Sacha ZALIOUK
1887–1971, Ukraine
Also known as: Alexander Davidovich Zaliouk
Sacha Zaliouk, born Alexander Davidovich Zaliouk (1887–1971), was a Russian Empire-born illustrator and sculptor, from a Jewish family in Radomysl. His artistic career began in Odessa, where he had moved with his mother and 3 siblings. His father was a notary and scribe in the Russian army and worked as a non-academic lawyer, but died prematurely of a brain tumor in his late thirties. Although his mother had little education herself, she supported the family by renting rooms in their home, first in Radomysl, then in Odessa. Sacha was able to get a public education in drawing and completed the university level College of Fine Arts in Odessa.
Upon graduation, Sacha moved to Paris, France in 1910, working among the many immigrant artists described later as "L'école de Paris". As with many Russian émigré, he was introduced to the artistic community by Maxim Gorky. Sacha studied there under Rafael Collin & Francois Flameng at L'Ecole des Beaux Arts, married in 1914 and enlisted in the French army, working his way up to Artillery Captain for which he was awarded French citizenship.
Although his early paintings looked back at his youth in the Ukraine, in 1919 he exhibited 50 paintings at "Au Tableau d'Art" reflecting the war years and with portraits of Parisiens, after which he was well known in Montparnasse, earning the moniker of "le Montparno des Montparnos". Although always painting, he supported his family in the post war years by working as a humoristic illustrator for French magazines – usually with a sexual theme – such as Fantasio, Sourire, Le Journal Amusant, Eros, and especially La Vie Parisienne. He also sculpted human faces from walnuts.
He was a founding member of La Horde de Montparnasse (The Horde), which was formed to popularize the artists of Montparnasse. Sacha was involved in creating invitation posters & decorating the sets for their annual fundraising balls, which supported struggling young immigrant artists. Members of the Horde frequented the famous coffee house La Rotunde, where they hobnobbed with the likes of Russian Bolshevik exiles, Henry Miller, Picasso, Modigliani, and Max Jacob. Sacha said he was very close to Amedeo Modigliani. When the family purchased a family plot at Pere Lachaise cemetery for the sudden, premature death of his only daughter in 1925, they chose a spot only a few feet away from Modi's resting place.
Sacha befriended Fougita early after arriving in Paris, making several portraits of him. He took coffee with Ilya Ehrenberg in 1924 and his table often included Russian artists and intellectuals. When the cafe La Coupole was about to open in 1927, the owner invited Alexandre Auffray to help decorate the many then-bare columns; Auffray collected 31 Montparnasse artists, including Sacha, to paint them. A photo of Sacha with several fellow artists adorns the back wall of La Coupole even today. He was a prolific artist up until WWII, when the German occupation & Vichy France limited his professional activities, but he survived the war while losing his closest artist friend, Samuel Granovsky, to the Nazi concentration camps. Following WWII, there were continued economic hardships for artists, but he continued to paint, with support from his sister's family in America & a nephew in Israel. When he suffered a devastating stroke in the late 1960s, he was placed in a nursing home & a former student took possession of over 500 drawings & paintings, many of which he sold at auction. He died peacefully at a Hospice on Rue Notre Dame des Champs in 1971, where he had continued to sketch until the end.