Abstract Composition (1975) - Franck Duminil (1933-2014)

Abstract composition, oil on aluminum panel, signed lower left Franck Duminil (1933-2014). Titled "Vol par beau temps", series OPUS 119. Countersigned on the back and dated 1975. Dimensions: 157 x 107 cm (with frame) ; 154 x 104 cm (on view).

Biography:

After a Parisian childhood interspersed with family trips (the Pyrenees, the town of Pau in particular, but also the beach at Cayeux-sur-Mer in the Somme), Franck Duminil entered the École des Beaux-Arts in Bordeaux, where he studied architecture in the Ferré studio before taking Jean Prouvé's classes at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers in Paris. In 1959, he left for 28 months of military service, first in Germany and then in Algeria. From 1962 to 1967, he worked as a draughtsman in various Paris architectural firms (Louis Arretche, Max Tournier), painting and participating in various group exhibitions at the same time. His relationship with Georges Mathieu dates from around 1980, and his improvised geometrism, where the impression of incisive coldness is underpinned by the dominance of blacks and grays, led Maurice J. Estrade to describe his highly personal style as "metallic". Gérald Schurr, Le dictionnaire Bénézit and Jean-Pierre Delarge use the word "aluchromie" to refer to Duminil's electrochemical paintings on aluminum from before 1980, when he returned to oil painting with "ornamental abstractions that evoke vast nebulae". Franck Duminil settled permanently in the Montmartre district of Paris in 1983.