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14 Composition abstraite, 1961 Signed 'Serge Poliakoff' both lower left and lower right Oil on canvas 36 1 / 4 x 29 in, 92 x 73.5 cm Provenance Urbye Collection, Oslo Galerie Feigel, Basel Galerie d'Art Moderne, Basel Exhibitions St. Gallen, Galerie im Erker, Serge Poliakoff, 1965, no.11 Høvikodden, Norway, Henie-Onstad Kunstsenter, Retrospective Serge Poliakoff, February 1976, no.40 Literature This work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Alexis Poliakoff dated 'Paris, 28 September 1994' and is recorded in the Serge Poliakoff Archives under no. 961007 SERGE POLIAKOFF 1900-1969 Celebrated for his poetic approach to colour and daring exploration of form, Serge Poliakoff's lyrical brand of organic abstraction was greatly influenced by his meeting with Wassily Kandinsky in 1938. However, in contrast to Kandinsky's considered approach, Poliakoff argued that 'art should run like butter. There are a thousand ways of going about it, and too much science can kill it off'. Poliakoff was one of countless Russians that fled the Revolution in 1917, eventually settling in Paris in 1923 where he earnt his living playing the guitar in the city's cabarets. With his innovative control of form and colour, Poliakoff sought to achieve what he called 'le silence complet': a singular moment when all the aspects of a work of art are entirely resolved. He described this as 'when a painting is silent it means it is successful. Some of my paintings begin with turmoil. They are explosive. But I am satisfied only when they become silent'. Poliakoff was part of a group of young artists exploring the resonance of colour, injecting a further vitality into his palette with handmade pigment. Poliakoff explained the careful balance between colour and form saying, 'If you let it your colour will take charge of you. Similarly with your forms: the spontaneous form for an artist to use is always an organic one, but you've got to be in control of it. A child will use all the colours in the box at once, instinctively, and if you don't want to make that same mistake you've got to go on studying hard and for a long time'.