was born in Le Havre in 1887, the son of Anglo-French parents. He was sent to England to work in the family shipping firm, but at the outbreak of the Great War he signed up. Unable to serve in the French army Maze offered his services to the British whereupon he survived the War with a distinguished record and several Decorations for bravery. In the early 1920 he recorded these experiences in a book entitled, ‘Frenchman in Khaki’.

Maze had known Raoul Dufy and Georges Braque as a young man and it seemed natural that in peacetime he should turn to painting professionally. Settling in Paris he met and befriended Derain, de Segonzac and Eduoard Vuillard. In fact it was Vuillard who persuaded him to attempt pastel painting, the medium for which he became best known. Although his style is undoubtedly rooted in the Impressionist movement the direct exposure to the elderly Vuillard and his advice is a clear influence.

In 1925 after exhibiting in Paris he moved to England and was given his first solo exhibition at the Independent Gallery and became a great friend and painting advisor to Sir Winston Churchill. Paul Maze has exhibited regularly throughout the world and has enjoyed a relationship of many years exhibiting at the Thompson’s Gallery.