Rostislas Loukine (belgorod 1904 – Bar-sur-aube 1988), *the Fallen Angel*, 1952 Gouache On Paper

Rostislas Loukine (Belgorod 1904 – Bar-sur-Aube 1988), *L’Ange déchu*, 1952

Gouache on paper mounted on canvas
207 × 137 cm
Signed and dated lower left: R. Loukine 1952
Framed.

A major work by Rostislas Vladimirovich Loukine (Rostislav Vladimirovich Lukin), a Russian painter associated with the artistic émigré community in France and Belgium.

The composition depicts a fallen angel, viewed head-on, with large wings spread wide. The halo and the solemnity of the figure retain the characteristics of his angelic nature, while the small horns indicate his fall. In his hands he holds a scroll bearing the inscription “Je suis la connaissance et le savoir” (“I am knowledge and wisdom”), a central element in the symbolic interpretation of the work. Loukine does not depict the devil according to traditional iconography, but rather a figure that remains majestic and almost sacred, suspended between a celestial nature and his fall.

Born in Belgorod in 1904 into an ancient St. Petersburg noble family, Loukine left Russia after the Revolution and, after traveling through Constantinople and Central Europe, arrived in Paris. There he became immersed in the Russian icon tradition, studying with Nikolaj Globa and Ivan Bilibine, and participated in exhibitions organized by the Parisian society “Icône” in 1929 and 1930. He created fifteen icons for the Russian church on Rue d’Odessa in Paris and an iconostasis for a church in Toulon. In 1934, the Louvre acquired one of his icons of Saint Anthony the Roman.

In 1936, he exhibited in Brussels alongside Nicolas de Staël. He subsequently settled in Belgium and obtained Belgian citizenship in 1950. Alongside his religious painting, he cultivated a deep interest in Russian legends and mythology, publishing and illustrating *Mythologie Russe* in 1946.

In his 1952 work *The Fallen Angel*, these diverse elements converge into a personal artistic language: the frontal composition and solemn character derived from iconography are combined with intense color, strong graphic lines, and a fantastical and symbolic imagery. The exceptional size—over two meters—gives the figure a monumental presence.

In 1978, a museum dedicated to Rostislas Loukine was inaugurated in Arsonval. The artist died in Bar-sur-Aube in 1988.