Volovick, Lazare (1902-1977)

Lazare Volovick (1902-1977).
Lazare Volovick was a Ukrainian-born painter, active in France from 1921 onwards. He came from a big family, where he was the youngest of seven. In 1917, Lazare enrolled in the School of Fine Arts in Kharkiv and in Kyiv the following year. In 1920 Lazare and his friend Kostia Terechkovich moved to Paris in 1921. Though he had very little money or connections, he quickly found his ground and befriended a circle of painters and sculptors.
Volovick is part of what’s call the École de Paris, referring to the influx of foreign artists into Paris which was the center of the art world.
In 1923, Volovick moved into La Ruche, the famous Beehive. In the neighboring studios, he made the acquaintance of Pinchus Kremegne, Michel Kikoine, and Jacque Chapiro. His paintings were exhibited for the first time alongside canvases by Chaim Soutine and Kremegne at Galerie ‘La Licorne’ in 1924. For the next several years he exhibited widely with many of the most renowned artists of Montparnasse, including Soutine, Braque and Modigliani.
When the war broke out in 1939, Volovick was in Le Touquet. He returned to Paris where he remained in hiding throughout the war and occupation. In 1943 Volovick participated in an exhibition titled Intimité which also included works by Braque, Carzou, Clavé, Derain, and Vuillard. Once the war ended, Lazare Volovick returned to Montparnasse working in a studio of his own, then in the studio of Vladimir Naïditch. During the Nazi occupation, Volovick’s studio in La Ruche had been occupied and his paintings destroyed or plundered.
In 1952 Volovick was the subject of a solo show at Galerie André Maurice (Paris), the exhibition featured important works from the pre-war period and some of the first paintings from the years after the war. From that point on, he was shown in many one-man and group shows alongside his old friends Leger, Modigliani, Soutine, Chagall, Derain and Braque from the School of Paris.
Following the artist’s death in 1977 his paintings were showcased in many exhibitions. Two of the most important shows were held at Musée Jacquemart-André and the Grand Palais. In 1985 Volovick was included in a group exhibition Paris School of Montparnasse: Pougny and his Circle at De La Rose-Croix.
Lya Grjebina, Volovick’s widow, gifted a series of his works to the collections of the Pushkin Museum of Fine Art (Moscow) and the State Russian Museum (St Petersburg).