Sacha Zaliouk nude females in a boat
Darya
06/15/2022
8 min
2

Coquettish Females From The Posters Of Modernist Artist Sacha Zaliouk

06/15/2022
8 min
2

In some of our previous articles, we examined the works of Art Deco representatives who contributed to famous French erotic magazines like La Vie Parisienne and Fantasio. We looked at the sensual 18th century in images of George Barbier and the merry paganism in amusing drawings of Joseph Kuhn-Régnier. This time, we're going to examine the avant-garde posters of the Ukrainian Jew Sacha Zaliouk (1887-1971).

 Sacha Zaliouk portrait

Fig. 1. Self-portrait (artoftherussias.wordpress.com)

 Sacha Zaliouk posters

Fig. 2. fbcdn.net

Sacha Zaliouk Two Dolls

Fig. 3. Two Dolls (shop-pro.jp)

 Sacha Zaliouk Trait d’union

Fig. 4. Trait d’union (pinterest.com)

 Sacha Zaliouk Capricorn

Fig. 5. Capricorn (conchigliadivenere.files.wordpress.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Naked Like Truth

Fig. 6. Naked Like Truth (pinterest.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Nude woman

Fig. 7. Nude woman (veryimportantlot.com)

 Sacha Zaliouk

Fig. 8. Smoker’s Paradise (findartinfo.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Eternal Truth

Fig. 9. Eternal Truth (bcdn.net)

Sacha Zaliouk Seated woman

Fig. 10. Seated woman (amazonaws.com)

Early Years

Alexander Davidovich Zaliouk was born in the Zhytomyr region of modern Ukraine. Since the 19th century, the Zaliouks were known there as businessmen, artists, and musicians. The artist's father, a notary, died of a brain tumor in his thirties, when the family moved to Odessa. Sacha's mother earned a living by renting rooms in their home, so Sacha still was able to get a proper education. By the time of his graduation from the College of Fine Arts in Odessa, Zaliouk had already gained a reputation as a participant in local exhibitions (the Society of South Russian Artists) and a contributor to Russian satiric magazines like Krokodil (Crocodile).

Sacha Zaliouk painting

 Fig. 11. Couveuse de petits rats à l'opéra (“Incubator of Balerinas”, hprints.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Cirque

Fig. 12. Cirque (pinterest.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Serenade

Fig. 13. Serenade (conchigliadivenere.files.wordpress.com)

Sacha Zaliouk The Music Of The Sea, later work tending to surrealism

Fig. 14. The Music Of The Sea, later work tending to surrealism (conchigliadivenere.files.wordpress.com)

Le Montparno des Montparnos

Around 1910, Zaliouk moved to Paris, where, along with many other emigrants from Russia, he belonged to the so-called "Parisian school." He received some training at the École des Beaux-Arts. There, his mentors were acknowledged French artists Raphaël Collin and Francois Flameng. In 1914, Zaliouk married a French-born woman and enlisted in the French army, where he would assume the rank of the Artillery Captain and, for this, would be awarded French citizenship. After the end of the war, Zaliouk exhibited 50 paintings, including portraits of Parisians. This exhibition earned him the name "le Montparno des Montparnos." The artist became a constant contributor to popular periodicals like La Vie Parisienne, Fantasio, Sourire, and others. His models were well-known Montparnasse muses like Josephine Baker and Kiki de Montparnasse. Zaliouk was one of the popularizers of Montparnasse art, for which he founded The Horde community. This group held annual fundraising balls to help immigrant artists. In the 1940s, his family survived the German occupation. After the war, Zaliouk continued to paint with the financial help of his relatives who lived abroad. In the 1960s, the artist suffered a stroke. His former student Henri Engel de Salm took possession of eight hundred of his drawings and sold many at the auction in 2005. The man of Montparnasse ended his life there, at the Hospice on Rue Notre Dame des Champs.

 Sacha Zaliouk Kiki Models For Cubist Painters Or The Woman Who Will Be Cut In Pieces

Fig. 15. Kiki Models For Cubist Painters Or The Woman Who Will Be Cut In Pieces (artoftherussias.files.wordpress.com)

 Sacha Zaliouk A Cubist Painting?

Fig. 16. A Cubist Painting? (shop-pro.jp)


 Sacha Zaliouk Demon Watching a Couple


Fig.17. Demon Watching a Couple, 1933 (timetunnel.com)


Cinematic Eroticism

The distinctive feature of Zaliouk's art is the method of "montage" of different shapes and figures, which makes images look dynamic. This technique is widely exploited by the illustrators of pulp fiction or cinema and advertising posters. So, it comes as no surprise that in times of his activity in The Horde, the artist was involved in the production of invitation posters. In his contributions to Parisian periodicals, Zaliouk doesn't depict the whole scene like Barbier or Kuhn-Régnier. Instead, he portrays a group of flirtatious women in motion, which resembles the dreams of Faust by Luis Ricardo Falero in terms of composition. His manner allows him to depict several pictures in one, showing the action and the possible consequence, like in the scene of a frightened woman and a man presenting her a gift (fig. 25). Splitting the image into smaller geometric segments, Zaliouck also mocks the cubist style and shows us various seductive parts of a modern female.

Sacha Zaliouk Females on the beach

Fig. 18. Females on the beach (veryimportantlot.com)

Sacha Zaliouk posters

Fig. 19. kollerauktionen.ch

Sacha Zaliouk females on the beach painting

Fig. 20. kollerauktionen.ch

Sacha Zaliouk nude females in a boat

Fig. 21. kollerauktionen.ch

Sacha Zaliouk Large Bars Diplomacy

Fig. 22. Large Bars Diplomacy (pinterest.com)

Sacha Zaliouk Circus

Fig. 23. Circus (artinvestment.ru)

Modigliani, Seated Nude

Fig. 24. Modigliani, Seated Nude, 1917 (Wikipedia.org)

Modigliani Girls

The visual resemblance of almond-eyed coquettes to the nudes of Amedeo Modigliani seems to us obvious enough, though, you are always welcome to suggest other prototypes. As Zaliouk claimed himself, he was very close to Modigliani in times of The Horde. It's known that in 1925 the Zaliouk-Lerner family bought a place for their suddenly passed daughter next to Modigliani's grave.

Sacha Zaliouk Modigliani, Seated Nude

Fig. 25. ebluejay.com

 Sacha Zaliouk ladies on a hat

Fig. 26. twitter.com

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Click HERE for our article on the eroticism of merry modern pagan times  by the French artist Joseph Kuhn-Régnier

Sources: Wikipedia.org

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