The images and information presented below are for the instruction of students and scholarly research.
Felix del Marle
(1889-1952)
Futurist painter Felix del Marle was born
in Pont-Sur-Sambre, France and studied at the School of
Fine Arts in Valenciennes. Later, del Marle would also
study in Brussels, and finally moved to Paris in 1912.
There he shared a studio with fellow artist Gino
Severini and was exposed to Futurism in 1913. He would
be the only Frenchman to sign their manifesto and be
officially associated with the Futurists.
Looping, 1914
Like many of the
other Futurists, his flirtation with the movement would
be short lived—only about three years. The Futurist
movement dealt with motion, light and technology, often
infusing machinery and other technological symbols, and
was started by Italian artists like Giacomo Balla. After
he moved on from Futurism, del Marle was influenced by
Abstract artist Kupka and would paint in this style from
the 1920s until his death. Del Marle has also been
associated with the De Stijl style of Abstract painting,
which focused on squares of color and can be seen in his
1947 piece “Composition”.
Composition, 1947
Del Marle would work
in a number of mediums from oil to charcoal and gouache.
He also painted under the name Mac Del Marle or simply
went by just his last name.
Untitled gouache on paper
Le Group Vouloir, 1925
Untitled
Like most Abstract
artists of his era, it would not be likely that
self-portraits, still life or landscapes would be found
an attributed to him, but mostly geometric compositions.
However, in the 1930s he worked in neoplasticism, a type
of sculpture, and created very linear models. Del Marle
did, however, design modular furniture in an Abstract
style.
Del Marle was very interested in creating a synthesis of
the arts, and was even known to create three-dimensional
models of his paintings in order to convince architects
to build his designs.
Today, del Marle’s work is housed in museums all over
France and Europe. Because he was an Abstract painter
for most of his career, his work may be hard to
immediately identify. However, a professional
authenticator would be able to thoroughly research a
piece by del Marle.
