Still Life by Claude Venard
Still Life by Claude Venard
DIMENSIONS: (unframed) 44.5 x 57.25 in./ 113.03 x 145.42 cm
SIGNATURE: Signed’C. Venard’ lower right
MEDIUM: Oil on canvas
Price: £POA.
Description
This energetic work is a fine example of Claude Venard’s paintings. Through the use of thick impasto and of bold geometric lines, Venard has created a still-life full of dynamism. The paint seems to have been applied roughly with a pallet knife- a method that Venard used in his later works- creating a raw and visceral version of the geometric aesthetic.
The bold lines of the kitchen utensils and of the table are scratched into the paint with a knife, giving energy to the scene and the objects a life of their own. The strong geometric lines, rich colour palette and abstracted composition turns Still Life into a modern masterpiece.
Provenance
Private Collection, United States
Biography
Claude Venard started training as a painter at the age of 17 at the École des Arts Appliqués in Paris. In 1936, he was part of a group show at the Galerie Billet-Worms, which critic Waldemar George hailed as the birth of the group Forces Nouvelles. During the next four years, this group promoted a new form of figuration, marked by the rejection of Impressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism. Over time, Venard distanced himself from the group, which became increasingly figurative. In 1939, the group officially split, but Venard continued to gain recognition during and after the war.
He remained faithful to a post-Cubist compositional style established by the Forces Nouvelles, but progressively accentuated the chromatic qualities of his palette, striving to produce crude colours, which he applied in thick impasto. Venard enjoyed success during his lifetime, and was given solo shows around the world, in Paris, London, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Dusseldorf, Munich Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Canada, Belgium, and Holland.
Today, his works can be found in major public and private institutions around the world, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris, the Tate London, and the São Paulo Museum of Art.