Andrei Mikhailovich Lanskoy, born in St. Petersburg in 1902, was a Russian painter and engraver who worked in France, protagonist of the School of Paris and Tachisme art movements.
André Lanskoy started painting as a hobby at a very young age and, after moving to Paris in 1921, he had chosen painting as his professional activity. In Paris he enrolled at the Grande-Chaumière Academy, where he was able to get in touch with the works of Van Gogh and Matisse and became friends with Soutine. In the same period he met Serge Poliakoff, Jean-Michel Coulon and Nicolas de Staël. The artistic recognition of the dealer and critic Wilhelm Unde, who noticed the young artist in 1924 and became his collector from then on, was one of the most important points of his career.
In 1925, Lanskoy displayed his works at his first personal exhibition in Paris and, in 1937, he abandoned figuration and started to approach the Informal art.
In 1944, he exhibited at the Jeanne Bucher Gallery, followed by a series of exhibitions in Paris and New York.
Lanskoy’s life was a succession of important encounters with artists and intellectuals, studies of artworks and history of art and tireless work. In the 1960’s, the artist devoted himself to complex projects, illustrations, collages, lithographs and mosaics.
He ended his career in Paris in 1976, after having made his important contribution to the École de Paris.
© André Lanskoy
