413 - CHARCHOUNE Serge, 1888–1975

CHARCHOUNE Serge, 1888–1975 Respighi “Rossiniana” Oil on canvas (small missing section), signed lower right, Roque Gallery stamp on the stretcher, annotated “Mozart op. 61... (?)” on the stretcher 38 x 55 cm. Appraiser: MAKET Gallery Description: Born in 1888 in Bougourouslan, Russia, Serge Charchoune discovered Cubism in Moscow before moving to Paris in 1912, where he attended the Académie La Palette under Jean Metzinger and Henri Le Fauconnier. Having taken refuge in Barcelona during the war, he encountered Francis Picabia’s Dada spirit there and developed an “ornamental Cubism” inspired by Hispano-Moorish arabesques. Upon his return to Paris, Tristan Tzara introduced him to Picabia; in Berlin, he published the Russian-language Dada journal *Perevoz Dada*. In 1927, Amédée Ozenfant introduced him to Purism. Beginning in 1956, music became the sole source of inspiration for his work: Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven gave rise to compositions in shades of ochre and white. Championed by Raymond Creuze as early as 1945 and exhibited by the Jean-Louis Roque Gallery in 1970, he was the subject of a retrospective at the National Museum of Modern Art in 1971. Admired by Picasso and close friends with Jacques Villon and Nicolas de Staël, he belonged to that generation of Russian artists of the School of Paris, which also included Serge Poliakoff and André Lanskoy. He died in 1975.