MARCOUSSIS, LOUIS (Polish/French, 1878-1941)

Born in Warsaw, Ludwik Markus studied painting at the Academy of Art, Kraków.
In 1903 he joined numerous compatriots in Paris where he continued his studies at the Académie Julian, under the name of Louis Marcoussis. After working as a cartoonist for some years, Marcoussis met Braque in 1910, then Picasso and Apollinaire and afterwards others of the Cubist school. In 1912 he exhibited with the Section d’Or, and again after the war in 1920.
Marcoussis was a gifted artist who was intelligent enough to understand and interpret in his own way the painting of Braque and Picasso. He never turned the Cubist techniques into a mannerism but combined clarity and simplicity of structure with poetic realism and a feeling for nature. Jean Cassou called him a ‘representative of the pure form of Cubism’ and added that ‘his Cubist discipline, which achieves grandeur in some of his still lifes is often lightened with subtle taste and genuine musicality’. In 1913 and again after the war he experimented in the manner of ‘synthetic’ Cubism, but his evocative representations of nature are more typical.
In 1920 he exhibited at Der Sturm Gallery, Berlin and in 1933 he visited the USA for an exhibition in Chicago. Max Jacob spoke of his superstitious nature and in 1941 he did a set of drypoints which he called ‘Devins’. Marcoussis also illustrated a number of books, including Apolinaire’s Alcools (1933) and two publications by Tristan Tzara.


Public collections include:
Musée d’Art et d’Industrie, Saint-Etienne
Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Paris
National Gallery, Washington
Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice
Saarland Museum, Sarrebruck