302 - Marcel AVRIL (1877–1944)

Marcel AVRIL (1877–1944) A very strong collection comprising more than two hundred forty (240) drawings and a few rare paintings, the entire collection constitutes the studio archive of the artist, who was active in the late 1930s and 1940s, and covers numerous themes: landscapes, nudes, portraits, still lifes, abstraction Various sizes Provenance: Collection of the artist Armand Avril (1926–2025) Marcel Avril (1887–1944) was the father of the artist Armand Avril (1926–2025). Marcel Avril, a collector of paintings and primitive art as early as the 1920s and 1930s, was a man of strong political convictions in the spirit of the Popular Front, a defender of the workers’ cause, and a peace activist. His paintings reflect his commitments and offer a deeply tormented vision of a world with apocalyptic undertones. The profound strangeness of his painting—unparalleled in our eyes—manifests itself in a striking blend of Expressionism and Surrealism, imbued with a deeply personal, incantatory mysticism. In Lyon, he exhibited with the Témoignage group, under the auspices of Marcel Michaud, in 1940, 1941, and 1943. In January 1944, his political activism led to his arrest by the Gestapo, followed by his deportation to Germany, where he died in December of that same year. Since then, his work has been shown only once, at the exhibition “Groupe Témoignage 1936–1943” at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, exactly 50 years ago, in 1976