POLIAKOFF Serge (1900 / 1969)
Serge Poliakoff, born January 8, 1900 in Moscow and died October 12, 1969 in Paris, is a French painter of Russian origin belonging to the new School of Paris.
Serge Poliakoff (Sergueï Poliakov) is the thirteenth child of fourteen siblings. His father, a Kyrgyz Roma, who had owned horse breeding farms, supplied the army and owned a racing stable. His mother takes him to church every day where the icons fascinate him. He enrolled at the Moscow drawing school. Leaving Russia in 1918 (or 1919) he arrived in Constantinople in 1920, surviving thanks to his talent as a guitarist.
Passing through Sofia, Belgrade, Vienna and Berlin, Poliakoff settled in Paris in 1923 where he continued to play in Russian cabarets. In 1929, he enrolled at the Grande Chaumière academy. His paintings remained academic until the discovery he made in London - where he stayed from 1935 to 1937 - of abstract art and the luminosity of the colors of Egyptian sarcophagi. Shortly after, he became involved with Kandinsky, Sonia Delaunay and Robert Delaunay, Otto Freundlich and Jean-Michel Coulon. In 1935, he met love at first sight with the British Marcelle PERROR Loyd who would become his wife and his most faithful support (she died in 1981).
His painting freeing itself from any representation, Poliakoff is quickly considered one of the most powerful painters of his generation. In 1947, he was trained by Jean Deyrolle in Gordes (Vaucluse), notably with Gérard Schneider, Gilioli, Victor Vasarely, Jean Dewasne.
At the beginning of the 1950s, he stayed in the Hôtel du Vieux-Colombier, near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, run by Louis Nallard and Maria Manton, continuing to earn his living by playing the balalaika. A contract quickly allows him better material stability.
In 1954 and 1955, on a proposal from the poet and art critic Charles Estienne, Poliakoff settled for the summer, with Jean Degottex, René Duvillier and Marcelle Loubchansky in Portsall (Finistère).
In 1962, a room was reserved for his paintings at the Venice Biennale and Poliakoff was naturalized French the same year. His works appear in most European and New York museums. He also worked on ceramics at the Sèvres Manufacture. He encouraged Arman to paint.
In 1965, Yves Saint Laurent designed a Poliakoff dress and a Mondrian dress.
He is buried in the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois.
(Source: Wikipedia)