Serge Petrovitch Ivanoff (25 December 1893, Moscow – 8 February 1983, Paris) was a French painter of Russian origin.[1]
Biography
The son of a family of Moscovite merchants, Serge Ivanoff was artistic from a young age. On his parents' move to St. Petersburg he took he took classes there at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences (today Russian Academy of Sciences), in particular the lectures and laboratory work of Professor Schmidt on human anatomy. Here he made his first contacts with Europe, through trips to Switzerland and Norway.Then came the war, during which he was mobilized as a gunner.
In 1917, while the Russian Revolution raged, he entered what was then the Higher Arts College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts (which was to become, by 1992, the I.E. Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture,[2]
subordinated within the Russian Academy of Arts).[3][4]
Aged 24, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts and perfected his art under the benevolent direction of Master Braz, curator of the Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg.
He then went to Professor Kardovsky's class and finished his studies at the Academy with competitive work in 1922. This was the first promotion of this order during the Bolshevik revolution. All contact with Europe had been cut off and study trips abroad were no longer available for students of the Academy.
In 1920, his wife, with their two children, fled the Bolsheviks to Paris. Two years later, having finished his studies and forever marked by the horrors of the revolution, Serge joined them in Paris.
But before leaving, he travelled discreetly through the Russian countryside to set down on paper his visions of deep Russia which will mark him forever. Continuing on his way, he was welcomed by Ilya Repin in his dacha at Kuokkala, before crossing Finland by foot.
Having left his beloved Russia, Serge Ivanoff took with him the essence of the most accomplished teaching in his profession as a painter.
Finally it is to Paris, via England, that his steps lead him.
He had a small testimonial book published there: "La famine en Russie Bolchévique", in which he illustrated a poignant text with his rigorous drawings.
Finally exiled, he created book illustrations, posters and advertisements to earn a living, while in the mean time continuing his artistic research.
Traveling through the main cities of Europe, he established a solid reputation as a portrait painter. From 1930 to 1950, he collaborated with the magazine L'Illustration[5] and, as such, he once again traveled the world: Italy, Denmark, Holland, Belgium, Brazil.
He produced reportage drawings, series of paintings representing the Hôtel Drouot[6] or the Cathedrals of France, of which the Musée Carnavalet acquired several pieces in 1988. This line of work allowed him to meet the most outstanding personalities of the moment.
In 1937, L'Illustration asked Serge Ivanoff to do a painting report illustrating the interiors of the Vatican. This trip was an important turning point for him for several reasons.
First of all, the familiarization with the great masters of the past of the Italian school, then the beginning of a career as a portraitist of prelates of the Catholic Church.
In Rome the artist made the decisive encounter with Vyacheslav Ivanov, a major figure of the Silver Age. The philosopher made him aware of his intimate creative power, which would later allow him to deepen his personal path.
After the Second World War, he developed his international career in Brazil and then in Argentina. The South American continent inspires his style with greater freedom of touch and boldness in color.
At the same time, he earned a great reputation as a portraitist , which followed him beyond borders.
In 1950, Ivanoff moved to the United States; one year later he became an honorary citizen[7].[dubious – discuss] For over a decade he traveled across the American continent, executing many portraits.
Exposition du tableau "Menaces" à Ambassade de Russie à Paris en 2006.
At the end of the 1960s,he returned permanently to France and set up his studio at 80 Rue Taitbout, in Paris. He was a member of the Salon des Indépendants.
In 1966, France's first Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, awarded him a gold medal for his painting "Menaces" (Threats)[8].[citation needed] This painting is now in the collection of the Russian Embassy in Paris (donated by the Ivanoff family on the death of the artist).
His grandson Alexandre Barbera-Ivanoff, born in 1973, is also a renowned painter.
He is the only expert empowered by the Ivanoff family to authenticate Serge Ivanoff's works.
Talented portraitist, he painted or drew the portrait of many personalities
Osip Braz, Paris, 1933. Braz, for his part, painted the portrait of Serge Ivanoff.
Zinaida Serebriakova, Paris, 1940 (Collection K. Serebriakova). Serebriakova in return painted Sergei Ivanoff's portrait. His son, Alexandre Serebriakoff, painted a watercolor artwork representing the studio of Serge Ivanoff (Paris, 1944).
Arthur HoneggerSerge Ivanoff peint le portrait d'Arthur Honegger. Paris, 1944., Paris, 1944. The portrait was exhibited in 1954 in San Francisco, Palace of the Legion of Honor.
Serge Ivanoff painted many portraits of ecclesiastics
Jaime de Barros Câmara pose pour son portrait par Serge Ivanoff, 1947
Pope Pius XI, at Castel Gandolfo, 1937[32][33]. The portrait will appear on the front cover of L'Illustration in a special album on the death of the pope, in February 1939[34]. The pope, though sick and tired, posed for the preparatory portrait.[35].
La Famine en Russie Bolcheviste, written testimony by Serge Ivanoff, illustrated with 31 drawings by the author. Nouvelle Librairie Nationale, Paris, 1924
Serge Ivanoff, Ambassade de Russie à Paris - Catalog of the exhibition, May 2006.
^I.E. Repin St.Petersburg State Academy Institute of Painting, Sculpture And Architecture as part of the Russian Academy of Arts
"Russian Academy of Arts". Archived from the original on 2008-10-09. Retrieved 2009-02-07.
