Léon Zack
Nižnij Novgorod (Russia) 1892 - Parigi, 1980
Zack is a painter of Informal Abstraction, he was one of the precursors of the trend called "Nuagiste" ("of shades"). As he explains himself, he goes back to the "Tachisme" ("stain painting") because stains are for him the essence of the picture.
Its shapes are not well defined and the contours are very nuanced. His painting emanates spirituality; he loves the large empty spaces where the extension and depth are underlined by the presence of more material forms.
Its shapes are not well defined and the contours are very nuanced. His painting emanates spirituality; he loves the large empty spaces where the extension and depth are underlined by the presence of more material forms.
After high school he enrolled in the Faculty of Arts in Moscow, studying drawing and painting in private academies. His first teacher was Iakimtchenko, a painter who had lived in Paris and was influenced by the Impressionists. In 1913 he is still undecided between painting and poetic vocation begun under the pseudonym of Chrysanthe. In 1920, together with his family (he had married in 1917 and had two children), he left Russia to move to Europe. First he stopped in Italy and then in Paris where he arrived in 1921. Here he met Picasso and Larionov and exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants.
In 1922 he went to Berlin to perform sets and costumes for Romanoff’s ballets. Thanks to the success of ballet in the French capital, in 1923 he managed to move there permanently. He exhibited again at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. In 1930 he was part of a group of artists that the critic Waldemar-George called neo-humanism and that included: Christian Bèrard, Tchelitchev, Philippe Hosiasson, Eugène Bermann. The group opposes the current Abstractionist and promulgates a return to reality, especially in the representation of man. During the war he took refuge in a village in the Isère; returning to Paris he regularly exhibited at the great Parisian salons: de Mai, Indépendants, Réalités Nouvelles, Comparaison, Art Sacré. In addition, since 1926, solo exhibitions have increased: Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent, London, Venice, Copenhagen, Oslo, Dublin, Grenoble, Freiburg, Basel, Nantes, etc. Until 1946 his painting was figurative, dealing with the theme of man in a hieratic and synthetic way.
His first exhibition after the war is a symptom of change, in fact he exhibits the first abstract works. He realizes that in the realization of a painting the subject is not necessary, the relationships between colors, shades and the articulation of forms are sufficient to express the emotions that the artist wants to communicate. Léon Zack does not limit his artistic activity to painting, he is also an illustrator (he twice illustrated the Bible and several literary works by Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Gide, Racine), creator of cartoons for tapestries (for the manufactures of Aubusson and Gobelins)of stained glass (for the church of Urschenheim, Kirchberg, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Valognes etc.) and poet. Since 1950 he has also dedicated himself to sculpture, especially religious. Zack is a painter of Informal Abstraction, he was one of the precursors of the trend called "Nuagiste" ("of shades"). As he explains himself, he goes back to the "Tachisme" (stain painting") because stains are for him the essence of the picture.
Its shapes are not well defined and the contours are very nuanced. His painting emanates spirituality; he loves the large empty spaces where the extension and depth are underlined by the presence of more material forms.
From April to August 2006 his works were requested by the Musée de Luxembourg in Paris for the exhibition "L'envolée lyrique", the first detailed and complete exhibition on the theme of lyrical abstraction. The event was accompanied by the publication of a comprehensive catalogue that illustrates over a hundred works.
Museums:
Antwerp (Musée Royale) ; Brussels (Musée d'Art Contemporain) - Belgium
Paris (Musée National d'Art Moderne)
Charleville-Mézières (Musée Rimbaud)
Dieppe (Musée de Chateau)
Toulouse (Musée des Augustins)
Dijon (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
Marseille (Musée Cantini)
Saint Etienne (Musée d'Art Moderne)
Meudon (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire)
Nantes (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
Verviers - France
Pittsburgh (Carnegie Inst.); Washington D.C. (Phillips Collection) - United States
Rome (Vatican Museum)
Sarrebruck - Germany
Skopje (Folk Museum) - Macedonia
Geneva (Museum of Art and History) - Switzerland
London (Tate Gallery) - United Kingdom
Luxembourg
Bibliography:
P. Cabanne, Léon Zack, Catalogue de l’œuvre peint, Paris, Les Editions de l’Amateur, 1993 ; L. Harambourg, L’Ecole de Paris, 1945-1965, Neuchâtel, Ides & Calendes, 1993; N. Nieszawer, M. Boyé, P. Fogel ; Peintres Juifs à Paris, Ecole de Paris, Editions Denoel, 2000.
© Léon Zack, by SIAE 2023
In 1922 he went to Berlin to perform sets and costumes for Romanoff’s ballets. Thanks to the success of ballet in the French capital, in 1923 he managed to move there permanently. He exhibited again at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne. In 1930 he was part of a group of artists that the critic Waldemar-George called neo-humanism and that included: Christian Bèrard, Tchelitchev, Philippe Hosiasson, Eugène Bermann. The group opposes the current Abstractionist and promulgates a return to reality, especially in the representation of man. During the war he took refuge in a village in the Isère; returning to Paris he regularly exhibited at the great Parisian salons: de Mai, Indépendants, Réalités Nouvelles, Comparaison, Art Sacré. In addition, since 1926, solo exhibitions have increased: Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Antwerp, Ghent, London, Venice, Copenhagen, Oslo, Dublin, Grenoble, Freiburg, Basel, Nantes, etc. Until 1946 his painting was figurative, dealing with the theme of man in a hieratic and synthetic way.
His first exhibition after the war is a symptom of change, in fact he exhibits the first abstract works. He realizes that in the realization of a painting the subject is not necessary, the relationships between colors, shades and the articulation of forms are sufficient to express the emotions that the artist wants to communicate. Léon Zack does not limit his artistic activity to painting, he is also an illustrator (he twice illustrated the Bible and several literary works by Mallarmé, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Gide, Racine), creator of cartoons for tapestries (for the manufactures of Aubusson and Gobelins)of stained glass (for the church of Urschenheim, Kirchberg, Issy-les-Moulineaux, Valognes etc.) and poet. Since 1950 he has also dedicated himself to sculpture, especially religious. Zack is a painter of Informal Abstraction, he was one of the precursors of the trend called "Nuagiste" ("of shades"). As he explains himself, he goes back to the "Tachisme" (stain painting") because stains are for him the essence of the picture.
Its shapes are not well defined and the contours are very nuanced. His painting emanates spirituality; he loves the large empty spaces where the extension and depth are underlined by the presence of more material forms.
From April to August 2006 his works were requested by the Musée de Luxembourg in Paris for the exhibition "L'envolée lyrique", the first detailed and complete exhibition on the theme of lyrical abstraction. The event was accompanied by the publication of a comprehensive catalogue that illustrates over a hundred works.
Museums:
Antwerp (Musée Royale) ; Brussels (Musée d'Art Contemporain) - Belgium
Paris (Musée National d'Art Moderne)
Charleville-Mézières (Musée Rimbaud)
Dieppe (Musée de Chateau)
Toulouse (Musée des Augustins)
Dijon (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
Marseille (Musée Cantini)
Saint Etienne (Musée d'Art Moderne)
Meudon (Musée d'Art et d'Histoire)
Nantes (Musée des Beaux-Arts)
Verviers - France
Pittsburgh (Carnegie Inst.); Washington D.C. (Phillips Collection) - United States
Rome (Vatican Museum)
Sarrebruck - Germany
Skopje (Folk Museum) - Macedonia
Geneva (Museum of Art and History) - Switzerland
London (Tate Gallery) - United Kingdom
Luxembourg
Bibliography:
P. Cabanne, Léon Zack, Catalogue de l’œuvre peint, Paris, Les Editions de l’Amateur, 1993 ; L. Harambourg, L’Ecole de Paris, 1945-1965, Neuchâtel, Ides & Calendes, 1993; N. Nieszawer, M. Boyé, P. Fogel ; Peintres Juifs à Paris, Ecole de Paris, Editions Denoel, 2000.
© Léon Zack, by SIAE 2023
