Georges Tcherkessoff

Born: 1900, St Petersburg
Died: 1943, Paris

Graphic artist, painter, engraver, book designer, illustrator. Born in St Petersburg in the family of Yury Cherkesov (1900). Studied under Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Alexander Savinov at the State Free Arts Studios in Petrograd and engraving under Pavel Shillingovsky and Dmitry Mitrokhin. Married Alexander Benois’s daughter Anna. Designed and illustrated children’s books for publishing houses in Petrograd and Moscow (1920s), including his own book Toy Holiday (Petrograd, 1922). Member of the World of Art. Lived in Paris (from 1925), where he illustrated children’s books and the works of Stendhal, Maeterlinck and Shakespeare. Travelled through France on a yearly basis, painted studies and created a series of landscapes of the area surrounding Paris. Arrested (1941) and imprisoned at Camp de Royallieu in Compiègne (1941–43). Committed suicide in Paris shortly after his release (1943). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1918). Contributed to the exhibitions of Contemporary Painting and Drawing in Petrograd (1918), Paintings by Russian Artists in Pskov (1920), World of Art in Petrograd (1922), travelling exhibition of Russian art in the United States (1924–25), Salon d’Automne, Salon des Indépendants and the Salon des Tuileries in Paris (late 1920s and 1930s).

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