150 - Constantin TERECHKOVITCH (Moscow 1902 – Monaco 1978)

Constantin TERECHKOVITCH (Moscow 1902 – Monaco 1978) Lunch on Rue Boulard: Madame Terechkovitch and Her Daughters Oil on cardboard 50 x 60 cm Signed lower right “C. Terechkovitch” On the back of the board, traces of an old label A certificate from Mrs. France Terechkovitch, dated May 31, 1996, will be provided to the purchaser. This painting offers a moving glimpse into the painter’s family life. Terechkovitch depicts his wife, Yvette, surrounded by their two daughters, France and Nathalie, in the living room of their apartment on Rue Boulard. The painter’s works are prominently displayed on the walls. Provenance: Millon Auction, May 15, 2020, Lot 165 Private collection, Paris Constantin Terechkovitch, known as Kostia, was born on May 1, 1902, in Metchetskoïé, near Moscow, into a family of doctors. From a very early age, he showed a fascination with painting. In 1913, at the age of eleven, he discovered in Moscow the works of Manet, Matisse, Monet, Renoir, and Van Gogh from the Shchukin Collection. This encounter with modern painting shaped his calling: he decided to become a painter and already harbored a desire to go to Paris. In 1917, he enrolled at the Moscow Academy of Fine Arts, but stayed there only a few months. The following year, he left Russia amid the difficult circumstances of the Civil War. His journey took him through Ukraine, the Caucasus, and Turkey before he finally reached Marseille in 1920 after two years of travel and countless hardships. He then made his way to Paris, a city he considered the true center of European artistic life. His early days there were precarious: he worked in a factory, posed as a model, and attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, while devoting every spare moment to drawing and painting. Starting in the mid-1920s, Terechkovitch began to find his place in the Parisian art scene. In 1925, he exhibited for the first time at the Salon d’Automne, and then, in 1926, presented *Le Tambour d’Avallon*, a work that attracted critical attention. He then became close with several artists from the École de Paris, notably Marc Chagall, Ossip Zadkine, Chaïm Soutine, as well as Roland Oudot, Maurice Brianchon, and Raymond Legueult. His painting remained essentially figurative. His vivid and luminous palette and expressionist style became hallmarks of his pictorial language. In 1942, he became a naturalized French citizen. After the war, Terechkovitch traveled extensively throughout Europe and around the world, experiences that directly fueled his artistic inspiration. He spent time in Finland, Spain, North Africa, and Italy, among other places, where he created landscapes, watercolors, and sketches. In 1964, he traveled to Tokyo, then to Hong Kong, Cambodia, and Thailand. At the same time, he exhibited in numerous galleries, notably in Paris, Helsinki, London, New York, and Tokyo, cementing his international recognition. Terechkovitch gives his family a prominent place in his work. He regularly paints his wife, his daughters France and Nathalie, and his loved ones, transforming family scenes into true subjects of his art. E.V