Georges Alexandre Malkine (October 10, 1898 – March 22, 1970) was the only visual artist named in André Breton’s 1924 Surrealist Manifesto among those who, at the time of its publication, had “performed acts of absolute surrealism."[1] The rest Breton named were for the most part writers, including Louis Aragon, Robert Desnos, and Benjamin Peret. Malkine's 1926 painting Nuit D'amour was the precursor of the lyrical abstract school of painting.
Contents |
Georges Malkine chose not to expose his private life and, apart from his career in film and theatre, his work was known only to his collectors. He avoided groups like the plague, as well as anthologies and other methods of categorizing (and, to his mind, demeaning) artists; his example championed the concept of individualism. "[Malkine] is perhaps the only artist", wrote French art historian Patrick Waldberg in his 1970 monograph, "about whom it can be said that through his life and his work, reality and dreams may cease to be viewed contrarily." Indeed, Malkine lived Surrealism, allowing his fate to be tossed where the wind would blow it, eschewing all attachments to fame, money, career, and other like things that seek to confine, define, and, in the end, confuse the real issues.[4] He believed a man's wealth was contained in the inner landscapes, and didn't like to talk about himself; his paintings were the only personal glimpses he provided for those who might be interested.
Georges Malkine had a musical soul, and especially loved the piano; his highest love was for poetry.
A rumor to the effect that Malkine was homosexual has been traced to a Man Ray photograph of him kissing his first wife, Yvette, who wore her hair short like a man's. This 1930 photo included Malkine, André de la Rivière, Robert Desnos, and the sculptor Lasserre. This idea and any elaboration upon it is pure fabrication.
Malkine's work spans the years from the early 1920s right up until his death in 1970. He painted approximately 500 pieces in his lifetime, and did some writing and illustrating. He had seven solo shows, with four more after his death; he contributed to 37 collective shows (19 posthumously).[5] He won the William and Norma Copley Foundation Award in 1966. His records and reports from other sources show his periods of greatest activity as being the 1920s, early 1930s, and the 1960s. His output is remarkable in that it ended with a period of productivity that was just as notable as the early period. He embarked in 1966 on his Demeures, or Dwellings,[6] a series of metaphorical portraits of great artists from many disciplines, presented in the form of buildings reflecting Malkine's perception of their character or work.
Malkine was not devoted uniquely to the art of painting; between the years 1933-1939, he acted in 20 films, working with, among others, Jean Gabin, Billy Wilder, and Michèle Morgan. In 1950 he wrote a farcical novel called A Bord du Violon de Mer, which is now taught in college texts as a brilliant example of humor and puns in French writing. In the exercises after the excerpt, when asking the students to write something about what they have just read, one text suggests that when doing so, they should not feel constrained by the laws of reason.
A retrospective of Malkine's early and late paintings opened at the Galérie Les Yeux Fertiles in Paris in June 2004. Two major shows in 1999 contained paintings and drawings by Malkine, from both his late and early periods. The Surrealism: Two Private Eyes exhibit at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City, taken from the immense Surrealist art collections of Daniel Filipacchi and Nesuhi Ertegün, included a four-painting array and one drawing. The other show,Georges Malkine: Le Vagabond du Surréalisme, was a four-month retrospective at the Pavillon des Arts in Paris. It was the most complete Malkine retrospective to date. Five paintings were shown in Paris in 1995 in a collector's show at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, titled Passions Privées. His paintings come up for auction periodically throughout Europe, and are in collections throughout the world.
A selection of his paintings may be seen here.
1933 : L'Ange gardien. 1934 : Mauvaise graine : The secretary. 1934 : L'Or : Zorloff. 1934 : Liebe, Tod und Teufel : Vikhom. 1935 : Le Diable en bouteille : Vikhom. 1936 : The First Offence. 1936 : Un de la légion : The russian legionnaire. 1937 : La Dame de Malacca : A guard. 1938 : La Tragédie impériale : Begger. 1938 : S.O.S. Sahara : Ivan. 1938 : Le Joueur. 1939 : Le Corsaire. 1939 : Derrière la façade : The taxi driver. 1939 : La Tradition de minuit : A gangster. 1939 : La Loi du nord. 1939 : Pièges. 1940 : Eine kleine Nachtmusik. 1940 : Les Musiciens du ciel. 1941 : Remorques : Un marin.