André Lauran, 1966, Oysters and Onions, Sanz-ism movement of Lyon, French New Figuration

André Lauran 1966, Oysters and Onions, Sanz-ism movement of Lyon, French New Figuration

In 1966, André Lauran (Valence, 1922 – Lagny-sur-Marne, 2009) painted this Still Life with Oysters and Onions, a key work linked to the Lyon-based Sanz-ism movement — one of the most distinctive expressions of French New Figuration in the postwar period. The painting, luminous and rich in impasto, reflects the compositional freedom and chromatic sensitivity characteristic of this school, founded around André Cottavoz, Jean Fusaro, and Jacques Truphémus.

The Sanz-ism group was born in 1948 during the Salon des Surindépendants in Lyon, an “anti-salon” with no jury, allowing artists full expressive freedom. At a time dominated by the tension between abstraction and figuration, these painters rejected rigid choices, defining a painting “without -ism” — based on light, matter, and intuition.

In this composition, Lauran arranges objects on a quiet, balanced plane: the bottle, onions, and oysters emerge from light itself, modeled by color rather than line. The atmosphere is intimate and vibrant, the palette restrained yet expressive, evoking an interplay between form and perception.

After studying in Lyon and exhibiting for the first time at the Valence Museum in 1941, André Lauran participated in the founding exhibition of Sanz-ism in 1948. In the early 1950s he lived in the United States as a textile designer, before settling in Paris, where he taught drawing and continued painting. His works are held in several public and private collections, including the Ville de Paris, the Musée de Valence, and the Musée d’Annecy.

Gilded wooden frame from the 20th century, in good condition.
Size: 46 × 65 cm.