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ollowing the successful Savignac and Sempé exhibitions, Maison Hennessy continues its art patronage with an exciting new exhibition on Russian painter Serge Poliakoff entitled "From Moscow to Paris". The exhibition in Cognac runs from June 15 to October 31, 2006, featuring 20 paintings, 36 gouaches on paper, three reliefs and four ceramics done by the artist between 1946 and 1969. Also exhibited are objets d’art from Poliakoff's personal collection. The exhibition is structured around 13 key creations that illustrate seminal epicurean themes.

This is the first exhibition of its kind in France. The works are on loan from the artist’s family—his granddaughter Marie-Victoire Poliakoff is the exhibition curator—as well as from private collections.

Serge Poliakoff was born in Moscow in 1900. He settled in Saint-Germain-des-Prés in 1923, initially playing guitar in Russian night clubs. He showed his first paintings in 1938 but was not able to live off income from his art until 1952.

This grand painter of color and light passed away in Paris in 1969, when he was working on a retrospective of his work that was featured at the Museum of Modern Art the following year.

Serge Poliakoff’s work is meditative, and introspective with a lyrical content that retains all its striking originality and power. He is one of the most brilliant examples of the "French abstract" current.

A film entitled "Poliakoff, an Intimate Portrait of the Painter" will be shown at Quais Hennessy during the exhibition, presented by the American director Elizabeth Lennard.

For more information:
Quais Hennessy
Quai Richard Hennessy
16100 Cognac - France
Tel.: +33 (0)5 45 35 72 68
Exhibition hours:
June 15 to September 30: 10:00 am to 7:30 pm
October 1-31: 10:00 am to 6:30 pm 
Open every day, including weekends and holidays
www.hennessy.com

(Published on June 13th, 2006)