APPLICAT-PRAZAN

A long-time collector, Bernard Prazan founded his first gallery in 1989. From the outset, the gallery has been exclusively dedicated to the major painters who worked in Paris after the Second World War. Applicat-Prazan presents works by:

Jean-Michel Atlan, Karel Appel, Jean Dubuffet, Maurice Estève, Jean Fautrier, Hans Hartung, Auguste Herbin, Jean Hélion, Asger Jorn, Wifredo Lam, André Lanskoy, Alberto Magnelli, Alfred Manessier, André Masson, Georges Mathieu, Serge Poliakoff, Jean-Paul Riopelle, Gérard Schneider, Pierre Soulages, Nicolas de Staël, Victor Vasarely, Bram van Velde, Geer van Velde, Maria Elena Vieira da Silva, Wols, and Zao Wou-Ki.

Since 2004, the gallery has been directed by Franck Prazan, Bernard’s son. Former Managing Director of Christie’s France, he notably oversaw the company’s establishment on Avenue Matignon in Paris, transforming what had been a simple representative office into a full-fledged auction house.

Applicat-Prazan’s approach is based on three guiding principles:

• A high degree of specialization, focusing exclusively on the major painters who worked in Paris after the Second World War;
• A highly selective approach, restricting the gallery’s activity to the finest works by these artists;
• A collector-oriented vision and a long-term perspective designed to smooth out speculative market effects.

Applicat-Prazan participates in Artgenève, TEFAF Maastricht, Art Basel, Art Basel Paris and Fine Arts Paris.

Applicat-Prazan is located on Paris’s Left Bank at 16 rue de Seine, in the heart of the historic Saint-Germain-des-Prés gallery district. At the end of 2010, the gallery opened a second space in another strategic area of the Paris art market, on the Right Bank at 14 avenue Matignon.

You may also consult Franck Prazan’s blog: www.franck-prazan.com

Exhibitions

• Saint-Paul-de-Vence, Fondation Maeght, Dix ans d’Art Vivant 1945–1955, April 9 – May 31, 1966, cat.n°120, ill. col.

• Paris, Applicat-Prazan, Serge Poliakoff, March 27 – April 26, 2008

• Paris, Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Poliakoff, Le rêve des formes, October 18, 2013 – February 23, 2014, ill. col.

Bibliography

• Alexis Poliakoff, Serge Poliakoff, catalogue raisonné, vol. I, 1922 – 1954, Acatos, Paris 2004, n° 51-77, ill. coul. p.391

Serge Poliakoff (1900–1969) is among the most representative painters of the postwar generation that gave Paris its abstract school.

When he arrived in Paris in 1923, he was a young Russian émigré fleeing the Revolution. A musician by training, he supported himself by playing the guitar.

From 1929 onward, he devoted himself to painting, immersing himself in the artistic milieu of the time and forming friendships with Kandinsky, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, and Franz Meyer. His first group exhibitions in the 1930s were organized at Galerie Denise René. In 1946, he joined the avant-garde of abstract painting.

The year 1952 proved decisive for Poliakoff: exhibitions multiplied, American museums began acquiring his work, and thanks to a contract with Galerie Bing, he was finally able to make a living from his art. Poliakoff also participated in the avant-garde painting exhibitions organized by Charles Estienne.

His first major exhibition took place in Liège in 1953, followed by shows at the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels and the Museum of Verviers. His work was now being revealed to a wider public.

In 2013, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris devoted a major retrospective to the artist, in which our Abstract Composition was exhibited.

Painted in 1953, this work intertwines forms and colors while juxtaposing planes of composition. Color creates a distinctive, vibrant texture that radiates an inner light across the canvas — luminous, even alive.