Constantin (Kostia) Terechkovitch

Painter, graphic artist, applied artist, theatrical designer, illustrator, writer on art. Born in Mesherskoe near Moscow in the family of Abram Tershkovich (1902). Studied in the studios of Konstantin Juon, Ilya Mashkov and Fyodor Roehrberg in Moscow (1911–17), under Pavel Kuznetsov at the Moscow Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1917) and at the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière in Paris (1920–22). Lived in Paris (from 1920), where he met Mikhail Larionov, Victor Barthe, Chaïm Soutine and Pinchus Krémègne. Worked on the Udar artistic-literary journal, writing an article for the first issue criticising the World of Art (from 1921). Published drawings in the left-wing magazine Clarte (1920s). Subject of a monograph by Forent Fels (1928). Member of the artists’ section of the Union of Russian Arts Activists in France (from 1933) and the Salon d’Automne (from 1934). Moved away from an interest in Expressionism towards a lyrical Impressionism (1930s). Painted portraits of Russian and French artists and worked in theatrical design, including work for the Russian Ballet in Monte Carlo (1930s). Fought in the French army (from 1939) and the French Resistance. Awarded French citizenship (1942). Became one of the leading artists in France (after 1945), painting portraits and landscapes and illustrating books, including works by Leo Tolstoy, Ivan Bunin, Anton Chekhov and Guy de Mauppasant. Designed tapestries for the Bovais and Obusson manufacturers and worked in ceramics and the painting of furniture. Founder of the Poetic Reality group (1948). Developed an interest in lithography (1949), creating colour lithographs from the life of his family and a series entitled Russian Officers of 1860 (1950). Awarded the Légion d’honneur and the Order of Arts and Literature. Died in Monaco and buried in Roquebrune Cap Martin (1978). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1923). Contributed to the exhibitions of Udar (1923), joint exhibition with Victor Barthe, André Lanskoy (Paris, 1924), Chisla (1931), Salon d’Automne (from 1924), Salon des Indépendants (1920s, 1930s), Salon des Tuileries (from 1924), exhibitions of Russian art in Paris (1925, 1929–32, 1936), Belgrade (1930), Contemporary French Art in Moscow (1928), Paris (1934), Geneva (1934), Chicago (1937), New York (1938), Russian Artists of the Paris School (Saint-Denis, 1960; Paris, 1961), Artist-Witnesses of Their Time (Paris, 1961), Living Montparnasse (Tokyo, 1970), Significant Paintings by Russian Artists in French Collections (Paris, 1972), The Russian View (Heidelberg, 1974), international exhibition in Menton (biannual, 1951 – Grand Prix) and one-man shows in Berlin (1923), Paris (1927, 1928, 1930, 1932, 1934, 1937, 1938, 1945, 1948, 1951, 1953–55, 1958, 1961–66, 1969, 1971, 1975), Geneva (1934), New York (1938, 1961), Zurich (1949), Helsinki (1951), London (1959), Tokyo (1965, 1969), Nice (1953, 1969), Cannes (1959) and Sauves (1972).