‘Serge Charchoune: The Early Years’ Challenges Our Mind And Our Emotions Through A Singular Art Historical Journey

Abstract geometric forms and figurative elements resembling fruits from a still life flex to fit together in a profusely layered composition of lavishly textured riotous brushstrokes. The tame color palette which evokes contemplation underscores the complexity of shapes and transcendent style fluidly infusing ornamentation into Cubism.

Serge Charchoune’s oil on canvas Cubisme ornemental (1922) is among 36 paintings from the Russian-born, French artist’s foundational period on view at Rosenberg & Co. until July 11. Serge Charchoune: The Early Years is the first posthumous solo exhibition of Charchoune’s work in New York. Showcasing an array of exquisite paintings from his foundational period, when Charchoune (1888–1975) devised his singular interpretation of classical Cubist compositions and Dada influences to create Purist canvases that were lauded by Le Corbusier (1887-1965), the Swiss-French trailblazer of what is now regarded as modern architecture and a key figure in Purist theory and painting.

Curated together for the first time, the works are hung chronologically in a museum-style exhibition spanning two floors of the Upper East Side gallery where Marianne Rosenberg champions her family’s renowned legacy of celebrating leading Impressionist, Modernist and Contemporary artists. The exhibition amplifies Charchoune’s prominence in Modern art history by presenting works that feel contemporary with an understated elegance.

Charchoune’s passion for poetry and prose writing, which foreshadowed language poetry and autofiction, manifests in his visual narratives and revolutionary painting style. During this period spanning 1916-1930, Charchoune evolved what he called “ornamental cubism,” marrying the analytic phase of cubism, or deconstruction of planes, and his penchant for ornament.

Born in the Russian town of Buguruslan – located on the southern slopes of Bugulma-Belebey Upland, on River Bolshoy Kinel (Volga River basin), at the confluence of the River Mochegai, and home to the N. V. Gogol Drama Theater – Charchoune attended the Moscow Academy of Art before moving to Paris in 1912 to study at the Académie de la Palette. In the early 1920s, Charchoune embraced the Dadaists and started showing his work in Paris and Berlin while lending his writing talents to Modernist publications.

Austere architectural design in La maison d’en face (1928) pulls our gaze into the tension between interior and exterior worlds. Loosely translated as “the house opposite,” we think both of resistance and what we might see across the street from our home.

Our senses sharpen as we follow the squiggles in the center of Sentier calligraphe (1917), reminiscent of thread or yarn unraveling, and framed by an explosive design that hints at frenzy and fury, pushing to the edges of the canvas.

These works demand an in-person view, inviting a dialogue that engages the lyrical, poetic, architectural, and tactile elements, and inimitable compositions that sometimes end before the edges of the canvas, creating their own self-referential frame. Each work is unique, and Charchoune underscores his individuality with signatures in English and Cyriilic, block writing and cursive, various initials and full surname, and sometimes a year. Let your own eye guide you through this consequential and multi-faceted art historical journey and discover why Charchoune’s oeuvre remains relevant and fascinating.

“Charchoune’s work challenges each of us to situate ourselves in that deceptively simple place between the cerebral and the emotional,” Marianne Rosenberg writes in the catalog introduction. “It bears doing.”