Henri Maïk is a painter who calls himself primitive, not naive. In 1940, at the age of 18, he worked as a doctor in the French Navy, then as an actor after the French liberation. He started painting in 1956 and exhibited in 1960. In 1964, Wally Findlay organized his first exhibition in the United States, in Palm Beach. He then exhibited at Wally Findlay in New York, Chicago, Palm Beach, Beverly Hills and Paris. He designs woven tapestries in collaboration with Aubusson, created a limited-edition jewelry collection, and is the author and illustrator of several children's books.

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Henri Maïk's paintings are paradoxical, at the same time familiar and strange, childish and sophisticated, calm and noisy in color. They are dream landscapes : the vegetation is lush, composed of fields of flowers, exotic trees, rare birds and jungle animals. The creatures are either resting or playing, live in perfect harmony, and seem to be watching us.

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He has exhibited several times at the Museum of Modern Art and at the Cité Internationale des Arts, at the Salon d'Automne, at the Salon de Bollène, at the Aubusson National Tapestry Center, as well as at the Swedish Art Salon. His paintings are kept at the National Museum in Budapest, the Center for Contemporary and Experimental Art in Rebhoboth, Israel, the Museum of Naive Art in Île-de-France in Vicq and the Colmar Museum.

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