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Artist Profile: Armand Merizon
May 29, 2024
Armand Merizon was an artist who refused to be held to any one style or template for how art should be represented. He threw off the mantle of tradition, worked through his disabilities, and refused to let go of the brush that both defined and bound him from his earliest years to his last breath.
As a boy growing up in Grand Rapids, MI, he was possessed by a wandering spirit and resisted the confinement of his early years among his family of strict Dutch immigrants. He struggled with illness and the confinement of schools. He lived through the Great Depression, joined the military during World War II, and studied art in New York and Europe. Merizon was a visionary who experienced the world at large to be both his most-suited classroom and greatest teacher. Merizon’s work never stopped expanding throughout his life and his restlessness was clearly illustrated on canvas, where he created more than 1,000 works of art during his lifetime.
Merizon was an artist who refused to be held to any one style or template for how art should be represented. He threw off the mantle of tradition and perfected his own style, adding bright colors, abstract patterns, and textures to even the most common of landscapes. He proved to be a prolific painter, even after having been diagnosed with macular degeneration and rheumatoid arthritis. These health issues forced him to evolve his painting style but never slowed his dedication to the arts.
Explore more works in the collection by Armand Merizon.
The GVSU Art Museum also maintains the online library and catalogue raisonné of Armand Merizon’s paintings and drawings. The catalogue documents more than 1000 works of art. Newly rediscovered works are regularly added to the catalog after authentication and documentation.
Explore the Armand Merizon Caratlogue Raisonné.
Header Images:
Armand Merizon, North Country, acrylic on
canvas board, 2008, 2021.1.13.
Armand Merizon, Farmstead, acrylic on board, 1990, 2021.1.27.
Armand Merizon, Italian Street Dancer, acrylic on canvas,
1991, 2021.1.39.