French born artist Claude Venard began his career as a restorer at the Louvre Museum. In 1936 Venard participated in a group show with other young talent, and the exhibition received critical acclaim. Venard, Marchand and the other artists in the exhibit became the leading painters of the time, and their art movement, called Forces Nouvelles, was born.  Eventually Venard left the group, and concentrated on his own post-Cubist style of accentuating a chromatic range of color, and using very thick applications of paint with a pallet knife.  His successful career led to one-man shows throughout North America, Europe and Asia and his paintings are  part of  permanent collections in the Modern Art Museum, Paris; The Tate Gallery, London; the Metropolitan Museum, New York; and the Tokyo Museum.