Jaroslav Serpan

About

Jaroslav Serpan, born Jaroslav Sossountzov, was a Czech-French painter, writer, and academic known for his transition from Surrealism to Art Informel. Born on June 4, 1922, in Prague (or nearby Karlštejn) to Russian parents, he moved to France with his family around 1926. He studied biology and mathematics at the Sorbonne starting in 1939, earning a doctorate in statistical biology in 1953, and later taught at the university. Self-taught as a painter, Serpan was active in the Surrealist group from 1946 to 1948, exhibiting at Gallery Maeght in 1947, before shifting to abstract Art Informel influenced by figures like André Masson, Wols, and Antonin Artaud (noted as Antoni Tàpies in some sources, likely a misspelling).[1][2][6]

Surrealism transitioning to abstract Art Informel