This is a cute still life painting of "Puppets" as a musical group, painted by French Artist Marie Laure-Ilie. This expressionist acrylic-on-canvas piece is an example the artist's early work from a decades-long career that saw her work evolve from simple paintings like this one to large sophisticated layered textile wall pieces. This painting is from the mid to late 60s. Signed by Artist en verso. –––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– Marie-Laure Ilie (b. 1945) is a native of Paris, a former Fulbright Grant recipient and an MA graduate of The Sorbonne. Upon moving to the United States in the 1970s, she acquired formal art studies at the University of Michigan where she held a Teaching Fellowship and acquired an FBA. Her post graduate work includes painting, engraving and silk painting in Paris at Atelier de la Grand Chaumiere, Atelier Luçio Loubet, Atelier Friedlander, and Atelier Liza Bain where her extensive training complemented her personal art research. She has shown her art extensively in the United States and Europe, in both solo exhibits and juried group shows, in galleries, universities, and museums. In addition to many private collections, corporate collections include the Bank of America, the Bank of New Zealand, Neiman-Marcus, Marshall Field and Company, Gale Research Company, and the Nicolaysen Art Museum.