La Table

Claude Venard (1913-1999), the French post-Cubist painter, is known for his powerful abstract compositions that explore the inner forces and underlying rhythms of subjects, rather than their outward appearance. This opens up the viewer to new perspective and way of looking by projecting spatial vistas into every part of the canvas, in accordance with an emotional rather than a physical order.

Venard’s optimistic attitude and obvious enjoyment of life imbues everyday objects and his views of Paris with an undeniably French joie de vivre. The artist said of his approach to his paintings “One must be wary of works that seduce at first sight; I do not mean that ugliness is a virtue, but a painting should be powerful without the use of trite devices.” Venard quickly established himself for his bold, heavily impasto technique, which through the 1950’s became even more abstracted