Claude Venard

Claude Venard Biography

 French painter mainly of landscapes and still life. Born in Paris. Entered the Ecole des Beaux-Arts at the age of 17 but left after two days; took lessons at the Ecole des Arts Appliqu-23s in the evenings, then painted on his own. Supported himself by various jobs such as designing for a silk factory, and later by restoring Old Master paintings for five years with a restorer to the Louvre. First exhibited in 1936 with the Forces Nouvelles group of Gruber, Tal Coat, Pignon, Andr-23 Marchand and others. Influenced by the Primitives, then Courbet, then the Cubists. First one-man exhibition at the Galerie Barreiro, Paris, in 1943 or 1944 and has since painted full-time. In the 1950s his work became more abstracted, with linear patterning and flat patches of colour.