Victor Spahn

Victor Spahn was born on March 20, 1949 in Paris as a second generation Russian. After completing his secondary studies, he worked for a mosaic fabricator and created his first mosaic wall for pleasure. This early experience with mosaic techniques directly influenced his distinctive painting and printmaking style, which suggests movement and dynamism as he captures the essence of particular moments. He works with a combination of palette knife and brush and has achieved great success in lithography, serigraphy, and hand-embellished graphic works.
Often called the “Painter of Movement,” Spahn draws inspiration from sports, dancers, and energetic activities, painting championship sailboat races, rugby matches, prima ballerinas, and tennis stars with individual grace and swift motion. His career highlights include participating in the Salon of Independent Artists in France in 1970, winning first prize in New York for a mosaic table, and personal exhibitions in Paris in 1976 for the Societe Toyota and at Galerie Wally Findlay in Chicago and Palm Beach, Florida in 1984. He designed the set for the televised play “Rembrandt of Glass” in 1981 and created a poster for the 1988 world championship of handball.
Spahn’s achievements include creating the cover for the 100th anniversary Michelin Guide for L’Astrance and having his serigraph “Autumn Polo” acquired by Jacques Chirac, President of France. He was guest of honor at the 42nd International Exhibition of Painting and Sculpture “Art Movement” in Sainte-Maure de Touraine in 2011 and at Amiens and Ribemont-sur-Ancre in 2012, when he also served as Ambassador of the Lexus GS 450. The French government honored him by naming a newly built housing community after him, placing his name alongside buildings named after Henri Matisse, Camille Claudel, Beethoven, Bach, Mozart, Louis Pasteur, and Thomas Edison. In 2013, he moved his studio to the Montparnasse district of Paris into a workspace once belonging to impressionist painter Tsuguharu Foujita. His work was featured at the prestigious Polo Paris, and for two consecutive years he participated in exhibitions organized by the French Ministry of Defense and Veterans Affairs benefiting injured soldiers and families of fallen soldiers, with his artwork selected as the 2013 poster. In 2015, Spahn was mentioned alongside Marc Chagall, Victor Vasarely, and Jackson Pollock in “Gordes: Le temps des artistes,” chronicling talented artists related to Gordes, a commune in southeastern France. Spahn is represented by Park West Gallery.