Jean Marchand 1883 -1941

French painter of landscapes, figures, still life and occasional large decorative compositions; illustrator and engraver. Born in Paris. Studied part-time at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts 1902-6 under Bonnat and L.-O. Merson, supporting himself by designing textiles, jewellery and other applied art. Met Segonzac, Boussingault and L.-A. Moreau. In 1909 studied for several months at the Academie Vitti under Henri Martin. Experimented c.1911-12 with Cubist stylisation and even occasionally with Futurist multiple images, and in 1912 exhibited at the Salon de la Section d'Or, but never departed far from a basically naturalistic, post-Cezannesque vision. His work largely interrupted 1914-19 by war service, but had his first one-man exhibition at the Carfax Gallery, London, in 1915. Visited Russia in 1912 and Syria and the Middle East 1928; painted decorative panels for the Syrian pavilion at the Colonial Exhibition at Vincennes 1931. Worked much in the South of France at C-23ret, Cagnes, Vence and elsewhere. Illustrated various books with woodcuts or lithographs, including Claudel's Le Chemin de Croix (1918) and Valery's Le Serpent (1927). His work had a huge influence on the aesthetic theories promoted by Clive Bell and Roger Fry.His first one-man show was at the Carfax Gallery in 1919. In 1910 his painting Still Life with Bananas was exhibited in the 1910 Manet and Post-Impressionism show organized by Roger Fry and then in a second show in 1912 organized by Fry with Clive Bell at the Grafton Galleries in London. This led to a kind of adoption of Marchand by the Bloomsbury circle, and his work was bought by the important British collector Samuel Courtauld. His is represented in a number of public collections (see Art UK).