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| Claude Vénard French, 1913 - 1999 "Nature Morte" Oil on Canvas, measures 23 3/4" x 23 3/4" - Signed lower left |
French mid-century post-Cubist movement.
Claude Vénard was born to bourgeois parents from Burgogne in Paris, on March 21, 1913. At the age of 17,
he enrolled and attended the École des Beaux-Arts, but remained for only two days, not adhering to the school’s
academic style. Instead, he spent the following six years at the École des Arts Appliqués, taking evening
classes and embracing the contemporary Parisian art scene, all the while becoming recognized in its circles.
Not able to support himself as an artist, by 1936 he found employment as a restorer at the Louvre, further honing
his artistic skills.
Paris of the period was dominated by an art trend that strongly favored abstraction. Following a group show at
the Galerie Billet-Worms in 1935, art critic Waldemar George declared: “Let’s be young again! Painting is not
dead… Its course has not stopped. Forces Nouvelles is born.” Vénard contributed and initially adhered to
the strict disciplines of the Forces Nouvelle group. But as with many of his fellow members, he soon abandoned
it seeking individual expression.
Following WWII, Vénard rekindled friendships with past Forces Nouvelles members, joining Pierre Tal-Coat,
André Marchand, André Civet and Francis Gruber in the Post-War art movement. The group of artist
enthusiastically supported each other and participated in molding their individual gestures through constructive
critique. Vénard readily developed an appealing style, securing his first solo exhibition in 1944 at the Gallerie
Barreiro in Paris.
Vénard’s gesture was immediately well received and the artist enjoyed a number of successful exhibitions that
helped establish his continuing popularity. A prolific painter, Vénard favored still-life and cityscapes delivered in
a spatial, quasi-abstract yet faithfully post-cubist style. The work is characterized by heavy impasto delivered to
canvas with the knife, scraffito designs in the wet paint and bold colorful compositions, joyous colorations that
reflected the spirit of the artist.
An internationally exhibited painter, Vénard’s work has been shown at numerous exhibitions in Paris, including
the Forces Nouvelles Exhibitions; Salon des Indépendants; the Salon des Tuilleries and the Salon de Mai, of
which he was a founding member. Among his solo exhibitions Vénard exhibited widely, including in New York,
Milan, Geneva, Chicago, Munich, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and San Francisco. Some of the most successful
exhibitions were promoted through the long standing relationship with Galerie Félix Vercel in Paris and London,
from 1969.
Works by Claude Vénard can be found in the permanent museum collections of the Tate Collection in London,
the Musée d’art Moderne de la ville de Paris and Dallas Museum of Art. There is also a strong international
following by a number of prestigious private, corporate and institutional collectors.
Claude Vénard was born to bourgeois parents from Burgogne in Paris, on March 21, 1913. At the age of 17,
he enrolled and attended the École des Beaux-Arts, but remained for only two days, not adhering to the school’s
academic style. Instead, he spent the following six years at the École des Arts Appliqués, taking evening
classes and embracing the contemporary Parisian art scene, all the while becoming recognized in its circles.
Not able to support himself as an artist, by 1936 he found employment as a restorer at the Louvre, further honing
his artistic skills.
Paris of the period was dominated by an art trend that strongly favored abstraction. Following a group show at
the Galerie Billet-Worms in 1935, art critic Waldemar George declared: “Let’s be young again! Painting is not
dead… Its course has not stopped. Forces Nouvelles is born.” Vénard contributed and initially adhered to
the strict disciplines of the Forces Nouvelle group. But as with many of his fellow members, he soon abandoned
it seeking individual expression.
Following WWII, Vénard rekindled friendships with past Forces Nouvelles members, joining Pierre Tal-Coat,
André Marchand, André Civet and Francis Gruber in the Post-War art movement. The group of artist
enthusiastically supported each other and participated in molding their individual gestures through constructive
critique. Vénard readily developed an appealing style, securing his first solo exhibition in 1944 at the Gallerie
Barreiro in Paris.
Vénard’s gesture was immediately well received and the artist enjoyed a number of successful exhibitions that
helped establish his continuing popularity. A prolific painter, Vénard favored still-life and cityscapes delivered in
a spatial, quasi-abstract yet faithfully post-cubist style. The work is characterized by heavy impasto delivered to
canvas with the knife, scraffito designs in the wet paint and bold colorful compositions, joyous colorations that
reflected the spirit of the artist.
An internationally exhibited painter, Vénard’s work has been shown at numerous exhibitions in Paris, including
the Forces Nouvelles Exhibitions; Salon des Indépendants; the Salon des Tuilleries and the Salon de Mai, of
which he was a founding member. Among his solo exhibitions Vénard exhibited widely, including in New York,
Milan, Geneva, Chicago, Munich, Tokyo, Buenos Aires and San Francisco. Some of the most successful
exhibitions were promoted through the long standing relationship with Galerie Félix Vercel in Paris and London,
from 1969.
Works by Claude Vénard can be found in the permanent museum collections of the Tate Collection in London,
the Musée d’art Moderne de la ville de Paris and Dallas Museum of Art. There is also a strong international
following by a number of prestigious private, corporate and institutional collectors.
