Baterbys Art Auction Gallery - Bios

André Marchand

(1877-1951) André Marchand was a French realist painter, illustrator, stage and tapestry designer but he is most famous for his realist painting style. By the age of 13, Marchand began painting, despite his family’s opposition to art as a profession, and six years later he moved to Paris to pursue his vocation. Marchand was self-taught, and began exhibiting at Le Salon d’Automne in Paris in 1932 and Le Salon des Indépendants from 1933 until 1939. He was part of the artistic group known as Forces Nouvelles; yet it was Le Salon de Mai that showcased his great and most impassioned canvases. His work attracted attention from 1934 onwards and was popular amongst collectors and dealers. Further success was achieved when he was awarded the Paul Guillaume prize in 1937 for his painting La Jeune Fille et La Paralytique.

André Marchand was a painter who defined his period like his close companions Gruber, Tal-Coat and Giacometti. His canvases show the dominant figures of fishermen, taut and enigmatic, framed against strange scaffolding or a wall with the sea surging behind. He also designed costumes and sets for the ballet, in particular Suite Provençale and Mireille in L’Opéra Comique in Paris. Furthermore, he produced a number of cartoons of Aubusson tapestries and illustrated several works of literature for writers.

Retrospective exhibitions of his paintings were held in Tokyo, Osaka, London, Venice, San Paolo and Mexico. His paintings can be seen in museums in the following cities: Algiers, Grenoble, Liege, Paris (Musée Nationale de l’Art Modern), and Toulouse.