Serge Fotinsky "bouquet Of Flowers", 1930 - Russian School - Expressionism

A splendid, soulful depiction, of a bouquet of flowers in a vase, by Serge Fotinsky. We immediately think of the "School of Paris", since this painter, born in 1887 in Odessa, found himself in Paris from 1908, frequenting painters who, like him, originated from Russia: Soutine, Kremegne, Larionov, Goncharova...
The flowers, with nervous touches of bright colors, red, yellow-orange or purplish, splash out on an surrounding muted palette.

Serge Fotinsky was born in Odessa on February 3, 1887 (Julian calendar) under the birth name Abram Saulovich Aïzensher (Абрам Саулович Айзеншер), into a family of Jewish merchants from Kherson.
There is uncertainty about Serge Fotinsky's parentage. Some sources suggest that Serge Fotinsky is not a pseudonym and that the painter's parents were Flavian Fotinsky and Marie Libetzoff. But these sources provide no evidence. On the contrary, Russian sources provide extracts from birth certificates that seem to unambiguously prove Aïzensher's parentage.

The young man quickly set his sights on an artistic career. He began his studies at the Odessa Academy of Arts and then moved to Saint Petersburg, where he entered the Academy of Fine Arts in 1904.
He became interested in revolutionary currents of thought and participated fervently in the 1905 Revolution. Targeted by repressive measures, he was then forced to leave the Russian Empire and went to Germany, where he resumed his art studies.

Attracted by the artistic life of the French capital, he moved to Paris in 1908.
He painted under the pseudonym Serge Fotinsky or Lucien Scheler and exhibited for the first time at the Salon des Indépendants in 1912.
During the First World War, Fotinsky remained in France and did not participate in the conflict.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the artist retained his Russian nationality, thanks to his past revolutionary activities from 1905 and his commitment to the new regime. Unlike Russian émigrés who fled the revolution and were stripped of their nationality, Fotinsky was never stateless.
After France recognized the USSR in 1924, he participated as a Soviet citizen in the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts, an exhibition held in Paris in 1925 that would give rise to the term Art Deco.
Fotinsky exhibited in the USSR Pavilion as a Soviet artist and was awarded a silver medal.
Fotinsky's career then took place within art institutions advocating artistic rapprochement between France and the USSR.
He exhibited at the Billiet-Pierre Worms gallery, close to the PCF, from 1926 to 1932.
He participated as a Soviet citizen in several international art exhibitions in London, Vienna, Warsaw, Prague and Budapest.
Fotinsky was secretary of the Committee of the Union of Russian Artists in Paris.
In 1928, under the direction of B.N. Ternovets, he organized, in collaboration with Mikhail Larionov, the Exhibition of Contemporary French Painting at the Museum of Modern Western Art in Moscow.
He also contributed to politically engaged magazines such as Clarté and Monde.
In 1935, he left France to come and live in Moscow.
In 1937, Fotinsky returned to settle permanently in France.

The reasons for his return are multiple. Fotinsky's inspiration, close to Cubism and the Fauves, is no longer in total harmony with the new Soviet line and one can also interpret his departure from the USSR, concomitant with the Stalinist purges, as a prudent measure.
The Second World War greatly harmed the continuation of his artistic career.
The signing of the German-Soviet pact interrupted the publication of the magazines to which he collaborated as an illustrator. On June 22, 1941, he was arrested on the orders of the German occupier as a Soviet citizen and sent to the Front-Stalag 122 concentration camp in the city of Compiègne.
Fotinsky was released in 1944 and began to create again.
He exhibits regularly at the Salon des Indépendants and the Salon d'Automne.
Apart from his easel works, he continues to collaborate as a magazine illustrator, notably with the magazine Europe.

Serge Fotinsky died on September 1, 1971 in Paris.
(Source les Atamanes)

Oil on canvas in perfect condition, signed, dated and located "S. Fotinsky - 1930 - St Cast" lower left.
Size: 16,3 x 13,2 Inches without frame and 20,5 x 17,3 Inches with its gilded wooden rod.