Serge Poliakoff : ‘ Silent Paintings’  – Londres

Article de Jacqueline Knox

Timothy Taylor Gallery

14 JANVIER-21 FÉVRIER 2015

Serge Poliakoff (1900-1969)

Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1903. He left Russia in 1917 and joined a gypsy orchestra playing guitar. This musical part of his life would later influence his abstract paintings. When the orchestra reached Paris Poliakoff decided to stay there and he remained in Paris for most of his life. In 1929 he enrolled at the Academie Forchot and Academie de la Grande Chaumiere .

In 1935 Poliakoff came to London where he studied at The Slade School of Art and the Grosvenor School of Modern Art. During this time he discovered abstract painting and how to make colour pigments, both of which are evident in these paintings in this exhibition. Poliakoff also studied the sarcophagi in the British museum and was intrigued by the layering of pigment  applied to the sarcophagi. Back in Paris in 1937 he was heavily influenced by Wassily Kandinsky (b.1866-d.1944) and Robert Delaunay (b.1885-d.1941) and Sonia Delaunay ( b. 1885-d.1979). At this time this group of painters had started to use strong colours and geometric shapes as their subject matter.

His painting Forme bleue sur fond rouge (1950) demonstrates this contrast of intense colour. This seminal painting was shown as part of Poliakoff’s solo presentation in the French pavilion at the XXXI Venice Biennale in 1962, after which he became a French citizen.

Private view Tuesday January 14th

This exhibition is well worth a visit and such a treat to have Poliakoff in London. It is a rare opportunity to see these abstract paintings of such intense colour so closely.

The catalogue is beautifully illustrated with an introduction by his Granddaughter, Marie Victoire Poliakoff, at the cost of £12.

This exhibition runs from January 14th-February 21st at the Timothy Taylor Gallery.

The Connaught Hotel is just next door in Carlos Place and does a traditional English afternoon tea in their restaurant Espelette or a late afternoon cocktail in the adjoining bar.

Reservations can be made online at  www.theconnaught.co.uk

Jacqueline Knox

Timothy Taylor Gallery

15 Carlos Place, Londres, W1K 2EX

T +44 (0) 20 7409 3344

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16vlwy_exposition-serge-poliakoff-le-reve-des-formes_creation

http://www.artlinefilms.com/catalogue/serge-poliakoff

http://www.francebleu.fr/patrimoine/peinture/ils-ont-fait-paris-et-sa-region/serge-poliakoff

Bibliographie  :

Marie-Victoire Poliakoff « Serge Poliakoff, mon grand-père » http://www.editionsduchene.fr/auteurs/marie-victoire-poliakoff

Dominique Gagneux et Alii : catalogue de l’exposition « Serge Poliakoff, le rêve des formes » MAM, Paris.