Abstract Composition / Paul Ackerman (1908-1981) / Gouache On Paper Dated 61

Gouache on paper by Paul Ackerman (1908-1981), a French painter of Romanian origin, trained at the Beaux-Arts in Bucharest and then settled in Paris from the 1930s. He is part of the post-war abstraction movements, while developing a personal plastic language. Paul Ackerman is part of the post-war geometric and lyrical abstraction, with notable influences from Nicolas de Staël for the colored masses, Fernand Léger for the formal structure, and sometimes from art brut in the archaic treatment of textures. The work evokes a mental map, an architectonic abstraction or an abstract mineral landscape: a partitioned, tense, almost telluric space, where each form seems animated by its own dynamic. Gouache on paper, a matte and covering medium, allows here for frank contrasts and worked textures, notably through scratches or incisions visible in the light flat tints. The shapes are outlined in black, evoking a stained-glass window or a modernist mosaic. The palette, restricted but expressive, mixes deep black, off-white, red-brown and earthy gray, reinforcing the organic anchoring and the plastic sobriety of the composition.

30 x 48 on view
45 x 60 with frame
Signed lower center and dated 61-62
Framed with linen marie-louise

Paul Ackerman (1908-1981) is a French painter of Romanian origin, born in Iasi. He studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Bucharest before moving to Paris, where he integrated into the Montparnasse art scene. Naturalized French, he created jewelry for Schiaparelli and Rochas, frequented the studio of Fernad Léger and participated in numerous salons (Salon des Indépendants, Salon d'Automne, Comparaisons). His work quickly evolved toward abstraction, influenced by Cubism, lyrical abstraction, and geometric abstraction. He developed a personal language of compartmentalized forms, rich textures, and rigorously structured compositions. Ackerman has exhibited in France (a retrospective at the Musée Galliera in 1970) and abroad, and several museums hold his works, including the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris.