Carole Pinto Fine Arts
Pinchus Kremegne
Russian Artist (1890 - 1981)
'Still Life'
Oil on canvas
21 x 26 in.
$28,500
Museums:
Musee d'Art Moderne, Ceret, France;
Musee du Petit Palais, Geneva, Switzerland;
Israel Art Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel;
Skirball Art Museum, Los Angeles,California, Philadelphia Art Museum, Philadelphia, USA.
Bibliography:
Kremegne: L'un des Derniers Grands de la Ruche, Paris Press, 1962;
Kremegne: Exhibition Catalog, Musee des Beaux-Arts de Chartres, France, 1996.
Kremegne studied art at the Art Academy in Vilno, Russia with Chaim Soutine and Michel Kikoine before moving to the art community of 'La Ruche' in Paris in 1912. He quickly abandoned sculpture to study the masters at the Louvre, and soon discovered the revolutionary work of the Impressionist, Fauve and Cubist painters. He befriended Modigliani, who painted his portrait, as well as Chagall and Leger with whom he shared ideas about technique and composition. He participated in the Salon des Independants in 1913, the Salon des Tuileries, and had several one-man shows in major galleries around the world, including in Philadelphia and London.
Kremegne was initially drawn to Symbolism, but quickly came under the influence of Van Gogh in his densely colored and highly textured compositions meant to reveal his inner soul. His encounter with Derain and Vlaminck in 1916 led him to produce a series of 'red nudes', tortured still-lifes and vivid landscapes, as well as several portraits that strongly reveal his admiration for El Greco. His numerous travels to Israel and throughout Europe finally led him to the scenic village of Ceret in the south of France, where the bright sunlight and luminous colors of the countryside led him to adopt it as his home and produce his brightest and most serene landscapes.