Galerie des Modernes

En | Fr

Serge Ferat

Cubism, Avant-garde

(Moscow, 1881 – Paris, 1958)

Active in France since 1901, the count Sergueï Nikolaïevitch Yastrebzov is better known as Serge Ferat or under the pseudonym of Roudniev. He traveled a lot during his childhood: in England, France, Italia and Germany. He settled in Paris in 1901-1902 and lived with his cousin, the Oettingen baroness. At this time, he took class with Bouguereau at Julian Academy. He was also student of Baschet and Schomer. Under the pseudonym Roudniev he exhibited several paintings influenced by Maurice Denis the following year at the Salon of French artists.

The young count is surrounded by poets and painters and often frequents the Lapin Agile around 1905. He bought a lot of paintings, especially from the Douanier Rousseau and cubists artists as Picasso and Braque. His paintings of 1910 were inspired by Quattrocento and received favour of Maurice Denis. Then, he draw his inspiration from Cézanne.

Since 1911, he frequented Picasso and Apollinaire and it is the poet himself that fund his nickname Ferat. Férat plays an important role in the broadcasting of Cubism. With its cousin, the Baroness of Oettingen, he received all of the Parisian avant -garde and was notably the sponsor of the second series of the review Soirees de Paris( November 1913 - July- August 1914 ) , the official organ " Cubism quartered " by Apollinaire . He takes the artistic direction under the pseudonym Jean Cérusse ("those Russians "). Since 1913, he assured artistic direction of the newspapers Soirées de Paris directed by Apollinaire. However the magazine is interrupted by the war.

Enlisted as a volunteer nurse in the Russian Ambulances, then at the Italian Military Hospital in 1915, he led the establishment under the responsibility of Doctor Ballodonmi .

In 1917, Serge Ferat realizes the brochure, the sets and costumes for the play: les Mamelles de Tirésias by Apollinaire. The state also commissioned three tapestries for the Manufacture of Beauvais. Ruined by the Russian Revolution, he is somewhat neglected by the circle of artists who flocked to its feasts and only continues to see Survage, Gleizes and Delaunay .

In 1917, Serge Ferat realised brochure, decors and costumes of Tirésias’s Mamelle by Apollinaire. The State also ordered three models for tapestry for Beauvais manufacture. Then, he exhibited at the Salon des Independants, the Salon d'Automne and the Salon of the Golden Section. In the 1930s, his Cubist style gradually became decorative. Meetings with Picasso and the Cubists, he adopts the aesthetics, but by transposing it to his measure, he becomes the painter of sheepfolds and “fêtes gallants”, painted with cubist grace and refinement. He participated in the exhibition of Russian art in Prague in 1935. His work was noticed to the great cubist exhibition in 1953 at the Museum of Modern Art of Paris. Nevertheless, Serge Ferat destroyed many of his works and died in poverty and almost universal oblivion.

read more

Work(s)