HENRI SAMOUILOV
SALES AT 2pm
WEDNESDAY 17 MARCH 2020
PARIS - HOTEL DROUOT - ROOM 14
Public Exhibition :
Monday March 16 from 11am to 6pm
and the morning of the sale from 11am to 12pm
Phone during the exhibition and sale: 01 48 00 20 14
HENRI SAMOUILOV (1930-2014)
Born on December 25, 1930, Henri SAMOUILOV died on February 4, 2014. He lived most of his life in Yerres in a house whose plans he had drawn, with a large artist's studio, in which he never stopped painting, drawing, sculpting, ...
The studio on the mezzanine was open to the rest of the house; it was not a sacred place, one could settle there with him, read or draw. On the other hand, Henri Samouilov was very discreet and reserved about his tastes or motivations, and did not like to talk about what he did, nor discuss art or painting. But it is in his work that we recognize all his inspirations: his taste for the poetry of La Fontaine, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Fombeure, or Henri James, his interest in Greek mythology...
He is very sensitive to surrealism: his themes and his imaginary universe weave links with the dream, the invisible, the shadows, the hidden or the underground. Moreover he did not like strong light, to the clean and to the guré: He feared the sun, and did not like being exposed! He chose to create far from any fashion trend, or commercial requirements.
He travelled very little and was mostly inspired by what was in his immediate environment: the landscapes of the Mayenne countryside in the summer, or the portraits of his children and grandchildren. His daily train journeys from Yerres to the Gare de Lyon, then his long walks in Paris were also an important source of inspiration: suburban landscapes, railways, the banks of the Seine, Parisian façades, Parisian bistros, tramps... He was particularly fond of the Jardin des Plantes and "bite" a lot of animals there. He always had in his jacket or at hand small sketchbooks and miniature pencil and eraser tips. Everything was a pretext for drawing, painting, sculpture and all his life, Henri Samouilov learned new techniques.
In his studio in Yerres, the works were accumulated, today we want to give them to the eyes.
Some exhibitions :
1963 and 1972, Galerie Halévy, place Dauphine, Paris / 1974 / 1992 to 2000, Galerie P. Poichet, Dinan / 1994-95, Galerie Art 3, place des Vosges, Paris / 2015, Galerie Jean-Claude Reno, Montpellier / 2017, exhibition " Chemin faisant ", Propriété Caillebotte, Yerres / 2019, " La petite Galerie ", rue de Seine, Paris.
Quelques publications :
" La cuisine des eurs " éditions Dominique Halévy, 1969 - illustrations / " Le bridge " éditions Hatier, 1982 - illustrations
