signed lower right; titled on the exhibition/inventory label verso
Provenance: Private collection, Palm Desert CA; Edenhurst Gallery, Palm Desert CA (acquired ca 2003); Private collection, Spokane WA
Note: Additionally titled “Composition #3” on a label remnant verso; framing label verso from The House of Heydenryk, New York NY
René Marcil was born in Montreal (Quebec) and died in Toronto (Ontario), though he spent most of his professional career outside of Canada. Marcil was initially trained at l’École des beaux-arts (Montreal), before entering the world of advertising and commercial illustration. He gained early recognition as both an exhibiting painter and a commercial illustrator, a field in which he rose to prominence. His commercial work was defined by polished and elegant fashion illustrations, produced for major retailers such as Eaton’s (Montreal) and Lord & Taylor (New York City), and his fashion interpretations were essential to the launch of Christian Dior’s “New Look” campaign following the Second World War.
In the early 1950s, Marcil moved to Paris to enroll at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. There, he was exposed to the flourishing Lyrical Abstraction and Neoplasticist movements, and he became deeply engaged in the city’s social and artistic circles. He remained in Europe, where he focused on his non-commercial art, spending time in London and the south of France. His works of the era are noted for their bright vivid colours and geometric forms, and showcase the artist’s casual and painterly approach — a fascinating interplay between the abstract and expressive.
