Marcel WARRAND “Composition” 2004 Pop Art Oil painting on canvas mounted on canvas

Born in Namur in January 1924, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Namur, he taught his art for 35 years: first at the School of Arts and Crafts in Maredsous, then at Saint-Luc (Brussels), at the Institute of Decorative Art of the Sisters of St. Mary (Brussels), and finally at the Institute of Arts and Craft Techniques (Namur) where he ended his career in 1989. A proponent of diversity, always in search of something new, he went through the major artistic movements of the 20th century, producing works that were sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract. He was also "the co-founder of contemporary Namur artists' groups: AXE 59, ROUE, AXE 66, Rez-de-chaussée 28, with the Lapeirre, Londot, Pirrard, Souply and Van Espen families... Gustave Cambier and especially Yvonne Perrin encouraged him to move away from the post-impressionism then being taught. His experimentation with cubism led him to abstraction. The appearance of human elements, even fragmentary ones, foreshadowed the return of figuration, such as the bodybuilders with their flamboyant colors and exaggerated forms, painted in oils on imposing canvases; the woman, on the other hand, appears sensual, luminous, multifaceted, her flesh almost translucent, outlined by the color of the background." Insignificant objects, arranged in a scenario orchestrated by the artist, invade the walls of the studio and become the driving force behind the poetry of his canvases and boxes.” (Jacques Patris, in Emmène-mois no. 154, p. 7) He died on June 4, 2015, at the age of 91. Many of his works are in museums (including the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium in Brussels) and private collections, both in Belgium and abroad.