Claude Venard (1913-1999)

Claude Venard was born in Paris on the 21st March 1913. Venard was immersed in art from an early age and at seventeen was enrolled at the École des Arts Appliqués where he studied for six years. In 1936 Venard worked as fine art restorer at Louvre art gallery in Paris and two years later he participated in an exhibition at the Galerie Billet-Vorms, alongside a group of influential artists known as ‘Forces Nouvelles’ which consisted of André Marchand, Gruber and Tal-Coat. The group became good friends and forged an instrumental art group in Paris, promoting an avant-garde post-war movement centred around a more modern abstract approach to art. Venard received critical acclaimed reviews and became internationally renowned during the 1950’s. Venard’s approach moved through the post-cubic style mixing abstract and naturalistic subjects into his compositions, blending emotional and physical elements into his works. Venard’s application of paint was bold and heavy with impasto to capture texture and out would appearance of his subjects. Venard held a number of successful exhibitions throughout his life, at the Salon des Indépendants, Galerie Félix Vercel and the Salon des Tuileries.  He also had many solo exhibitions around the world, in London, Milan, Geneva, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Munich and pretty much every capital city around Europe. Venard’s works are held in corporate and private collections including Musee d’Art Moderne, Paris, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Tate, London and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Canada.