Louis Marcoussis, formerly Ludwik Kazimierz Wladyslaw Markus or Ludwig Casimir Ladislas Markus, (1878 or 1883,

Łódź Łódź, also rendered in English as Lodz, is a city in central Poland and a former industrial centre. It is the capital of Łódź Voivodeship, and is located approximately south-west of Warsaw. The city's coat of arms is an example of cant ...

– October 22, 1941,

Cusset Cusset is a commune in the department of Allier, in central French region of Auvergne. Situated in the foothills of the , the city is a suburb of Vichy and ranks fourth in population for the department. Population Geography Location L ...

) was a painter and engraver of

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

origin who lived in

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 ...

for much of his life and became a French citizen.

Early life

After studying law briefly in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

he went to the

Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...

Academy of Fine Arts, where his teachers included Jan Stanislawski and Jozev Mehoffer. Moving to Paris in 1903, he spent a short time at the Académie Julian under Jules Lefebvre. The first time a painting of his was shown in a major exhibition was at 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 ...

in 1905, and over the next quarter-century his work was shown in many other important exhibitions, in particular at the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room, an architectural space in a home * Salon (gathering), a meeting for learning or enjoyment Arts and entertainment * Salon (Pa ...

and 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 ...

. He drew cartoons for satirical journals, as he had earlier in Poland. In Paris he needed to earn his own living, and also took on other drawing and illustration work. In the cafés of

Montmartre Montmartre ( , ) is a large hill in Paris's northern 18th arrondissement. It is high and gives its name to the surrounding district, part of the Right Bank. The historic district established by the City of Paris in 1995 is bordered by Rue Ca ...

and

Montparnasse Montparnasse () is an area in the south of Paris, France, on the left bank of the river Seine, centred at the crossroads of the Boulevard du Montparnasse and the Rue de Rennes, between the Rue de Rennes and boulevard Raspail. Montparnasse has bee ...

he got to know Apollinaire, Braque,

Degas Edgar Degas (, ; born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, ; 19 July 183427 September 1917) was a French Impressionist artist famous for his pastel drawings and oil paintings. Degas also produced bronze sculptures, prints and drawings. Degas is espec ...

, Picasso and many more artists and writers. It was Apollinaire who suggested Markus' French name, Marcoussis, after a village not far from Paris.

Cubist epoch

Impressionism Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage ...

influenced his early paintings, but from about 1911 he was part of the

Cubist Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music, literature and architecture. In Cubist artwork, objects are analyzed, broken up and reassemble ...

movement alongside other

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

painters like Picasso, Braque,

Juan Gris José Victoriano González-Pérez (23 March 1887 – 11 May 1927), better known as Juan Gris (; ), was a Spanish painter born in Madrid who lived and worked in France for most of his active period. Closely connected to the innovative artistic ge ...

and those of the

Section d'Or The Section d'Or ("Golden Section"), also known as Groupe de Puteaux or Puteaux Group, was a collective of Painting, painters, sculptors, poets and critics associated with Cubism and Orphism (art), Orphism. Based in the Parisian suburbs, the grou ...

. His work was shown in exhibitions in many European cities and in the US. In 1925 he had his first solo exhibition in Paris. As well as painting still lifes and musical instruments in the Cubist manner, he also produced portraits, views of Paris, and images from the Breton seaside. In 1913 he had married Alice Halicka, a painter who came from Kraków. Their daughter Malène was born in 1922. Marcoussis served in a Polish company of the

French Foreign Legion The French Foreign Legion (french: Légion étrangère) is a corps of the French Army which comprises several specialties: infantry, Armoured Cavalry Arm, cavalry, Military engineering, engineers, Airborne forces, airborne troops. It was created ...

from 1914 to 1919. He became a French citizen, while also staying in touch with Poland, both personally and professionally. He did not generally talk about his Jewish ancestry, and his family had converted to Catholicism, but today Marcoussis is often described as a Jewish artist.

Later life

From 1930 onwards, much as his friend

Clément Serveau Henri Clément Serveau, also known as Clément-Serveau (29 June 1886 – 8 July 1972), was a French painter, designer, engraver and illustrator. Clément-Serveau produced works in a realist manner early on, but soon became interested in the new ...

, he concentrated on printmaking and illustration, including work inspired by Apollinaire's ''Alcool'', Tzara's ''Indicateur des chemins de cœur'', and Éluard's ''Lingères légères'' and ''Aurélia''. In the late 1930s Marcoussis collaborated with Spanish surrealist Joan Miró and taught him etching techniques, culminating in Miró's ''Black and Red Series'', now in the collection of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of ...

.Tallman, Susan
"Embracing the Whole Story: A Conversation with Deborah Wye,"
''Art in Print'' Vol 1. No. 1 (May–June 2011), p. 12. He also taught at the Académie Schlaefer. After Nazi troops arrived in Paris in 1940, Marcoussis and Alice moved to Cusset near

Vichy Vichy (, ; ; oc, Vichèi, link=no, ) is a city in the Allier department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of central France, in the historic province of Bourbonnais. It is a spa and resort town and in World War II was the capital of ...

. He died there on 22 October 1941.

Selected exhibitions

* 1905 Salon d'Automne, Paris * 1906 Salon des Indépendants, Paris * 1912 Salon de la

, Paris * 1920 Exposition de la Section d'Or, Paris * 1925 Galerie Le Pierre, Paris * 1928 Galerie Le Centaure, Brussels * 1929 Galerie Georges Bernheim, Paris * 1929 Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris * 1933 Galerie Knoedler, New York City * 1934 Arts Club, Chicago * 1936 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels * 1937 Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels * 1939 London Gallery, London * 1949 Retrospective in Paris * 1950 Retrospective in Basel * 1951 Retrospective in Brussels (List from German Wikipedia) File:Louis Marcoussis Le bar du port 1913.jpg, ''Le bar du port''. Signed, inscribed and dated Marcoussis Banyuls 1913. Oil on canvas, 80.8 x 65 cm File:Louis Marcoussis Violon bouteilles de Marc et cartes 1919.jpg, ''Violon, bouteilles de Marc et cartes'' (''Violin, Marc bottles and cards''). Signed and dated Marcoussis 1919. Gouache and watercolor over charcoal on paper, 45.8 x 24.5 cm File:Louis Marcoussis Personnage écrivant c1931.jpg, ''Personnage écrivant''. Signed Marcoussis. Oil and charcoal on canvas, 22 x 16.5 cm File:Louis Marcoussis Poire verte et couteau.jpg, ''Poire verte et couteau'' (''Green pear and knife''). Signed Marcoussis. Oil on glass, 36.2 x 26 cm

References

Irena Kossowska, ''Louis Marcoussis (Ludwik Kazimierz Markus)''
Instytut Sztuki Polskiej Akademii Nauk July 2004 (pl)

External links

Grove Dictionary of ArtFrench National Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marcoussis, Louis Year of birth uncertain 1941 deaths 19th-century Polish Jews Polish emigrants to France 19th-century French painters French male painters 20th-century French painters 19th-century Polish painters 20th-century French male artists Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts alumni Académie Julian alumni Soldiers of the French Foreign Legion 19th-century French male artists