Although he began painting in 1879 under the guidance of various local painters, Maxime Maufra, the son of the director of a small metalworking company in Nantes, was encouraged from an early age to take up business career. He began his business career in 1884 after a long training period in England with a Liverpool merchant, he continued to paint in his spare time.
He finally gave up his business career in 1889 to devote himself exclusively to painting. He travelled the length and breadth of Brittany alone during the 1890s. While he spent a few months with the the small group of artists established in Pont-Aven led by Gauguin, he soon continued his journey, seeking his own distinctive style.
For many years, the draughtsman and the watercolourist were more successful than the painter. Wishing to represent only the essentials of the nature he was composing in front of, Maufra
attached great importance to the construction of his works. In his drawings with vigorous and expressive notes the artist eliminates the anecdotal and uses a strong but limited range of colours.
This drawing reveals the painter’s affection for Brittany. His wife was from Douarnenez, and himself having settled in the small seaside village of Kerhostin from 1903, the artist return regularly to survey the Breton coast. This quick sketch bears witness to the artist’s many peregrinations in Brittany, during which he explored the Beg-ar-Fry region in early November 1895, and in particular the small commune of Locquirec.