Marc Sterling
Still life with chicken. Oil on canvas, 50 x 61 cm

About the Item

Still life with chicken and mushrooms. Oil on canvas, 50 x 61 cm hunting theme in painting Marc Sterling (1895-1976) Marc Sterling was born in Pryluky, a small town in Ukraine, where his father worked as a grain merchant. At the age of twelve, he became the apprentice of an icon painter in a neighboring city. In 1909, as he was fourteen years old, he gave up his craft apprenticeship and left to study painting at the Academy of Odessa, where he also got acquainted with sculpture. In 1916, following his mother’s death, he left for Moscow and enrolled in the School of Fine Arts. The following year, Sterling was involved in the Revolution and in the Russian avant-garde movements. He studied under Vladimir Tatlin at the Vhutemas, a revolutionary school that combined the School of Fine Arts and School of Decorative Arts. He got in touch with revolutionary artists, including the poet Mayakovsky, with whom he spent time at the studios where the propaganda posters were produced. In 1922, Mayakovsky encouraged Sterling to go to Berlin. He met Basia, a young Polish student who later became his wife and bore him two children. The couple arrived in Paris in 1923 and settled at the Hôtel Médical. He spent time on the terraces of cafés in Montparnasse where artists met up. He signed a three-year contract with the Zak gallery. During World War II, Marc Sterling and his family took refuge with friends. In 1941, Basia died as a consequence of an operation. During the five following years, Sterling totally lost touch with the artistic community in Paris. Back in Paris in 1947, he acquired French nationality and met his friends in Montparnasse. He exhibited his work in France and abroad. He met Eliane, a Swiss sculptor who was a student of Zadkine. She became his partner in 1953. They settled in Peseux, near Neuchâtel, Switzerland. In 1956, he moved back to Paris and traveled to Holland, Italy, Spain, and Israel.

Creator:

Marc Sterling (1895 - 1976, Ukrainian, French)

Dimensions:

Height: 19.69 in (50 cm)Width: 24.02 in (61 cm)Depth: 0.79 in (2 cm)

Medium:

Canvas,Oil

Movement & Style:

Realist

Period:

Mid-20th Century

Condition:

Gallery Location: