Paul Ackerman (1908-1981) Le Puzzle Oil on canvas... Lot 8

Paul Ackerman (1908-1981) Le Puzzle Oil on canvas signed lower right 65 x 81 cm Bibliography: > André Parinaud, Paul Ackerman, Editions Mayer, Paris, 1987, reproduced p. 120 Born in Romania, Paul Ackerman was 4 years old when his parents moved to Paris in 1912, choosing to escape the prevailing anti-Semitism. In the 1930s, he frequented Fernand Léger's studio, designing posters, fabrics and jewelry for Elsa Schiaparelli and Marcel Rochas. Taken prisoner and then released during the Second World War, he took refuge in the southeast of France, where he struck up a close friendship with Pierre Bonnard. After the Liberation, he returned to his Paris studio, where he met Jean-Michel Atlan, Jean Dubuffet, Serge Poliakoff and Alexandre Garbell. Classified as a member of the Nouvelle École de Paris, his paintings oscillated between abstraction - in the 50s and 60s - and the figuration he practiced throughout his life. The esoteric dimension is the common thread running through his career, right up to his cycle devoted to the Agatha - that ideal subterranean world inspired by Buddhist myths that appeared in 19th-century French literature and found resonance in the New Age movement - Paul Ackerman declares: "I am above all a painter of the unconscious. I look for anything that can liberate it. Sometimes I even paint my dreams".