Georges Malkine - Work

Work

Malkine's work spans the years from the early 1920s right up until his death in 1970. He painted approximately 500 pieces in his lifetime, and did some writing and illustrating. He had seven solo shows, with four more after his death; he contributed to 37 collective shows (19 posthumously). He won the William and Norma Copley Foundation Award in 1966. His records and reports from other sources show his periods of greatest activity as being the 1920s, early 1930s, and the 1960s. His output is remarkable in that it ended with a period of productivity that was just as notable as the early period. He embarked in 1966 on his Demeures, or Dwellings, a series of metaphorical portraits of great artists from many disciplines, presented in the form of buildings reflecting Malkine's perception of their character or work.

Malkine was not devoted uniquely to the art of painting; between the years 1933-1939, he acted in 20 films, working with, among others, Jean Gabin, Billy Wilder, and Michèle Morgan. In 1950 he wrote a farcical novel called A Bord du Violon de Mer, which is now taught in college texts as a brilliant example of humor and puns in French writing. In the exercises after the excerpt, when asking the students to write something about what they have just read, one text suggests that when doing so, they should not feel constrained by the laws of reason.