André Lanskoy (1902 - 1976) — The Family

The Family
Oil on panel, signed lower left.
16 x 22 cm

André Lanskoy: From Russia to Lyrical Abstraction  

André Lanskoy, born on March 31, 1902, in Russia and died on August 22, 1976, in Paris, was a Franco-Russian painter and engraver, a major figure in lyrical abstraction and the New School of Paris movement. His work, nourished by color, movement, and a profound interiority, reflects a constant dialogue between music, painting, and spirituality. Born into a Russian aristocratic family, André Lanskoy spent his childhood between Moscow and Kiev. The Russian Revolution turned his life upside down.
In 1919, he joined the White Army during the civil war. Forced to flee, he went into exile in Constantinople, then arrived in Paris in 1921. This brutal exile marked his imagination and led him to seek a universal language in painting, free from borders and words. It was in Paris, in the heart of the Roaring Twenties, that he fully discovered his artistic vocation. He attended the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and became passionate about the works of Van Gogh, Matisse, and especially Paul Klee. He began his career with a figurative style with expressionist accents, often dark, dominated by portraits, interiors, and scenes of solitude. He quickly became friends with the Russian avant-garde artists in exile and began exhibiting his work in 1923. His early works were praised by critics, notably Wilhelm Uhde, who supported him.
From the 1940s onwards, his style evolved radically. Inspired by music, Byzantine tapestries, and the art of Kandinsky, Lanskoy turned towards abstraction. He abandoned figurative representation to explore the expressive power of pure color and the rhythm of forms. His paintings became dynamic, almost musical compositions, in which colors collided and vibrated. This transition was part of the lyrical abstraction movement, to which he made a major contribution, alongside artists such as Hans Hartung, Pierre Soulages, and Nicolas de Staël. For Lanskoy, color was a language, a living material. Each canvas was an intuitive construction, often spontaneous but deeply thoughtful. He said, “What I am looking for is not superficial harmony, but an inner correspondence.” This quest led him to experiment tirelessly, particularly with gouache and collage techniques.
In the 1950s and 1960s, he participated in numerous international exhibitions and received an enthusiastic reception. He was represented by the Galerie Jeanne Bucher, one of the most important galleries of the time.
André Lanskoy died in Paris in 1976, leaving behind a rich, dense, and deeply unique body of work. His work has been exhibited in major European institutions, including the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, the Musée de Grenoble, and the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.