YES, MAXIMILLIEN IS A REBEL!

 

 

A rebel? Yes, I am. Big  time  rebel. Rebel against those kind of people!” This  was written by de La Croix in 1980. Has he changed? I am not so sure! For years, he did not paint. He refused to “mingle” with the Martini-Fake French Accent Art Dealers…he turned down all  exhibitions offers….he just faded away for years. It took Solange Berthier, his dear friend  and Mr. Theodore Marlins, a trusted associate, seven years to convince de La Croix to return to the world of art and paint again. Fortunately, he is back, and he is as active as ever. Yet, he remains cautious, quite distant, and prepared for all kinds of surprises and “deals”! De La Croix repeated to me what once he told Solange Berthier, his dear friend and European agent  who sold his work for millions and millions of Dollars worldwide, long time before he came to the United States: “Do you want to become and remain among the wealthiest, the most productive, the happiest and the most successful  people  in your business? If yes, then, keep low profile, stay cool, don’t let people know much about you, refuse all honors, do not deprive others from their share or a fair competition, and ABOVE ALL stay put and don’t steal the show. Be the world’s most  INCOGNITO CALM SILENT STRATEGIST. Count your gold bars in the dark.”

This is exactly what he did with his art business and so many other businesses of his for years and years. Up to now (But No Longer in the Dark…) he remained one of the world’s most successful, silent, cautious, fame “avoiders” and best seller artists on the international market, refusing all kinds of promotion, publicity, propaganda and as he- so correctly and wisely put it- safe and out of “NOISY AND DANGEROUS HIGH TRAFIC IN THE PUBLIC EYE”. Once you browse through this website, you will find out who in the  world’s “who’s who” buys and vividly collects his artwork. You will be amazed. We took the liberty to mention their names under the painting (s) they purchased from de La Croix agents. His artwork collectors list and the “1979 MVC Roster” include members of royal families, aristocrats, heads of states, tycoons, international superstars, leaders, noted art experts and world celebrities, yet, he managed to remain the wise, calm and “SAFE SUCCESSFUL INCOGNITO SILENT ARTIST/BUSINESSMAN” for a very long time. If you visit the website of the Goldstein Collection and Goldsmith Art Museum Group, you will learn about the fortune, art collectors and dignitaries spend on buying his canvases. The Solange Berthier & Associates/Salon de L’Art Moderne 1999 website once posted/ displayed approximately 350 paintings of De La Croix which were completely sold in a very short time and almost 15 large canvases were silently pre-sold to world’s celebrities before even the show ever started… and everybody knew about it!  And nobody knew about it! This is just a glimpse into the confusing, successful and secretive prismatic world of de La Croix’s art. He does not go to dealers and galleries owners, they come to him.“ When you have the right name,” Solange  said “ you get the right deal.” Long time before he arrived to the United States, his agents and art dealers had already sold a large inventory of his artwork worth over 20 million Dollars. Maximillien does not talk much about his art. Instead, he chooses to talk about subjects very dear to his heart such as: Poetry, theater, music, world travel, American culture, European history, gardening, wisdom and philosophy of the Orient, and particularly  about the years he spent studying Zen, Chan, and Flowers Arrangements under his venerable teachers in the Orient. He is fond of wild life and nature. He has a most affectionate attachment and love toward animals.

 

 

DE LA CROIX, THE SONGWRITER, MUSICIAN, COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR AND MUSICALS WRITER/DIRECTOR

Maximillien: One Of The Most Productive and Successful Show Biz and Live Entertainment Producers.

Maximillien wrote, directed, composed and produced a SOLD-OUT world premiere musicals, melodramas and plays in Europe, Asia and the United States. One of his most cherished and successful plays was “MARMARA THE GYPSY” which was performed at America’s most prestigious theatre” THE JOHN F. KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS” in Washington, DC. De La Croix wrote, directed and composed the musical score of that world premiere musical that gathered over 250 performers on stage and offered a score of 42 original songs! People were wondering if the concept of CABARET, the Edith Piaf Repertoire, the Jacques Brel Act,  the Blue Angel’s Marlene Dietrich or the Zara Leander Act will ever survive nowadays in America? This question was also raised by The Washington Post’s Eric Brace, America’s leading expert and reporter-writer on the Cabaret movement and business in the United States. He did ask this question in a very informative article on cabarets (as usual, being a magnificent writer) he wrote for The Washington Post in the weekend section in 1998. The great Eric categorically confirmed that CABARET is doing fine and well in America, and if people want to see how well the Cabaret is doing, let them go and see it at Maximillien’s restaurant cabaret “Paris Bisou”. Maximillien adores music. He would not invest in any project or open any restaurant or hotel unless, a musical act or a live entertainment of some sort is a vital part of the project. For 7 consecutive glorious years, Maximillien performed on the piano, accordion, drums, Tam Tam, Conga and Cuban percussions  with his band “BOLERO TRES” almost  weekly at his world famous French Restaurant Cabaret Floor-Show “LE MARQUIS DE ROCHAMBEAU” in Washington, D.C. which in 1994, 1995 was SELECTED BY DETAILS MAGAZINE (COVER STORY) as “AMONG THE 300 BEST SPOTS IN AMERICA”. The Washington Post’s Eve Zibart wrote: “ The Hottest Spot in Town. The Last Refuge for the Clever”, by Roma’s Il Tempo Journale’s Dina Diza as “ The Best Place in America”, by the Washingtonian Magazine as “among the 25 most favorite places in town”. The Washington Post’s Martha Sherrill in 1995, in a 4 page article on the night life and adventures in Washington, D.C. night life and cabarets wrote about Maximillien’s cabaret patrons as follows: “ Customers having the best time of their life.”

Maximillien is considered the “ The United States Godfather of The French Cabaret Music Act and Repertoire”. Indeed, he created the first Parisian Cabaret Show-Act in America in 1990 by introducing at his Restaurant-Cabaret, the legendary French Singer and Super Vedette, Simone Marchand (As good as Edith Piaf but Happier)  who worked for him for approximately 7 years, sometimes 6 nights a week! and there was France’s Great Jean Pierre Duclay, Jean-Luc Bruno of France, Duane Myers, America’s greatest Tenor  (“What a Voice! What A performer” wrote The Washington Post), Antonio Salvatore Juliano who is considered as among the world’s best 10 Opera singers  followed by world class Argentino Tango Super Star Dancers, Duos and groups  and Sao Paolo Samba’s Masters! From 1990 to 1999, at his establishments and at the Restaurants-Cabaret-Floor Shows he created and owned (Le Marquis de Rochambeau, Paris Bisou, Chez Nous, Chez Jaco Le Paramount), Maximillien designed, produced and presented  international artists, dancers, singers, performers, world celebrities guests and over 700 shows; 2  to 3 different shows a night, 7 nights a week ranging from Parisian music and Italian Opera to Tango Argentino Show, to the imperial Waltz of Vienna Group Shows, to Cuban Mambo, Spanish Corrida music  to steamy bigger than life Greek Sirtaki-Bouzouki music and dance to Jazz, to American Oldies and the great golden era of the big bands, Cole Porter, Berlin, Gershwin, Benny Goodman, Louis Armstrong, Louis Prima, Glen Miller, Dean Martin , Al Johnson, Al Martino, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Harry Bellafonte, Mario Lanza. Every single night from 7:00 pm to 2:30 am.

 Weekly, many times, NIGHTLY, Maximillien would introduce live on stage, American, Latin, European, French and international cabaret Acts and Shows which included outstanding local, national and international talents  and world class artists such as  the United States and World accordion champion Rose Marie Coppola, President of the legendary  Strolling Strings, Tatiana Demian, the great Lady of " La Chanson Francaise" ,Washington's first lady of Jazz, the great Pam Bricker, America’s First Lady of Progressive Jazz, winner of 2 WAMMY awards, Best Jazz Vocalist of the Year and Best Jazz Album of the Year, both prestigious awards in the same year! the fabulous Elizabeth Flood, the virtuoso Efi Tovia, Melissa Manchester, Boss Hawk, The Mambo Kings Group, legendary saxophonist Maestro Spenser, Aaron Meyer,(As good as Enrico Masias) the Caribbean great Calypso singer Shade, Republic of Georgia's great Nodar, the Russian Royal Kozak Group, Midnight Cowboy Band and The Quatro Brothers, Tango Argentino's sensation Andrea O’Brian, in the true tradition of the Gypsy Kings' guests stars Lito and Manollo, The Rumba Flamenco Group, The Gibraltar Gypsy Brothers,  several and various ethnic groups from Greece, Africa,  Haiti, Egypt, Madagascar, England, Ireland, Chile, Peru, Cuba, Argentina, Spain, etc..... All those people (With the exception of  international guests) worked for Maximillien! and all those shows and performances were lavishly produced  by Maximillien! Refreshing enough to learn that, many international artists and performers upon visiting Washington, D.C., would call his establishments to inquire if Maximillien himself is performing tonight, and request if it was possible to join him on stage, or at the very least, to accommodate them with a front row table to closely enjoy his show, his performance on the piano and especially his unique performance on the drums and Latin percussions! Indeed, Maximillien is “One of the best wild drums and Conga players of the decade” wrote once, a journalist who was obviously crazier than Maximillien himself!

In 1990, He created, designed, managed & owned " LE MARQUIS DE ROCHAMBEAU", one of America's most elegant, exclusive, sophisticated & successful French-American cabaret-restaurants. The Washington Post's Eve Zibart wrote: "The hottest spot in town…the last refuge for the clever". DETAILS Magazine in its cover story, selected "Le Rochambeau" as among the "300 Best Spots in America". The Washingtonian Magazine selected it as "Among the 25 favorite places". For almost 7 consecutive years, de Lafayette's "Rochambeau" made headlines in the national press. His 6 Million Dollar décor, 5 star menu, his $10,000 a bottle on the wine list (As mentioned in the "Washington Flyer Magazine" cover story), his executive chef M. Shanta (US National Culinary Champion 1994-1995), 7 night a week international French & American cabaret show that gathered European & American superstars, weekly Tango Argentino & Brazilian Samba Shows, Concerts by Bolero Tres, Mambo Kings, France's Great Jean Pierre Duclay, the legendary Super Star Simone Marchand, and of course the magic and genius of de Lafayette transformed "Le Rochambeau" into America's leading first 5 star Cabaret-Floor Show-Restaurant!

AND NOW ENTER THE MAGICAL METAPHYSICAL WORLD OF MAXIMILLIEN AND HIS ART

 

I invite you to stroll through The Gallery of Maximillien de La Croix and allow him to take you along on this journey called life.  You will surpass the range and grasp of human experience, reason and belief, as you step into his world - where there is no such thing as the status-quo, the norm, the predictable, the usual, the expected - and join us on his wild adventures, where you will inhale the words on the page, hear the colors sing and see the notes dance....Musing on de La Croix, it takes no conscious effort at all to lose ones' self in the abstract kaleidoscope of his colorful brilliance and many talents. Indeed, de La Croix is an elegant, sophisticated, educated man of exceptional accomplishments...an aristocrat. At first, I could not shake the feeling that de La Croix was some sort of a mystic messenger - a spirit traveler between realms - sent to remind us that our waking world is a hologram - our life, the illusion - and that this experience is meant to be characterized with such vivid brilliance and dazzling authenticity that the reality of our normal waking world is to be transcended and seriously called into question. As I pondered, I thought: “Voila!  THAT is precisely the true essence of art!!!” de La Croix is a talent who does not do what he does for the fame and the fortune - for him, the accolades are merely "the frosting on the cake" - de La Croix does what he does for the true love of it. As we view his canvases, we are granted entree' and given permission to embrace our illusions, break them down, or switch back-and-forth-and-back again. Gaze through the mirror blue - or more accurately - CRASH through the looking glass - into the essence of the multi-dimensional de La Croix. 

Delve deep into his soul and you will find a simple man who desires to be acknowledged, appreciated and respected for who he is, what he thinks and what he feels, in addition to what he does for a living. Clever, witty, charming, fun, wild, unconventional, eccentric, sensitive, kind, gentle, loyal, honest, generous and humble...this is the real man behind the magical canvases. You are cordially invited to explore moods and states of awareness here that may be new to you. Given the frontiers that you will cross, you may need to open your mind - your imagination - in order to understand what is happening.  Explore the ability to sing and weep simultaneously, to find a comfortable place where you are partially in darkness and partially illuminated, or half in shadow and half in sunlight, to laugh uproariously and exclaim "a-ha!" simultaneously, a surge of uncanny intuitions that comes while waking up from sleep or ignorance...Once inside the prism - which enables time to stop, allowing for us a brief glimpse into a rainbow up close - you will see places and meet people you may have only imagined in the many facets of your dreams.  Though the artist's eyes, hand in hand we will skip through the ancient streets of Athens or Red Square, feel the salty sea breezes as they gently caress our cheek on the shores of Corsica, smile as we remember Praha and Budapest nights, observe children as they frolic and picnic on a hillside in the South of France and know the serenity of the peaceful Buddhist Monks in prayer.   Simply and succinctly put, to know the man behind the canvases is to feel that the high light of the evening is when Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette walks into the room - to shine and share - the low point is when the door closes behind him... I hope that you have enjoyed the journey with me…with father superior at the monastery of the roses…the three kids on stage…and  Maximillien.