Claude Venard

Alon Zakaim Fine Art is proud to present a new selection of works by Claude Venard, bringing together works spanning forty years of the artist's career. This second show that we have devoted to this exceptional artist's oeuvre at our Cork St gallery charts the development of his technique away from his moody, representational paintings of coastal scenes and landscapes, through a simplification of style that eventually leads to the loose and free technique of his later years, heavy with impasto and dazzlingly colourful.

Venard forged a successful career in the art market over a period of sixty years. His unique and distinctive approach to the fundamental aspects of cubism and expressionism makes his work instantly recognisable, and the range of techniques and styles evident as his career progressed show his lifelong passion for exploring the possibilities of paint. At the age of 17, Venard decided to devote himself to art; he began exhibiting his paintings in the 1930s, featuring in the influential 'Forces Nouvelles' exhibition in 1936, and had his first solo show in 1944 at Galerie Barreiro, Paris. After the Second World War, the popularity of his work began to increase rapidly, and he began focusing on his practice intently. The fruitful relationship with Felix Vercel brought him to a wider audience on both sides of the Atlantic, and the commercial success of his shows allowed Venard not only to produce a substantial body of work over several decades, but to experiment in the range of styles which each still contain his signature technique.

Today the works of Claude Venard form part of permanent collections in the Modern Art Museum, Paris; The Tate Gallery, London; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; and The Tokyo Museum. Throughout his career he exhibited extensively and globally, and has featured in numerous solo shows and retrospectives. His work continues to perform very well on both the primary and secondary markets and we are pleased to present this diverse selection to the public.