Anna Staritsky (Ukrainian/French, 1908-1981)
Fantasy
signed in Latin (lower right)
oil on canvas
80 x 53cm (31 1/2 x 20 7/8in).
Footnotes:
Provenance
Tajan, Paris, Art Moderne, 7 February 2008, lot 184, sold with title La Tentation
Private collection, UK (acquired from the above sale)


Anna Staritsky was born in Poltava into a family of Russian and Ukrainian intelligentsia. In 1921, after the death of her mother, she moved to Moscow where she studied art under Vladimir Favorsky, Tatiana Soukhotina-Tolstaya and Konstantin Yuon. Between 1925 and 1932, the young artist spent time briefly living in France, then Prague, and Sofia, where she attended the Art Academy. From 1932, Staritsky settled in Brussels and entered the Ecole Supérieure d'Arts Décoratifs and worked as a graphic artist for press and advertising firms, while she continued to develop as an independent artist. In 1943 to 1944, Staritsky took part in the Russian Art Salon at the Brussels Galerie Tioson d'Or, and in 1947-1952 held a series of personal exhibitions in various galleries in Paris and Brussels. After the war, together with her husband, Belgian artist Guillaume Hoorickx (1900–1983), Staritsky settled in Nice and remained there until 1952 when the couple moved to Paris. In Paris, she participated in the Salons des Réalités Nouvelles (1951–1957), Salon Comparaisons (1955–1958), as well as numerous collective exhibitions, including the Russian Artists of the School of Paris at Maison de la pensée française (1961).

Starting as an illustrator, Staritsky subsequently developed into an artist who masterfully combined fascination with literature and poetry with an interest in abstract painting. Her oeuvre includes large-scale vibrant abstractions, relief collages, often incorporating mixed media, found objects and text, as well as literary illustrations and innovative artist books.