Background
Moise Kisling was born into a Jewish family on January 22, 1891, in Craców, Austria-Hungary (now Poland).
1916
Moïse Kisling, Pâquerette (actress), and Pablo Picasso enjoying themselves at Café de la Rotonde in Paris. Photograph by Jean Cocteau, 12 August 1916
1916
Pablo Picasso and Moïse Kisling in Paris, photographed by Jean Cocteau
Craców Academy of Fine Arts
Moise Kisling was born into a Jewish family on January 22, 1891, in Craców, Austria-Hungary (now Poland).
Kisling began to draw in early childhood and at 15 enrolled in the Craców Academy of Fine Arts, where he studied under Professor Józef Pankiewicz. Seeing that the young artist had tremendous potential, Pankiewicz found it easy to persuade Kisling that it could be developed only in the creative atmosphere of Paris, then a center of attraction for artists of different countries.
Hactic was the milieu in which Moise Kisling found himself when he came to Paris in 1910 with a letter of recommendation from Józef Pankiewicz to his friend Sholom Ash, a well-known Jewish writer who managed to help the young artist. He found a Russian patron for him, who provided a year-long financial support to the young genius. Kisling thus got a monthly scholarship of 150 francs.
In the summer of 1911 Picasso, together with Braque, went to Céret to work on the analytical theory of Cubism. He rented the first floor of a huge mansion with a park and invited his friends to come and work in his spacious studio. According to André Salmon, Juan Gris, Auguste Herbin, and Max Jacob came to that “Mecca of Cubism.” The young Moise Kisling too went there to stay for about a year. He largely associated with Picasso’s sculptor friend Manolo Hugué, who had a house in Céret.
Upon his return Kisling decided to settle in Montparnasse. He rented a studio at 3 Rue Joseph Bara, where he lived for 27 years. Jules Pascin and Amedeo Modigliani, who had moved from Le Bateau Lavoir, lived nearby. Montparnasse had no residence of the type of La Ruche or Le Bateau Lavoir, and artists rented studios in different houses on different streets. That was why artistic life seethed in cafes and on the boulevards.
According to a contemporary, Kisling was “the axis around which everything rotated at Montmartre.” His artistry manifested itself in everything. Kisling’s duel with his comrade, Polish artist Gottlieb, of course, over a matter of honor, on June 12, 1914, is widely known. The Mexican artist Diego Rivera was Gottlieb’s second. The duel took place on the outskirts of Paris in the presence of a crowd of people, including reporters. It did not stop until first blood had been drawn: both duelists were lightly wounded. Many newspapers and magazines published photographs and reports of the duel.
Everything changed after the First World War had broken out. French artists were mobilized while their émigré friends volunteered for the front, went back home or departed to neutral countries. Those who stayed on in Paris moved from Montmartre to Montparnasse. Moise Kinsling enrolled in the Foreign Legion and volunteered for the front. On May 11, 1915, he was gravely wounded in the Battle of the Somme. For bravery shown on the battlefield Moise Kisling was granted French citizenship.
Art life was surprisingly brisk in the middle of the war. Modigliani was not called up for health reasons, Picasso stayed on at Montparnasse, and Foujita, who had gone to England and then to Spain, returned to Paris, together with other émigré artists. Like Soutine, they all contributed to the labor front efforts. Exhibitions were staged at cafes, fashionable boutiques and studios. In November 1916 they managed to organize an exhibition of French artists in Oslo – 94 paintings were to be dispatched from Rouen on a small ship. Kisling took an active part in those exhibitions.
In addition to exhibitions, the art market too gained momentum in the postwar years. Kisling’s exhibition at the Galérie Druet in November 1919 was a great success. In 1923 the well-known American collector Albert Barnes came to Paris and spoke highly of the originality of Montparnasse artists. He was especially impressed by the works of Soutine. He took back home a great many pictures, including those of Kisling. Artists thus gained recognition from a major collector of French paintings, who founded a museum at the educational Barnes Foundation.
Kisling emerged as a famous artist who sold well. He always worked hard. Unlike other artists, he had a strictly regulated working day, which began at 9 o’clock in the morning when models came to sit, had a break for lunch, which he had together with his friends at La Rotonde, Le Dôme or La Coupole, then back to work and more meetings with friends, now at dinner in the evening. Famous model Kiki sat for some of his pictures. She found it hard to stick to Kisling’s strict routine and was invariably excused – after all, theirs were friendly rather than business relations.
In general, friends loved Kisling, who knew the meaning of friendship and how to help in time of need. Kisling was a close friend of Modigliani, and it was he who arranged the funeral of Modigliani, who died on January 24, 1920, of tubercular meningitis. With Conrad Moricand’s help Kisling made Modi’s death mask. When Pascin had not been seen for several days, and his lover Lucy Krogh decided to have his studio opened, she was accompanied by her friend Charlotte Gardelle, a locksmith, and, to be sure, Kisling, who took his friend off the rope. That happened on June 5, 1930.
Fancy-dress balls came into vogue in the postwar period. The entrance fee of 15 francs per person helped raise funds for the needy artists. Kisling often helped the ball organizers and even was advertized as the head bartender of the evening. When he became wealthy, he arranged Wednesday lunches at his studio, to which he invited artists, writers, actors, musicians, politicians, and lawyers.
At the outbreak of the Second World War Kisling again volunteered for the front. France resisted Nazi Germany for six weeks, and when it surrendered Polish Jew Kisling and his family had to leave their second homeland. He went to the USA. His exhibitions were a success in New York and Washington. He did portraits and had many commissions. Kisling settled in California and stayed there until 1946.
After the war Kisling returned to Sanary-sur-Mer in Provence, France, which he had first visited way back in 1913. From that year on he always came to work there. In the 1920s Renée regularly visited Sanary-sur-Mer with their sons, Guy and Jean, and in 1932 the Kislings built there a wonderful house, “La Baie”, with a studio overlooking the Bay of Bandol. Renée had designed the house, which became a true home for the family.
Moise Kisling died there on April 29, 1953. The street he lived on has been named after him. His eldest son Guy still lives in their family house. The younger son, Jean, lives in Paris. He devoted his life to studying his father’s works: he published a catalogue raisonné and wrote the biography of Moise Kisling. The biggest collection of Kisling’s pictures is at the Musée du Petit Palais in Geneva.
Large nude Josan on red couch
Portrait of Renee Kisling
Flowers
not identified
Hollyhocks
Provence landscape
Nude bust
The hands
not identified
Bouquet of various flowers
not identified
Reclining nude
not identified
not identified
Young Breton
Kiki de Montparnasse in a red dress
Nude woman with blonde hair
not identified
Sanary landscape
Waiting
Children of Dr. Tas
Reclining nude
Female portrait
Still life with fruit
Young blond boy
Portrait of Adolphe Basler
Renee Kisling
not identified
Eucalyptus and palm
Mimosas
Nude on red couch
Portrait of Andre Salmon
not identified
Port at Saint-Tropez
not identified
not identified
Head of a girl
Portrait of Jean Cocteau
Grand bouquet
not identified
Nude seated on the grass
not identified
not identified
Ofelia
Still life with white pitcher
not identified
not identified
Self portrait with a pipe
Tyniec
Nude woman lying on the grass
Sitting nude
not identified
Lying nude
An acrobat
Still Life with Lemons
not identified
not identified
not identified
not identified
Vase of mimosa
Marseille Port
The castaway
Marseille Port
Tulips
not identified
Sonia
Bouquet of peonies
not identified
Self-portrait with his wife Renee and dog Kouski
not identified
Bust of blonde girl
not identified
Portrait of madame Andre Salmon
Ships moored along the docks
Reclining nude
Bouquet of flowers
Sitting nude
not identified
not identified
Girl with green shawl
not identified
Contrasting sounds
not identified
not identified
not identified
Sitting nude
not identified
Grand bouquet of tulips
Young Dutch woman
not identified
Young girl with long hair
Woman with brown hair
not identified
Ms B.Dunn
Young brunette woman in headscarf
Large red nude
Flowers and shells
Nude in landscape
Ingrid
Bouquet of various flowers
Sagunto
Portrait with a collar
Still life
Kiki de Montparnasse
not identified
Small head
Red-haired girl
Seated nude woman
Small head of a brune
Kiki de Montparnasse in a red jumper and a blue scarf
not identified
Port de Saint-Tropez
Reclining nude in the leaves
Bust of young woman left profile
The boy
not identified
not identified
Grand bouquet of mimosa
Kiki de Montparnasse
not identified
Female portrait
not identified
Large reclining nude, Kiki
Still life with fish
Portrait of Madeleine Sologne
Nude portrait of Arletty
Bouquet of tulips
The woman from Arles
not identified
Bouquet of various flowers and mimosa
Eve
Kisling's art represents a synthesis of influences often found among members of the School of Paris, whose work combines French characteristics with ideas from non-French painters. Under the influence of Derain, Kisling learned to control his natural exuberance and love of color.
In the spring of 1916 Kisling met Renée Gros, a student of the Académie Ranson. On August 12, 1917, their wedding took place, with the whole of Montparnasse celebrating it for three days, moving from a café to a brothel and then on to Kisling’s studio, where the carousing company danced their heads off to the then fashionable gramophone. They had two sons, Guy and Jean.