1902 - 1976
Charles and Eugenia Zadok, Paris and New York, acquired form the artist.
Private Collection, New York, gifted by above.
Then By descent
Born in Moscow, to a count, André Lanskoy was first a student at the School of Pages in
St. Petersburg Russia. At the outbreak of the Russian Revolution, Lanskoy joined the
Czarist forces. After his military duties he lived in Kiev where he began to paint under
the tutelage of Soudeikine, an artist who painted theatrical sets and used music as a major
inspiration in his paintings. Lanskoy then moved to Paris in 1921 where he enrolled as a
student at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiére and was influenced by the works of
Van Gogh and Matisse. He became a close friend of Chaim Soutine whose influence on
Lanskoy is clear in his characters and the expressionist nature of his paintings during this
period.
In the early part of Lanskoy’s career his works were Expressionist in nature, depicting
figures and still lifes. It was not until the late 1930s when his works began to move
towards the abstract. Yet even then these works showed some semblance of reality in
form. In the second half of the 20th century, Lanskoy’s fame began to increase
internationally as a result of his exhibitions at the Fine Art Associates in New York in
1956. During this period he came to be regarded as one of the most important
participants in the Lyrical Abstraction movement associated with the École de Paris.
Lyrical Abstraction or Abstraction Lyrique was the European counterpart to the
American Abstract movement, characterized by an intuitive and loose handling of paint, a
truly spontaneous expression, illusionist space, acrylic staining process, occasional
imagery and other painterly and newer technological techniques.
Our painting is a superb example of one of Lanskoy’s earlier works influenced by
Soutine. This work is a wonderfully successful still life, representing both lyrical and
lush quality. The unlined canvas has thick and well preserved impasto rendering a more 3
dimensional element. The collection of Charles and Eugenia Zadok who bought the work
from Lanskoy directly, had an exceptional collection of Post-War European Art. Their
home in Milwaukee featured works from Picasso, Miro and Leger, all of which were also
acquired directly. The Zadok’s collection would be featured at both the Arts Club of
Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Institute, and eventually donated to institutions including
the Museum of Modern Art in New York.
