Marcel Basler (French) 1917 - 1990
Abstract French Provincial Landscape 
Fauvist / Colourist
Gouache on heavy paper
1950's (mid 20th century)
Signed 
Size: 32cm x 40cm
 
Marcel Philippe Alfred Basler,  1917 - 1990 born in Salernes, is a French painter.
Second child of the merchant and great critic of Franco-Polish art
Adolphe Basler and Désirée Eugénie Renaudot, Marcel spent most of his life in Paris where, through his father's activities, he was in contact with artists very early on renowned like Raoul Dufy, Maurice Utrillo,
Othon Coubine, Suzanne Valadon and Léon Indenbaum. He developed a keen interest in painting with them,
frequented museums a lot and fed his aesthetic reflection with a large number of readings. From 1939, he joined the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, in Montparnasse, where he followed the teaching of Othon Friesz, one of the representatives of Fauvism. Very quickly, he will acquire a good mastery of painting, the energy of the line and a strong taste for color and strong contrasts.
It was around this time that he became friends with Francis Gruber.
The artistic style and philosophy that settled in this young painter will accompany him throughout his life.
He creates landscapes, still lifes and seascapes, while preserving a pictorial liveliness which exalts the quintessence of the subjects.
He teaches drawing while pursuing a very active artistic career.
Until the end of the sixties, Marcel Basler's work was essentially figurative and was expressed in gouaches as well
as watercolors and oil paintings. During this period, he enjoyed a certain notoriety, reinforced by the
participation in numerous exhibitions. In 1944, he married Élise Marie Justine Estrabols.
In 1946, he exhibited at the second "May fair" at the Galeries Lafayette, in 1949 and 1950 at the 9th and 10th National Education fairs in Grenoble.
In 1952, he organized a personal exhibition at the Galerie de Seine in Paris where he presented gouaches of Provençal landscapes.
In 1953, still at the Seine gallery, he exhibited paintings and tempera from La Ciotat as well as landscapes from Haute Provence.