Additional Images

Provenance:

Patrimoine Marcil, Geneva, Switzerland

Note:

Accompanied with impeccable provenance and authenticity, Waddington’s presents two major works by Marcil, “Abstract # 44”, 1958 and “Abstract # 37”, 1957. Both works were created in Paris at his studio on rue Séguier, Quai des Grands-Augustins.

While living in Paris, Marcil became a Montparno, a name for the artists and intellectuals who were regulars at the Montparnasse cafés and restaurants such as La Closerie des Lilas and brasserie La Coupole. He enjoyed discussions with his peers including Sonia Delaunay amongst others. In th 30’s, La Closerie des Lilas was Hemingway’s home café where he wrote regularly for the Toronto Star. 

Marcil evolved towards Abstract Geometric and Abstract Figurative creating paintings composed of structured and irregular forms. Using his vivid Fauvist colour palette, Marcil achieved a striking balance between form, colour and space. He would often say, “for me, abstract and figurative are one of the same.’’

The Van Diemen-Lilienfeld Galleries, 57th Street at Madison Avenue, New York exhibited Marcil’s work from the mid-1950s until its closure in the mid-1960s. Curator Elizabeth Flinn from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, refers to Marcil’s work as ‘’poetic in color and composition.’’ Artworks by Marcil were included in a Modern Art group exhibition alongside paintings by Pollock and Magritte.

James Johnson Sweeney, director of The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, in a letter to Marcil on May 9, 1956 commented that “the free handling of your broad color area was very happy.’’

Works by Marcil are present in the Collections Nationales de France, Ministère de la Culture de France, Musée des Arts Décoratifs at the Louvre, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York and in the Sweeney collection.

Poetic in colour and composition, “Abstract # 44”, is a luminous abstract figurative with its deep-green colour scheme reminiscent of La Closerie des Lilas' green garden and hedges of lilacs surrounding the terrace. The red square bottom right along with red lines and a brown rectangle draw parallels with the red stools lining the mahogany bar and the red arrow indicates the direction of the seating. The white stick is most likely Marcil’s version of a Cocktail Martini Stick. The bar at La Closerie des Lilas was Marcil’s favourite hangout in Paris. Marcil loved cactuses, he had many in his studio, a likely source of inspiration for the figuration on the right side.

Waddington’s thanks the Patrimoine Marcil for contributing the above essay.