Composition Vert, Beige, Rouge et Brune by Serge Poliakoff, 1906-1969

Serge Poliakoff, 1906-1969
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Composition Vert, Beige, Rouge et Brune

Original lithograph in seven colours. 1964. Signed in pencil. Inscribed in pencil as E d'A (épreuve d'artiste - artist's proof). Proof before the signed edition of 200 impressions. Printed at the studio of Pons, Paris 1964. Edition issued by the Chalcographie du Louvre (They also subsequently issued a large unsigned edition).
Ref: Riviere - Les Estampes no 45.

Colours: Red, yellow, brown, grey, two greens, black. Excellent impression with totally fresh unfaded colours. On pale cream wove BFK Rives paper. Excellent fresh condition. Full margins. Sheet: 17 3/8 x 22ins. Image: 7 5/8 x 14 3/8ins. (195x265mm)

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The inter linked angular forms, the brilliant colours - here a scarlet red, with tones of green, yellow, pink and black -, and the painterly variations of tone within the shapes which create a sense of constant visual movement, as seen in the composition above, typify Poliakoff?s work and his inspired and totally personal handling of lithography.

Poliakoff was one of the pre-eminent painters of the Art-Informel, or Abstract Expressionist, movement in Europe. Born in Russia he moved to Paris in his 20?s. He was a musician as well as a painter, and that can be sensed in all his work. However by the 1930?s he had decided to concentrate on painting. He met Kandinsky in the mid-30?s and also became a close friend of Robert and Sonia Delaunay, and it was through their influence that colour took on a prime role in his art.

Printmaking became an interest to Poliakoff immediately after the War and he quickly found that in lithography there were qualities of colour and surface which could not be created in other media and it soon became one of his prime concerns. This lithograph is very characteristic of the way that he combined colour, surface and form.