RUSSIA, Moscow – FRANCE, Paris 1902 / 1976
Russian-French painter and printmaker, mostly known for his contribution to the Tachism Movement (Tachisme) that began in France in the early 1940s.
Lanskoy was born into an aristocratic family in Moscow in 1902. He served as a volunteer for the Tsarist White Army but was wounded during the war and consequently went into exile.
In 1921 he moved to Paris and while working and studying at the Paris Academy he came across the works of Vincent Van Gogh and James Ensor and discovered their use of colour.
His first group exhibition of works by Russian painters was held at the La Licorne Gallery in 1922 and was quite a success. This paved the way to subsequent exhibitions alongside artists such as Robert Delaunay, Leopold Survage and Ossip Zadkine.
Following his growing success, his works were featured in the Salon d’Automne in 1924, where his paintings were to attract the attention of a German art collector, Wilhelm Uhde. Shortly after, his first solo exhibition took place in 1925.
With the help of art critics, his works were successfully sold to several private collectors and museums all over Europe, including Antwerp and Manheim. During this period his techniques were mostly figurative, as is clearly demonstrated in his “Portait of a Peasant Woman”.
In the 1930s he changed his style completely and began a transition towards abstraction perhaps as a result of his permanent interaction with Wassily Kandinsky. His first abstract exhibition was held at the Jeanne Bucher Gallery in 1944. There he meets and starts a solid friendship with Nicolás de Staël. This was followed by a series of solo exhibitions throughout the American continent and in the most relevant galleries of the world. Tachism, also known as the Dripping Technique, is part of his work.
This exhibition highlights his work in a later period, revealing maturity and a passion for colour that leads to a world of light and movement that is both intriguing and joyful.
André Lanksoy died in Paris in August 1976.
