Paul Ackerman

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Paul Ackerman was a Jewish-Romanian painter. He grew up and developed his artistic style in France, where his family sought refuge. He was forced into hiding during the Vichy government until France was liberated by the Allies. Ackerman was closely acquainted with artists such as Pierre Bonnard, Jacques Villon, Jean Dubuffet, and Alexandre Garbell. Initially drawn to the atmospheric landscapes of Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, after the Second World War his painting practice swayed towards the style and methodology of cubism. Remarkable in some of Ackerman’s works such as The Traveller or Vivaldi in Venice is the way in which he breaks and reduces natural sceneries to geometrical folds. These complex structures, together with the shaded colours, narrate the struggles faced by the portrayed characters, who find themselves in symbolic rites of passage. Since 1947, the works of Ackerman have been exhibited in many galleries and institutions in Paris, London, Frankfurt, Montreal, and Quebec. He received the Charles Pacquement Prize in 1950, awarded by the Friends of the National Museum of Modern Art Paris.