René Marcil
René Marcil | |
|---|---|
| Born | May 1917 |
| Died | September 1993 |
René Marcil was a painter and fashion illustrator.[1] He spent most of his professional life in New York, Paris, London and the French Riviera. Marcil played a central role in the successful post-war launch of Christian Dior’s New Look collection in the United States.
Early life
As a youngster, while recovering from major surgery, he collected and copied Holy Pictures, reproductions of Raphael and Piero Della Francesca. At 14, he was admitted to the École des Beaux-Arts de Montréal.
Career
Marcil’s fashion drawings are expressive and refined according to the curator of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, Louvre. [2] He was the "perfect choice to reinterpret [3] Dior's vision.‘’
In 1947, Marcil's illustrations of models wearing what became known as Dior's "New Look" outfits contributed to the collection's appeal to American women. The expression "New Look" is believed to have been coined by Carmel Snow editor-in-chief of the American edition of Harper's Bazaar .
Writer and curator Alexander Fury wrote that by 1956, the house of Dior was responsible for generating half the total French haute couture exports to the USA, and by 1958, employed 1,500 people. Time magazine reported: ‘’ (Dior) is the Atlas, holding up the entire French fashion industry.‘’ [4]
Marcil moved to Paris in the mid 1950s and became part of the Académie de la Grande Chaumière École de Paris and the lyrical abstraction movement, a movement parallel to American abstract expressionism.
He later evolved towards Neo-expressionism sometimes called the ‘’ New Fauves’’ to better meet the meaning of the term. The style is characterized by intense subjectivity and rough handling of materials.[5] His talent as a colourist became evident along with his idealization of visual perception. During his Neo-expressionist period, Marcil was influenced by the naturalist literary movement.
As echoed in the following excerpt from Cornette de Saint-Cyr, Paris, Art Contemporain catalogue: [6] " Dans un jaillissement du sujet, de la forme, de couleurs flamboyantes, l’oeuvre de Marcil tente de répondre à ses pairs dans un langage plus accessible aux aspirations de la nouvelle génération... Répertoire hybride qui est le sien, sa peinture décontractée s’inspire du quotidien qu’il démaquille. "
" The subject, form and flamboyant colors in Marcil’s work represent an artistic language totally in tune with the new generation’s aspirations of his time. This language was meant as a challenge to his peers... In the hybrid repertoire so typical of Marcil, a common thread is his casual painting style inspired by daily life that it unmasks. " (free translation)
Today Marcil's artwork is in the permanent collections of the Louvre and also in the permanent Collections Nationales de France, Ministry of Culture (France).[7]
References
- ^ Benezit (2010). BENEZIT Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0199773787.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ MAD. Rapport d'activité (PDF). p. 32.
- ^ MAD. Rapport d'activité 2018 p.93.
- ^ Alexander Fury. DIOR Catwalk. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-22584-6.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help) - ^ Chilvers, Ian and John Glaves-Smith. A Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Art. Oxford University Press (2009), p. 503.
- ^ Cornette de Saint Cyr. Cornette de Saint-Cyr , Art Contemporain, Lundi 17 décembre 2012. Drouot Richelieu, p. 221.
- ^ Ministry of Culture. Bulletin Officiel n. 296. p. 127.
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