leopold
survage
B. 1879, Lappeenranta, Finland
D. 1968, Paris, France
The Artist
Biography
Leopold Survage
B. 1879, Lappeenranta, Finland D. 1968, Paris, France
Leopold Survage began his formal studies at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. By 1906 he was closely tied to Russian avant-garde circles, and he worked with such prominent figures as David Burliuk and Natalia Goncharova. He contributed to Zolotoe Runo (Golden Fleece), an innovative journal dedicated to Russian Symbolism and vanguard art, which also emphasized international, and particularly French, modernist influences. The journal's heightened focus on international art contributed to Survage's decision to travel to Western Europe, and in 1909 he settled in Paris, where he set out to create an original style that would at once embrace and challenge the avant-garde tendencies of his time.
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Survage's early repertoire featured a fusion of Surrealism and Cubism; he strove to unify simplicity and complexity in his canvases. Using symbolic and repeated elements (man, leaf, house, sea, etc.) against the structural backdrop of a chaotic urban scene, Survage achieved a dream-like, other-worldly feel. He combined Surrealist elements with Cubist ones, challenging traditional space, and depth while creating gracefully abstracted images. Most important was his use of line-Survage would sculpt, bend and break contours in order to divide his compositions into rhythmic planes, and he would manipulate and reject traditional notions of space to create the perception of an alternate, metaphysical world.
Available Artwork
The Bird and the City
1920, oil on canvas
65.4 x 50.3 cm (25.7 x 19.8 in.)
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