André Minaux was born in 1923, a French painter, illustrator, sculptor, draftsman. He studied at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs, Paris from 1941 to 1945 and as a former student of Ecole décoratifs, he received teachings from Maurice Brianchon and Roland Oudot. He was a great draughtsman and his time at the Ecole des Arts Décoratifs mixed with his interest in lithographs meant that he found a strong and bold simplicity in his depiction of form. Minaux belonged to the illustrious Ecole de Paris, the Young painter movement of the 50’s and Painter Witnesses of their time. He had his first one-man exhibition at the Galerie des Impressions d'Art, Paris in 1946 and served in the military in Avignon, the southern lights have an influence on his pictorial approach.

Through his first movement, his paintings put down roots on Man and Nature’s return, which is the main focus of the painting. He gives the necessary outlines to the Jeune peinture called Pessimism. André Minaux plays around but also thwarts material and volumes. His discipline is protean. André Minaux has adopted several periods: naturalism, rustic, baroque, figurative, musical instruments and the non-figurative one.

Due to his powerful strokes, he is able to extract an inexhaustible strength from his compositions. At the heart of after-war, his works capture the euphoric context through French expressionist realism “This is the pace which unites a painting” says André Minaux. “One could consider Minaux’s approach a lot like the one of Matis, in his quest for perfection”. Jean Bouret, Minaux peintre, éditions Sauret, 1977.

Figures, particularly women in interior settings, became a key theme in his work.  Indeed there is a sculptural quality to the way in which he depicts the female figure showing the growing influence of Fernand Leger on his work as he moved away from naturalism and became ever more figurative and stylized in his artistic output.

The Modern art museum of Paris bought one of his paintings in 1950. Tate Gallery from London, took possession of one of his works. He participated at the Salon d’automne in 1948 with Le Raccommodeur de filets, this work was saluted by a multitude of art critics. A year later, his work was awarded by the critique prize and displayed his work at the Salon des Jeunes peintres, at the Claude gallery at rue de Seine, Paris. He exhibited at the Venice Biennial of 1952. André Minaux illustrated several great writers like André Gide, Blaise Cendrars, Maguerite Duras, Julien Gracq. Minaux died in 1986.