05 Paintings, Streets of Paris, by the artists of the time, Part 17 — With Footnotes
Sortie de L’glise/ Exit from the church
Oil on board
15.5" X 6.5"
Private collection
Gabriel Spat, 1890–1967 was born in Kishinev, Russia, now Chisinau, Moldova. He was active in France from 1919 to 1942 and in the USA from 1942. Spat studied at the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Geneva, as well as in Paris, at the Académie Colarossi and the Académie de la Grande Chaumière.
After World War I, he lived in Paris, attending the studios of La Ruche, Soutine and Modigliani. He fled to the USA in 1942. In Paris between the wars, he was known as a painter and sculptor. He executed the portraits of celebrated figures, particularly actors. He also executed anti-German satirical drawings depicting Nazi society. These were destroyed during World War II.
Spat was painting by the age of eighteen, but as an art student in Paris he was so impoverished that he was forced to paint on scraps of canvas given to him by other artists. As a result, he learned to paint in miniature, and he continued to work on a small scale throughout his career…