Background
Jaroslav Serpan (born Jaroslav Sossountzov) was born on June 4, 1922 in Karlstejn, Czech Republic. His parents were Russian emigrants.
Serpan came to France with his family in 1926 and settled in Versailles.
mathematician painter sculptor writer
Jaroslav Serpan (born Jaroslav Sossountzov) was born on June 4, 1922 in Karlstejn, Czech Republic. His parents were Russian emigrants.
Serpan came to France with his family in 1926 and settled in Versailles.
Jaroslav Serpan studied biology and mathematics at the Sorbonne University, Paris, starting in 1939, and in 1953 he received a doctorate degree in statistical biology from the same institution. He never studied painting at the university and was a self-taught painter.
Jaroslav Serpan taught at Sorbonne University since graduating from the university and until his death.
His job did not prevent him from starting to write and to paint since 1940.
Serpan exhibited in 1947 at the Maeght Gallery on a program show of French postwar surrealism called "Surrealism in 1947" with the surrealist group. In 1948 Serpan turned away from surrealism and devoted himself to informalism.
Serpan relocated to Le Pecq in 1957 and decorated his interior house with informal painting. In the same year an exhibition of his works was organized in the Smela Gallery in Düsseldorf. Jaroslav Serpan's paintings were exhibited in Munich in 1958 (Gallery van der Loo), Paris (Gallery Stadler), Brussels (Palais des Beaux-Arts), and New York (Kootz Gallery). He also exhibited at the Hella Nebelung Gallery in Düsseldorf in 1959 and participated in "Documenta II" in Kassel. Serpan's works were also presented at the Lutz Gallery and Meyer Gallery in 1961.
In the 1970s Jaroslav Serpan devoted himself to the public space projects and developed his interest in sculpture. One of his last works was the triptych for the abbey church of Beaulieu created in 1972.
Jaroslav Serpan was declared missing on May 17, 1976, following a mountain hike held in Ariège in the Pyrenees; his body was found in May 1981.
From 1946 to 1948, Jaroslav Serpan was a member of the group of Surrealists.
