Pinchus Kremegne (1890-1981), Hst “still Life With Bottle And Fruit”, 20th

Oil on canvas painting representing a still life with a bottle and fruit, signed lower right. 20th century. canvas size 24.5*41.5 cm and 38.5*55.5 cm with frame Pinchus KRÉMÈGNE, Belarusian painter, ZALUDOCK (BELARUS) 1890 – CÉRET (FRANCE) 1981 Pinchus Krémègne is the last of nine children in a family religious and modest from the Vilnius region. His father makes objects inspired by Slavic folklore. At nineteen he entered the Vilnius School of Fine Arts where he studied sculpture. He meets Soutine and Kikoïne. Aware that he had no future in the anti-Semitic Russia of the time, he decided in 1912 to go to Paris, faced the difficulties of a clandestine departure to finally reach the Ruche, "this great Russian anthill of the passage Danzig.” On his advice, Soutine joined him in 1913. In 1914, Krémègne sculpted and exhibited three of his works at the Salon des Indépendants. In 1915, he abandoned sculpture for painting. In Paris, he discovered the museums and picture galleries which exhibited works by Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Cézanne and the Impressionists. From 1916, he frequented Montparnasse. There he found Kikoïne, André Derain, Maurice de Vlaminck, Max Jacob. The merchants Chéron, Zborowski and Paul Guillaume were his first collectors. In 1918, he discovered Céret, his new place of inspiration, and stayed there frequently. From 1920 a series of trips began: to Corsica (1923), to Cagnes-sur-Mer (1928-1929) and to Scandinavia, from where Krémègne brought back numerous portraits. In 1923, he married Birgit Strömback, with whom he had a son. In 1940, he took refuge in Turenne in Corrèze. Staying with a villager, he helps with field work. A Toulouse gallery provided him with colors so that he could continue painting. At the Liberation, he returned to Paris and set up in a workshop on rue François-Guibert. From 1949 to 1956, he stayed in Israel, but Céret remained his favorite place of creation. In the 1960s, Krémègne bought land there on which he built his “house-workshop”, which he occupied until his death in the spring of 1981.