With a CAP in woodcarving, Francis Marshall began an “unusual” artistic career in 1969.
Retreating to the countryside, he began creating over four hundred “bourrages”, sculptures in fabric, string and wood, including the famous Aventures de Mauricette in 1975.
From 1977, he taught at the École supérieure d’art du Havre.
Discovered by Alain Bourbonnais, a collector of art brut and friend of the painter Jean Dubuffet, he exhibited his “bourrages” in 1973 at the Atelier Jacob in Paris, then at the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1978, and finally in London in 1979 at the Hayward Gallery.
Michel Ragon and Hubert Reeves have written about his work, and Roger Planchon made a film, Les aventures de Mauricette, broadcast on French national television in 1976.
His heroine Mauricette has been on permanent display at La Fabuloserie, the Musée d’Art Brut, since 1983, during which time the artist has continued to exhibit in museums and galleries.
From 1986 onwards, he created two hundred and fifty sculptures filled with tables, chairs, buildings, trains, sarcophagi, cupboards and bicycles. At the same time, he painted one hundred and fifty sculpture-paintings.
Then, in 1990, he began a new series, creating over one hundred and fifty paintings with frames and writing.
In 1996, he began to store paintings in cupboards, and in 2009, he piled up stuffing with paintings: this would be the Château de la Solitude with Pavillons Attenants.
He began his collaboration with the GP & N Vallois gallery in 2024, with his first exhibition scheduled for November/December.