Tbilisi
Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...
,
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
‒ 1967, Barcelona) was a Spanish artist of Russo-Persian origin associated with
naive art
Naivety (also spelled naïvety), naiveness, or naïveté is the state of being naive. It refers to an apparent or actual lack of experience and sophistication, often describing a neglect of pragmatism in favor of moral idealism. A ''naïve'' may ...
and the
Surrealist
Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...
movement.
Life and work
Olga Sacharoff (also spelled Sakhorova, Zakharova, or Zacharoff) was born in Georgia, which at the time was a part of the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. Her father was Russian, while her mother was of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
n origin. After studying at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts,Emmanuel Bénézit, ''Dictionnaire des peintres, sculpteurs, dessinateurs and graveurs'' (Paris, v. 9, 1976), p. 217. she visited
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
and traveled to
Munich
Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...
, where she came in contact with the
German Expressionist
German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...
movement.J. M. Arnáiz et al., eds., ''Cien años de pintura en España y Portugal (1830‒1930)'' (Madrid, v. 9, 1993), p. 387. In Germany, she met her future husband, the photographer and painter Otho Lloyd.
Beginning in 1909, Sacharoff regularly visited
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
. By 1912, she and Lloyd had settled in the city and were married. She exhibited frequently, in solo as well as group shows, including the annual exhibitions organized by the
Salon d'Automne
The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The f ...
.New York, Perls Galleries. ''Olga Sacharoff/Otho Lloyd: Two Parisian Painters'' xh. cat. February 27 ‒ March 18, 1939, n.p. Initially, her work was influenced by
Paul Cézanne
Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French artist and Post-Impressionist painter whose work laid the foundations of the transition from the 19th-century conception of artistic endeavour to a new and radically d ...
; soon after her move to Paris, however, she became fascinated with radical or ''synthetique'' Cubism.Pere Gabriel et al., eds., ''Història de la cultura catalane: Volum VIII, Primeres avantguardes, 1918‒1930'' (Barcelona, 1997), p. 158. Both Sacharoff and Lloyd became active members of the circle that formed around the Russian émigré avant-garde artist
Marie Vassilieff
Mariya Ivanovna Vassiliéva (Russian: Мария Ивановна Васильева), (12 February 1884 – 14 May 1957), better known as Marie Vassilieff, was a Russian-born painter active in Paris.
She moved to Paris at the age of twenty- ...
.
The outbreak of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
forced Sacharoff and Lloyd to relocate to Spain. The couple initially settled in Mallorca, but moved to
Barcelona
Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
in 1915 or 1916.Juan Cortés, '' Olga Sacharoff'' (Madrid, 1960), p. 13. From 1917 to 1924, Sacharoff collaborated with
Francis Picabia
Francis Picabia (: born Francis-Marie Martinez de Picabia; 22January 1879 – 30November 1953) was a French avant-garde painter, poet and typographist. After experimenting with Impressionism and Pointillism, Picabia became associated with Cubism ...
on the magazine ''
391
__NOTOC__
Year 391 ( CCCXCI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Tatianus and Symmachus (or, less frequently, year 114 ...
'', which is considered representative of
Dadaism
Dada () or Dadaism was an art movement of the European avant-garde in the early 20th century, with early centres in Zürich, Switzerland, at the Cabaret Voltaire (Zurich), Cabaret Voltaire (in 1916). New York Dada began c. 1915, and after 192 ...
. Among those writers and artists appearing in the four issues of the magazine were
Guillaume Apollinaire
Guillaume Apollinaire) of the Wąż coat of arms. (; 26 August 1880 – 9 November 1918) was a French poet, playwright, short story writer, novelist, and art critic of Polish descent.
Apollinaire is considered one of the foremost poets of t ...
and
Marie Laurencin
Marie Laurencin (31 October 1883 – 8 June 1956) was a French painter and printmaker. She became an important figure in the Parisian avant-garde as a member of the Cubists associated with the Section d'Or.
Biography
Laurencin was born in Paris ...
. During this period, Sacharoff developed a colorful "naïve" style influenced by
Henri Rousseau
Henri Julien Félix Rousseau (; 21 May 1844 – 2 September 1910) at the
Sacharoff continued to participate in the Salon d'Automne; her work was also featured in the annual shows of the
Salon des Tuileries The Salon des Tuileries was an annual art exhibition for painting and sculpture, created June 14, 1923, co-founded by painters Albert Besnard and Bessie Davidson, sculptor Antoine Bourdelle, architect Auguste Perret, and others.
The first year's e ...
and the Société des Artistes Indépendants. Although her involvement in these exhibitions required that she spend significant time in Paris, she maintained a home in Barcelona. Sacharoff and Lloyd separated in 1929 and, depressed by the breakup of her marriage, Sacharoff stopped painting for approximately five years. She resurfaced in 1934 with an exhibit at Barcelona's Laietanes Gallery. In 1939, Perls Galleries in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
organized a two-person exhibition featuring paintings by Sacharoff and Lloyd, which suggests a possible reconciliation between the couple. The Galería Syra, Barcelona, mounted exhibitions of her work in 1950 and 1955, and in February 1960, she was the focus of a solo show organized by the Dirección General de Bellas Artes and on view in the department's exhibition hall in Madrid. She was awarded the ''Medalla d'or de Barcelona'' in 1964, an honor that established her connection to Spain and commemorated her contribution to Catalan culture. The
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya
The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina M ...
, Barcelona, and the Museo de Art Nouveau y Art Déco, Salamanca, are two of several Spanish institutions that have collected her paintings.
Sacharoff also worked in book illustration: her projects included
Colette
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (; 28 January 1873 – 3 August 1954), known mononymously as Colette, was a French author and woman of letters. She was also a mime, actress, and journalist. Colette is best known in the English-speaking world for her ...
's ''House of Claudine'' and
Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (, ; rus, Фёдор Михайлович Достоевский, Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy, p=ˈfʲɵdər mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪdʑ dəstɐˈjefskʲɪj, a=ru-Dostoevsky.ogg, links=yes; 11 November 18219 ...