Attributed to Serge Poliakoff, it does not have a COA. Beautiful abstract painting. Medium: oil canvas. 41.5 x 29.5 inches. Provenance: private owner.

Biography: Serge Poliakoff was a Russian-born French modernist painter belonging to the 'New' Ecole de Paris (Tachisme).Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1906, the thirteenth of fourteen children. His father, a Kyrgyz, supplied the army with horses that he bred himself and also owned a racing stable. His mother was heavily involved with the church, and its religious icons fascinated him. He enrolled at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but fled Russia and the Russian Revolution in 1917. He arrived in Constantinople in 1920, living off the profits from his talent as a guitarist.He went on to pass through Sofia, Belgrade, Vienna, and Berlin before settling in Paris in 1923, all the while continuing to play in Russian cabarets. In 1929 he enrolled at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière*. His paintings remained purely academic until he discovered, during his stay in London from 1935 to 1937, the abstract art and luminous* colours of the Egyptian sarcophagi. It was a little afterwards that he met Wassily Kandinsky, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and Otto Freundlich.With these influences, Poliakoff quickly came to be considered as one of the most powerful painters of his generation. In 1947, he was trained by Jean Deyrolle in Gordes in the Vaucluse region of France amongst peers such as Gérard Schneider, Giloli, Victor Vasarely, and Jean Dewasne. By the beginning of the 1950s, he was still staying at the Old Dovecote hotel near Saint-Germain-des-Prés, which was also home to Louis Nallard and Maria Manton, and continuing to earn a reliable income by playing the balalaika. A contract enabled him to quickly gain better financial stability.In 1962 a room was given over to his paintings by the Venice Biennial*, and Poliakoff became a French citizen in the same year. His works are now displayed in a large number of museums in Europe and New York. Poliakoff also worked with ceramics at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. He influenced the paintings of Arman.In 2006, works by Poliakoff were chosen by the Musée du Luxembourg for their exhibition entitled 'L'Envolée lyrique(lit:'lyric Flight'), Paris 1945-1956', namely 'Composition en brun', 1947, Ny Carlsberg Glypothek, Copenhagen; 'Composition rouge avec trait', 1952, Cologne Museum; 'Composition IV', 1954).

All authorship of items in this catalog are described according to the following terms:

Signed [Artist Name] : In cases in which the signature is legible in the lot, this work is described as-is with no attributions given.

By [Artist Name] : The work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : The work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : The work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

Circle of [Artist Name] : A work of the period of the artist showing his influence, closely associated with the artist but not necessarily his pupil.

Follower of [Artist Name]: A work by a pupil or a follower of the artist (not necessarily a pupil).

American, 19th century: This work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

Mint