Serge POLIAKOFF - Composition bleue, Parménide, 1964 - Etching

Serge Poliakoff : (1900-1969) is a french painter of russian origins (he was born in Moscow). He belongs to the movement La nouvelle École de Paris. He took his first steps in art at the Drawing School of Moscow. He left Russia in 1918/19, and he arrived in 1920 in Constantinople, surviving thanks to his guitar gift. Going through Sofia, Belgrade, Vienna and Berlin, Poliakoff settled in 1923 in Paris where he would play in Russian cabarets. In 1929, he started going to the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. His paintings remained academic, until he had an artistic epiphany in London: — where he lived from 1935 to 1937 — abstract art and bright colours present on egyptian sarcophagus. He acquainted Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay, Robert Delaunay, and Otto Freundlich. In 1935, he met Marcelle Perreur Loyd who became his wife, and his most faithful support. His painting progressively got rid of any representation: Poliakoff was soon considered as one of the most powerful painters of his generation. In 1962, a room was reserved for his paintings at the Venice Biennal and Poliakoff is naturalized french the same year. His works are present in most of the biggest european and american musems. Poliakoff also worked with céramics at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. Notably, he encouraged Arman to start painting. In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent signed Poliakoff dress and a Mondrian dress. In 1970 took place his first exhibition at the Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 2006, Poliakoff was part of the painters gathered at the Musée du Luxembourg (Sénat) for the exhibition "L'Envolée lyrique, Paris 1945-1956". In 2013, the Musée d'art moderne de la ville de Paris dedicated an exhibition to the artist: an important retrospective of 150 worksmade between 1946 and 1969. The same year, the gallery Applicat-Prazan exhibited around 20 works at the 40th edition of FIAC.