Léon Zack (1892–1980), also known as Lev Vasilyevich Zak (), was a Russian-born French figurative and later abstract painter and sculptor. He has been described as a

School of Paris The School of Paris (, ) refers to the French and émigré artists who worked in Paris in the first half of the 20th century. The School of Paris was not a single art movement or institution, but refers to the importance of Paris as a centre o ...

painter.

Biography

Léon Zack was born into a Jewish family in

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

in Russia on 12 July 1892, to a pharmacist father. He was an illustrator, painter, designer and sculptor. He has been described a

painter.Ronald Alley, Catalogue of the Tate Gallery's Collection of Modern Art other than Works by British Artists, Tate Gallery and Sotheby Parke-Bernet, London 1981
pp.767-8
/ref> He was painting at the age of 13 and exhibiting his work by 15, being a pupil of Jakimchenko from 1905 to 1907.Léon Zack
ecoledesfilles.org, accessed January 2013 Whilst studying literature at the

University of Moscow Moscow State University (MSU), officially M. V. Lomonosov Moscow State University,. is a public research university in Moscow, Russia. The university includes 15 research institutes, 43 faculties, more than 300 departments, and six branches. Al ...

, he took painting and drawing classes at private academies where he studied under

post-Impressionists Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...

such as Mashkov. After leaving Russia in 1920, he spent time in Florence, Rome and Berlin, before settling in Paris in 1923. Whilst in Berlin, he designed costumes and sets for the

Ballets Romantiques Russes Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

. In 1926, Zack had his first one-man show in Paris, painting figures including harlequins and gypsies. He exhibited at the Salon d'Automne and the

Salon des Indépendants Salon may refer to: Common meanings * Beauty salon, a venue for cosmetic treatments * French term for a drawing room A drawing room is a room in a house where visitors may be entertained, and an alternative name for a living room. The name i ...

and took French citizenship in 1938. He lived at

Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; ; ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located southwest of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. By 1947, he was back in Paris designing sets for the

Opéra-Comique The Opéra-Comique () is a Paris opera company which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular Théâtre de la foire, theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with – and for a time took the name of – its chief riva ...

and in the 1950s he designed stained glass windows, including for Notre Dame des Pauvres at

Issy-les-Moulineaux Issy-les-Moulineaux () is a commune in the southwestern suburban area of Paris, France, lying on the left bank of the river Seine. Its citizens are called in French. It is one of Paris's entrances and is located from Notre Dame Cathedral, whic ...

. Around this time Zack's work abandoned figuration for geometrical abstraction, gradually moving toward a more expressive mode of

Tachisme __NOTOC__ Tachisme (alternative spelling: Tachism, derived from the French word ''tache'', stain; ) is a French style of Abstract art, abstract painting popular in the 1940s and 1950s. The term is said to have been first used with regards to the ...

. He had exhibitions of such abstract works at the Galerie Kléber in 1955 and 1957. At the end of his life, he lived on the outskirts of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and died in

Vanves Vanves () is a Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. It is one of the most densely populated municipalities in Europe and the tenth in France. History On ...

on 30 March 1980. Zack has work in British national collections, including the

Tate Collection Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, the

Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street in Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University o ...

and the

Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts The Sainsbury Centre is an art museum located on the campus of the University of East Anglia, Norwich, England. As part of its relaunch in 2023 under new executive director, Jago Cooper, the Sainsbury Centre became the first museum in the wor ...

at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a Public university, public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus university, campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and twenty-six schools of ...

Selected exhibitions

* from 1923: Salon d’Automne, Paris * 1926: Galerie d’Art Contemporain, Paris * 1927: Galerie Percier, Paris * 1928:

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

, Chicago * 1935: Galerie Wildenstein, Paris * 1946: Galerie Katia Granoff, Paris * 1959:

Waddington Galleries Waddington Custot is a London-based art gallery specialising in modern and contemporary art. Formerly known as Waddington Galleries, it has been situated on Mayfair's Cork Street since 1958. History Waddington Galleries was founded in 1958 b ...

, London * 1976: ''Léon Zack'', Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris * 1988: ''Léon Zack retrospective: 1892-1980'',

Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Orléans The Musée des beaux-arts d'Orléans is a museum in the city of Orléans in the Loiret department and the Centre-Val de Loire region in France. Founded in 1797, it is one of France's oldest provincial museums. Its collections cover European art ...

, Orléans * 2009: Musée d'Art et d'Histoire du Judaïsme, Paris

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zack, Leon 1892 births 1980 deaths Artists from Nizhny Novgorod 20th-century French painters 20th-century French male artists French male painters