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 Appliques 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, Andre 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.