Acrylic

Abstract expressionist yellow toned painting of a collection of figures corralling a bull. Signed by the artist in the lower right corner. Framed in a black frame with silver accents.

Jean Marzelle was born on 24 January 1916 in Lauzun (Lot-et-Garonne), the youngest child of a family of three. From a very early age, the young boy was fascinated by drawing and painting, which he discovered at the Musée Fabre in Montpellier. As a secondary school pupil, he started his apprenticeship in the fine arts by copying works of the masters exhibited at the museum. His yearning to devote his life to painting came to the fore and, in 1934, he enrolled at the École des Beaux-Arts in Montpellier, where he joined the drawing class under Monsieur Descossy and produced his first painted works en plein air in the Montpellier region. That same year, he joined the Society of Painters of the Hérault as an exhibiting member. The following year, Marzelle moved to the rue Mouffetard in Paris, where he shared a studio with friends. He enrolled at the Parisian École des Beaux-Arts, where he was accepted for competitive entrance examinations in the galleries and copied ancient sculpture. He augmented his training and knowledge by regular visits to the Louvre. In 1940, shortly after the war broke out, Marzelle went back to Lauzun. The following year, he returned to his studio in rue de Verneuil, which he discovered to have been looted in his absence. On 17 October 1942, Jean Marzelle married Hélène Chatel, who gave birth to a daughter, Catherine (born in 1945) and a son, François (born in 1951). Through the good offices of Jean Cluseau-Lanove, Marzelle started teaching the history of art and decoration at the vocational centre of the École Estienne. In 1952, Jean Marzelle discovered Spain (Madrid, Segovia, Avila and Toledo), and he continued to copy the masters at the Prado. In 1953, Marzelle was awarded a prize on his first showing at the Biennale de Menton (he would exhibit at this event until 1957). On the advice of his friend, the art dealer, Marcel Guiot, in 1960, Jean Marzelle visited the Netherlands and the port of Hoorn, which would furnish the motifs of many of his works from then on. In 1966, Galerie Marcos Castillos in Caracas exhibited Marzelle as a member of the École de Paris, as did the Milloud Gallery in Houston in 1969. Marzelle sent work to the Biennale de Puteaux in 1966 and visited Venice for a second time in 1969. In 1982, Galerie Jean-Pierre Joubert opens its doors with a solo exhibition of work by Marzelle, which would be the start of a long-term collaboration between them, and Bernard Dorival wrote the preface for the accompanying catalogue. That spring, Marzelle returned to Italy (Volterra, Assisi, San Gimignano, Gubbio, Arezzo) and admired the frescoes by Piero della Francesca and the Deposition from the Cross by Rosso. The following year, he visited Rome and its artistic treasures for the first time (the Raphael stanzi at the Vatican). In 1984, he travelled to the USSR with his students from the Académie de Port-Royal, visiting Moscow, Leningrad and the State Hermitage Museum for the first time, which left a powerful mark on him. In 1995, the Château de la Bertrandrière, L'Étrat (Loire) organised and hosted a large solo exhibition of his work. Galerie des Arts, Nîmes accorded him exhibitions in 1992 and 1997. Jean Marzelle died on 11 August 2005.

H 31.5 in. x W 25.5 in. x D 1.5 in.

H 30 in. x W 24 in.