Rene Marcil

René Marcil (1917-1993) was born in Montreal. While he was born in Canada, he spent most of his life abroad, living in New York, Paris, London, and Tourettes-sur-Loup. Growing up Marcil’s household was void of most art save for what he could collect from newspapers and small reproductions of religious paintings by Raphael and Piero Della Francesca, which he would frequently study.​

In 1931 at age 14 Marcil enrolled in L’ecole des Beaux Arts in Montreal and graduated in 1935. In 1941 he and his wife Evelyn Rowat, who he met while working at Eaton’s, moved to New York. There he and Evelyn worked as fashion illustrators for Lord & Taylor.  In 1952 he and his wife had decided to move to Paris, France where he joined La Grande Chaumiere a shared studio of artists. Eventually in the mid 60s’ Evelyn decided to move back to America, René, however, stayed in Europe moving to London, England.

During this time, he continued to visit the south of France frequently, until 1980 when he would move to Tourettes-sur-Loup, France until 1991. ​Marcil died on September 25th, 1993 in Toronto, Ontario. His works are in private and public collections internationally including the Musée des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, Palais du Louvre, and the Art Gallery of Algoma.