His Own Boss Now?

By the end of the 1960s Armand achieved statewide and international recognition. Like the previous decade, this one was highlighted again by a one-man show, this time sponsored by the Grand Rapids Art Museum. The reception included Michigan Governor George Romney and his wife, who bought a Merizon painting and borrowed others for public display. They chose Armand to be the first Michigan artist to hang his work in the State Capital. 

In press coverage surrounding the show reviewers admired the jewel-like precision of some paintings, the palpable atmosphere in others, and the artist’s versatility in subject. They also saluted his mastery of numerous media including tempera, acrylic, casein, and oil. And they embraced the visual “approachability” of his work. Russell Pierce of the Detroit Free Press remarked that Armand had become “his own boss now” and quoted Armand’s reference—in past tense—to the “terribly hard road” he had had to travel for a while because of his decision to shun the lure of commercialism and concentrate on aesthetic values (VanderMey, 2012).