Antoine MAYO, born Antoine Malliarakis, was born in Port Said, Egypt, in 1905 and died in Seine-Port, France, in 1990.

Born to a Greek father, who worked as an engineer for the Suez Canal Company, and a French mother, Mayo grew up within a cosmopolitan Mediterranean environment that would later influence his artistic identity. He moved to France in his youth and initially intended to study architecture in Paris, but soon became involved in the artistic circles of Montparnasse and decided to devote himself to painting.

During the 1920s, Mayo became associated with the Parisian avant-garde and came into contact with leading artists and writers of the period, including Man Ray, Robert Desnos, Tristan Tzara, André Breton, Max Ernst, René Magritte and Yves Tanguy. Although he was close to the Surrealist circle, he never formally joined the movement, preferring to preserve his independence as an artist.

His work is characterised by imaginative compositions, symbolic imagery and a poetic atmosphere, often combining elements of Surrealism with a highly personal figurative language. His paintings reveal an interest in dream, myth, theatre and the unconscious, while maintaining a refined sense of structure and colour.

In addition to painting, Mayo worked extensively as a designer for theatre and cinema. He created costumes and sets for important productions and was associated with several major films, including Marcel Carné’s *Les Enfants du paradis*, Jacques Becker’s *Casque d’Or* and Alain Resnais’s *Hiroshima mon amour*. His work in cinema and theatre reflects the same theatricality, imagination and visual sophistication that characterise his paintings.

Mayo exhibited regularly in France and abroad and remained active for much of the twentieth century. In 1986, he was appointed Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France. Today, he is remembered as a distinctive Greek-French painter, illustrator, costume designer and set designer whose work occupies an important place within the wider history of Surrealism and the Parisian avant-garde.