Description

Two original pencil drawings by André Marchand of landscapes in the south of France.
One, a study for a painting in Salies-de-Béarn in 1939, contains several notes on colour and light.
The other has a signed autograph letter sent to composer Darius Milhaud before going to the war front and his wife Madeleine (Antibes, 13 September 1939):

"We are a detachment of Infantry who will one of these mornings receive the order to go to the front. Today the mistral is blowing in the wonderful landscape full of light - and what can you do with this weight on your head. So we're in this situation of thousands of men - who hope - I'm here under an olive tree - nature is very beautiful. But I don't have the courage to write to you any longer."

André Marchand befriended the composer Darius Milhaud, also from Aix, in Paris. In 1936, he designed sets and costumes for his ballet "Suite Provençale"; that same year, Darius Milhaud introduced him to Pierre Colle, who became his gallerist. In 1937, Marchand was awarded the Prix Paul Guillaume.
Mobilised in 1939, Marchand narrowly escaped death, retreated for a time to Aix-en-Provence, then took part in the exhibition "Vingt jeunes peintres de tradition française" (Twenty young painters in the French tradition), a demonstration organised in Paris against the Nazi ideology of "degenerate art". In the post-war period, his first exhibitions met with great success, helping to establish him as one of the leading figures in "southern" painting.