3444 - SERGE POLIAKOFF

SERGE POLIAKOFF (Moscow 1900–1969 Paris) Untitled. Circa 1955. Gouache on paper. Signed lower left: Serge Poliakoff. 49.5 × 64.5 cm. Provenance: - Galerie Burén, Stockholm. - Auction at Stockholms Auktionsverk, Stockholm, October 29, 2009, lot 1247. - Collection, France. Bibliography: Alexis Poliakoff: Serge Poliakoff. Catalogue raisonné, Paris 2010, vol. II, p. 102, nos. 55–93 (with ill.). This work is registered in the Archives Serge Poliakoff, Paris, under number 855034. We thank Thaddée Poliakoff for his kind support. This gouache from 1955 exemplifies Serge Poliakoff’s mature style. In the second half of his career, Poliakoff developed a distinctive form of abstract painting. Particularly throughout the 1950s and 1960s, he produced works of striking serenity. The earlier fragmentation of small-scale formal elements gives way to a more restrained vocabulary of forms. A limited number of expansive shapes in muted earth tones, dark reds, ochre, and violet accents dominate the composition. The forms are now softer and more organic, fitting together like pieces of a puzzle in a finely balanced arrangement. The characteristic layering of pigments typical of Poliakoff lends the gouache a particular depth and material richness. The work reveals his shift toward pure “form-color,” in which spatial tension arises solely through the juxtaposition of tones, without relying on linear perspective. Poliakoff is regarded as one of the major representatives of postwar lyrical abstraction in Paris. His painting combines meditative concentration with a powerful material presence of color and exerted a lasting influence on the development of abstract art in Europe. * The full tax is charged on this item marked *; that is, VAT is charged on the amount and will be refunded to purchasers upon presentation of a validly stamped export declaration.