MASTERPIECES FROM THE BEN URI COLLECTION
GRÉGOIRE MICHONZE (1902-1982)
STALAG SCENE
c 1940-42
Watercolour on paper
Signed and numbered (lower right corner): 'Michonze / 67.760 / Stalag XB'
GRÉGOIRE MICHONZE
Grégoire Michonze’s Stalag Scene (c 1940s) is a haunting, surrealist-inflected portrayal of captivity and psychological dislocation, grounded in the artist’s direct experience as a prisoner of war in a German Stalag during World War II Born in Ukraine and later active in the Parisian avant-garde, Michonze brought a
unique fusion of Eastern European mysticism and French modernist experimentation to his work In Stalag Scene, he confronts the grim realities of war through a dreamlike, symbolically charged visual language The composition is dense with ambiguous figures and barren structures, often set against a flattened, oppressive landscape Elongated bodies, faceless heads, and distorted proportions suggest both the dehumanizing effects of imprisonment and the surreal estrangement of time spent in confinement. The palette is subdued muted browns, greys, and ochres evoking desolation, while the spatial compression creates a claustrophobic atmosphere Yet amid the bleakness, Michonze embeds strange, almost whimsical details a signature of his style that disrupt linear narrative and invite metaphysical reflection Stalag Scene transcends documentary realism, offering instead an internalized vision of trauma, memory, and survival It stands as both witness and allegory, blending personal history with a broader existential critique Through this painting, Michonze channels the surreal to illuminate the psychological landscape of war and its enduring imprint on the human condition
Grégoire Michonze (Michonznic) was born into a Jewish family in Kishinev (Bessarabia) in the Russian Empire (now the Republic of Moldova) on 22 March 1902, and studied at the local art school, where he learned to paint traditional icons in tempera, before going on to icons in tempera before going on to study at the
Academy in Bucharest In 1922 he travelled to Paris via Greece, Istanbul and Marseilles, a journey which strongly influenced his later landscape painting. In Paris he entered the École des Beaux-Arts, and met Max Ernst who later introduced him to the Surrealists, notably André Breton, Paul Éluard, and Louis Aragon, though he gradually moved away from their influence to pursue his own personal path as a landscape and figurative artist In 1924 he met Soutine with whom he developed a strong friendship Between 1934 and 1936, Michonze exhibited at the Salon des Surindépendants, creating elaborate compositions, which he later described as "Surreal naturalism" In 1937 he moved to New York and Massachusetts, marrying the Scottish artist Una Maclean on his return to France During the Second World War, he enlisted in the French artillery in 1939, was taken prisoner in June 1940 and held until December 1942 in Stalag XC at Nieburg-on-Weser, 60 km from Bremen in Germany His wife, Una, remained in Paris in order not to lose contact with him and was subsequently imprisoned in several French camps between January and August 1941, where she continued to receive her husband's letters from Germany Michonze returned to Paris after his release at the end of 1942 Only in 1946 did he learn that his mother and father had died after being deported and two of his brothers had disappeared He became a naturalised French citizen in 1947
He held his first UK show in 1946 at Viennese refugee art dealer Paul Wengraf's Arcade Gallery in London, followed by a second London exhibition at Freddie Mayor's eponymous gallery in 1947. During this period he lived in both England and Scotland and exhibited at the French Institute in Edinburgh and the McClure Galleries in Glasgow (both 1948). During these years (1947-49) his studio on the rue Visconti was occupied by the young sculptor Eduardo Paolozzi during his sojourn in Paris Michonze showed in Britain again, including as part of the mixed show 'Recent Trends in Realist Painting' at the ICA in 1952, as well as the USA and Israel after his first Paris exhibition in 1953 In 1970 he travelled to Venice and Rome on a painting tour Grégoire Michonze died in Paris, France on 29 December 1982 The Musée d'Art moderne in Troyes held a major retrospective of his work in 1985 His work is held in the Ben Uri Collection and Glasgow Life Museums in the UK
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:
COLLECTION: https://benuri org/collections/
BURU: https://www.buru.org.uk/
