Claude Venard (French 1913-1999)
"It is certain the works of Claude Venard are not meant for empty souls or tepid hearts" André Salmon, 1962.
Venard decided to become a painter when he was only seventeen years old. To pursue his dream, he signed up at the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris (which he fled after only forty eight hours!), and subsequently at the École des Arts Appliqués. However, after six years of conscientious study, he was forced, in order to support himself, to spend most of 1936 working as a restorer at the Louvre Museum. This experience, however, turned out to be beneficial in as much as it enabled the young artist to fill the gaps still existing in his artistic education.
Since 1935, Venard's name figured in contemporary art exhibitions, both in France and abroad. Before he first exhibited at the Salon de Mai in Paris, he had contributed to other shows organized by the important group of Forces Nouvelles, along with Roger Humblot, Francis Gruber, André Marchand and Pierre Tal-Coat. The harsh trends followed by this group, however, did not suit Venard any more than they did Marchand and several others, so that the very same artists who had given lustre to the Forces Nouvelles left it to its own resources.
Upon Venard's release from the army, at the end of World War II, his life was transformed. With recognition came the chance to put painting before all else. In 1945, through his continued friendship with Gruber and Marchand, Venard shared mutual success. He remained faithful to a post-Cubist compositional style, and progressively accentuated the chromatism of his pallet up to reaching the crudest of colours, which he used in very thick forms and sometime applied with a pallet knife.
Venard's career was a happy one, punctuated by one man shows in Paris, London, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Düsseldorf, Munich, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, Canada, Belgium and Holland. The artist loved life in all its aspects and one is inclined to feel that he may have been in search of a genre of painting that would respond to even the earthiest appetites.
Public collections include:
Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris
Musée de Rouen, France
Musée de Grenoble, France
Musée de Nice, France
Tate, London
Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland
Neue Pinakothek, Munich,Germany
Museum für Modern Kunst, Düsseldorf, Germany
Tokyo Museum of Modern Art, Japan
Sao Paolo Museum, Brasil
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mexico City Museum of Modern Art, Mexico
Musée de Montreal, Canada
Dallas Museum of Modern Art, USA
Reading Museum, USA
Palm Spring Museum, USA
Bibliography
ANDRE SALMON. Claude Venard. Editions Romanet, Paris, 1962.
'Claude Venard, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Felix Vercel, New York, 1967.
Venard, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Felix Vercel, New York, 1969.
Venard, exhibition catalogue, Galerie Felix Vercel, New York and Paris, 1989.
Solo Exhibitions
2000, Hommage à C. Venard, Saltiel Gallery, Saint-Paul-de-Vence.
1999, Gallery de L'université, Lyon.
1998, Casadai Gallery, La Chaise Dieu; Saltiel Gallery, Le Castellet.
1997, Christiane Vallé Gallery, Clermont Ferrand; Cloitre Saint-Michel Gallery, La Rochelle.
1995, Retrospective Exhibition, Florence-Basset Gallery, Flassans-sur-Issole ; Filderhalle, Stuttgart.
1994, Mad Manor, Bayonville ; Agora Centre, Guilherand-Granges ; Cloitre Gallery, La Rochelle.
1993, Barlier Galleries, Paris and La Reunion ; Art Auction, Monaco.
1992, Villa Tamaris, Seyne-sur-Mer.
1991, Vasarely Foundation, Aix-en-Provence.
1990, Merle Gallery, Paris.
1989, Vercel Gallery, Paris.
1988, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1985, Vercel Gallery, Paris.
1984, Vercel Gallery, Paris.
1983, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1982, Retrospective Exhibition, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1981, Palm Springs Desert Museum, USA; Vercel Gallery, New York.
1980, Galleria del Arte, Maison Bernard, Caracas.
1978, Vercel Gallery, Paris.
1975, Japan.
1973, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1971, Art and Culture Centre, La Seyne-sur-Mer ; Tallien Gallery, Saint-Tropez ; Printemps à Paris, Vercel Gallery, Paris and New York.
1970, Anganona Gallery, Caracas; Vercel Gallery, Paris and New York.
1969, E. Acosta Gallery, Beverly Hills, USA; Vercel Gallery, Paris; Retrospective Exhibition, Reading Museum, USA.
1967, E. Walter Gallery, New York.
1965, Romanet-Vercel Gallery, New York.
1964, Romanet-Vercel Gallery, Palm Beach.
1963, Munich; Romanet Gallery, Paris; Heseler Gallery, Munich.
1962, Romanet Gallery, Paris; Romanet-Vercel Gallery, New York.
1959, Charpentier Exhibition, Paris;
1946, De Knieff Gallery, Paris.
1944, Barriero Gallery, Paris.
Group Exhibitions
1999, La Belle Angèle Gallery, Lyon; Les Peintres de la Marine, Saint-Paul Gallery, Lyon.
1998, Petits Formats, Saltiel Gallery, Le Castellet.
1997, First Evian Art Show; Symphonie en Blanc Majeur, Saint-Paul Gallery, Lyon.
1991, Opening of Villa Tamaris, Seyne-sur-Mer.
1990, La Réaction Figurative, Alan 1950 Gallery.
1986, Ma Provence, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1985, New York Metropolitan Museum, New York; Springtime, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1984, Palais des Arts, Marseille.
1980, Music Hall, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1974, Sloane Gallery, Washington; Flowers 2001, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1971, Anganona Gallery, Caracas.
1969, Jonelle Gallery, Palm Springs, USA.
1968, Under Open Sky, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1967, Femme, Vercel Gallery, New York.
1964, Paris Insolite, Romanet Gallery, Paris; Vercel Gallery, Paris.
1963, Provence, Romanet-Vercel Gallery, New York.
1961, Leicester Gallery.
1947, The Independents Art Show; Whitney Museum, New York; Anglo-French Centre, London.
1945, Barreiro Gallery, Paris.
1944, Roux-Henstchel Gallery, Paris.
1937 - 1945, French Painting Exhibition, Rio de Janero, Brazil; Bazaine, Ariel, Maurs and Visconti Galleries, Paris.
1938, New Generation, Billiet-Vorms Gallery, Paris.
1937, Tuileries Autumn Show, Paris; Washington, USA.