Paris - The Seine By Jan Vakowskai 1932 - 2006

Very original painting on canvas in very good condition measuring 50cm x 61cm plus damaged frame 66cm x 77cm, signed lower left, dated, titled and countersigned on the back Jan Vakowskaï is a French painter born in Amiens to Slavic parents on March 21, 1932, who lived in Venasque (Vaucluse) from the 1960s, then from the 1990s in Puteaux where he died on January 14, 2006. Born in Amiens, then spending his childhood and youth in Nanterre, Jan Vakowskaï was initially destined for classical dance, which he practiced from the age of ten. The plan to join the Marquis de Cuevas troupe was interrupted by a car accident which, in 1955, oriented him towards painting. He was a student at the Académie Julian, then at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière. In the 1960s, after living for a while in La Garde-Freinet, he settled in Venasque in a ruined house facing Mont Ventoux, which he restored himself, setting up a studio there and quickly becoming a permanent artist at the Galerie Philippe Ducastel in Avignon, then at the Galerie Emmanuel David in Paris, and later at the Galerie Droit de regard in Arcachon. During the 1990s, Jan Vakowskaï moved back to the Paris region, sharing his time there with the Vendée. The themes of his work, "pictorial transcription of the metaphysical quest of an artist influenced by Buddhist philosophy and whose travels in India left their mark of simplicity and humility". Emmanuel David for his part defines the work as follows: "Lost horizons, vanishing lines, openings onto nothing and everything, dwellings outside the present, inanimate objects, living forms and landscapes from elsewhere draw us into a thousand-coloured fairyland" Personal exhibitions Galerie d'Egmond, Brussels, 1965. Galerie Emmanuel David, 14 avenue Matignon, Paris, April 19703, 1973, 1976. Galerie MG, Montpellier, 1976. Galerie de l'Olympe, Lyon, 1981, 1987. Galerie Amis des arts, Aix-en-Provence, 1981. Galerie Ducastel, Avignon, 1983. Galerie des Jardins de la fontaine, Nîmes, 1983, 1986, 1992. Singapore, Manama (Bahrain), 1984. Abidjan, Hong Kong, 1985. Galerie Marion, Perpignan, 1987. Thifflet Gallery, Besançon, 1988. Motte Gallery, Geneva, 1988. Les Mouettes Gallery, Lausanne, 1989. Pharos Gallery, Marseille, 1989, May-June 1991. Norbert Hanse Gallery, Paris, March-April 1990. Gaillard Gallery, La Baule, 1990. Dutilleul Gallery, Albi, 1992. Christiane Vallet Gallery, Clermont-Ferrand, 1992. Château de Val, Lanobre, spring 1993. Cziffra Foundation, Senlis, 1993. Claridge Gallery, Paris, October-November 1993, 1994. Droit de regard Gallery, Arcachon, 1996, 2001, 2002. Saint-Pierre de la Réunion, 1997, 1998. Joël Gallery Dupuis, Hardelot, 1997, 1998. Galerie Artimus, Paris, 2000. Jan Vakowskaï, 1935-2006, Saint-Andéol Chapel, Camaret-sur-Aigues, August 2007. Tribute to Jan Vakowskaï, College Chapel, Carpentras, March-April 2017.