Biography

Serge Poliakoff is a painter the major figures of the École de Paris at the beginning of the year 1900 in Moscow. This artisit is the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father is a supplier of horses for the Russian army and owns a racehorse stable. In 1914, he begins to take drawing lessons and spends his childhood between religious icons he sees in churches with his mother and the vibrant cultural life and literary salons of the Russian aristocracy. In 1918, his exodus across Europe begins, accompanying his aunt,…

Serge Poliakoff is a painter the major figures of the École de Paris at the beginning of the year 1900 in Moscow. This artisit is the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father is a supplier of horses for the Russian army and owns a racehorse stable.
In 1914, he begins to take drawing lessons and spends his childhood between religious icons he sees in churches with his mother and the vibrant cultural life and literary salons of the Russian aristocracy.
In 1918, his exodus across Europe begins, accompanying his aunt, a famous singer, playing the guitar. He finally arrives in Paris in 1923 and begins his long training that will last for twenty years.
In 1937, he becomes close to the Delaunay painters whose theoretical discussions greatly assist his development. Two years later, he exhibits his first abstract painting and compositions in Paris. Noted by the painter Kandinsky, who says, “I bet on Poliakoff for the future.” He then participates in several salons and organizes his first exhibition of abstract paintings in 1945. The artist subsequently receives the Kandinsky Prize in 1947.
Meanwhile, to make ends meet, Serge Poliakoff creates successful fabric designs. However, he abandons this activity for fear that it might adversely affect his painting and compositions. Instead, he prefers to play the guitar in Russian cabarets at night.
He is then exhibited several times at the Denise René Gallery. From 1951 onwards, he exhibits at the Dina Vierny Gallery after their chance meeting in a Russian cabaret where Dina Vierny was replacing a sick singer.
The artist can finally enjoy success in the 1950s and 60s with numerous exhibitions and awards, as well as his participation in the 1962 Venice Biennale. He passes away in 1969, just before his major retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.
Deeply influenced by Russian icons, he tries in his painting to convey the same emotion. This iconic aspect is reflected in his admiration for Malevich’s “White Square on White Background,” which had a significant impact on his work.
This painter seeks to express the presence of existence in his work, searching for a pre-figurative primitivism. Like the American artists of his generation (Rothko, Gottlieb, Newman). This is expressed in the balance of forms in his compositions, with the soul of the work relying on the vibration and colorful intensity emanating from it. Serge Poliakoff did not seek novelty in his painting but eternity, turning his paintings into true divine images, icons of modern art.

Read more Read less