We Perform 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.

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”.

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.

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.