Images of Sacha

Although they are sparse and sometimes of poor quality, there are images of Sacha. Usually, Sacha’s name is mentioned in the caption of images, but the images are often so saturated or unclear that I cannot always clearly make out where he is standing in a large crowd (such as in the images provided by Émile-Bayard’s book).

In Lectures pour tous, published 1st November 1924, an image which is much clearer than the norm:

The caption reads: “Here is a room of La Rotonde where the young artists of France and elsewhere discuss, and where the people depicted by M. Michel Georges-Michel in his novel come together: ‘Les Montparnos’…”

Above the image is the name Michel Georges-Michel, man of letters.

Bottom left: we see the names M. Lagar, painter, and M. Kisling, painter.

Beside them, ‘M. Elessen, Painter. M. Hadyn, painter. M. Sacha Zaliouk. M. Metzinger, cubist painter. M. Matteo Hernandez, sculptor of black granite’

For M. Hernandez, I believe this is the man at the bottom wearing a hat and looking directly at the camera (red square).

In the few photos of Hernandez which exist, he is always wearing this same hat as seen in this picture, and his features are quite recognisable compared to images of him on other sites.

The man smiling and holding a cigarette behind him looks like Jean Metzinger (blue circle). Please see another image of him smoking to compare.

Finally, the man to the bottom left (green triangle) appears to be Henri Hayden, misspelled as Hadyn, a Polish artist who was active in L’École de Paris at this time. See image of him for comparison.

The positioning of Sacha’s name above Metzinger could imply that he is one of the man standing around Metzinger, possibly the man facing the camera directly, but most images that I have found of Sacha are grainy and don’t allow me to say with certainty that he is definitively in the image or that he is one of the men behind Metzinger.

I would also like to note the name Kisling beside Hernandez, Zaliouk and Metzinger. The surname Kisling is quite famous in this period for Moise Kisling. The picture with Zaliouk, Metzinger and Hernandez appeared in a magazine dated 1924. Kisling had a very distinctive hairstyle, at least in 1916 (see below), though later images show he changed it.

(Kisling on the far left, with Pablo Picasso and Picasso’s partner Pâquerette in the middle, 1916).

However, it may also be the man opposite Metzinger, beside the man in the hat:

Of course, I am making assumptions purely because I do not have a clearer image of Sacha other than what follows below, apart from what shows in Eugene Deslaw’s film – I have stared at these photos so often that I think I am experiencing a sort of face-blindness…

In Montparnasse, hier et aujourd’hui : ses artistes et écrivains, étrangers et français, les plus célèbres, published 1925:

Above, a meeting of La Horde at La Rotonde. If Sacha is present in this meeting, it is difficult to identify him.

In the picture directly above, the caption says that present in the image are: E.Fernand-Dubois, founder of La Horde and its supreme leader, Mademoiselle Daveline, MM Sacha-Zaliouk and Gen. However, six faces can be made out looking at the camera directly. Fernand-Dubois is undoubtedly the man on the right with a hat and white beard. Daveline, being the only woman, appears in the middle. There are two men positioned between her and Fernand-Dubois, and two to her right-hand side. Sacha might well be the man on the left, in the lighter coat. Again they don’t make it easy to know for certain…

In Paris Montparnasse – Published 15th March 1929:

In a film shot by Kiev-born director Eugene Deslaw, we see Sacha’s side profile for an instant during a series of clips showing his studio. This film is currently available on YouTube and shows wonderful images of Montparnasse life.

The section which shows Sacha’s studio begins at 9:24, and Sacha appears at 9:56. See his image below, the clearest that I have been able to find:

In Le Monde Illustré, published 25th January 1936:

The caption reads: “An improvised ball on the terrace of La Rotonde during a time where cosmopolitan bohemia lived joyously and the snobs frequented these places… We recognise from left to right: Sacha Zaliouk, Hélène Perdriat, Metzinger, Lagar, Archipenko and, in the background, on the right, Michel Georges Michel.”