Serge Petrovitch Ivanoff was born in Moscow in 1893, and showed artistic ability from a
young age. On the family’s move to St. Petersburg, he took the opportunity to further his
artistic studies by enrolling at the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1917, at the height of the
Russian Revolution. The turmoil of the aftermath of these events prompted Serge Ivanoff,
with his wife and two young children, to move permanently to Paris in 1922. A talented
portraitist, he quickly established himself in Paris and soon had the celebrities of the day
commissioning him to paint their portraits, including Pope Pius XI, the dancer and
choreographer Serge Lifar, poet Paul Valery, composer Arthur Honegger, and many notable
Russian exiles now making their homes in Paris. Between 1930 and 1950 he also regularly
provided illustrations for the French journal L’Illustration and painted a series of luminous
and lyrical nudes. In 1950 Serge Ivanoff moved to the U.S.A., again specialising in
portraiture, including Eleanor Roosevelt and the diplomat Jefferson Caffery amongst his
subjects. However by the 1960’s he had returned to Paris where he continued to exhibit
regularly at the Salon des Indépendants, receiving a Gold Medal from the Minister of
Cultural Affairs, André Malraux, in 1966. He died in Paris in 1983.
The subject of this portrait is the Parisian couturier Jacques Fath (1912 -1954 ), who, along
with Pierre Balmain and Christian Dior, was considered one of the most influential post
-war fashion designers. Born in 1912, Jacques Fath presented his first collection in Paris in
1937 and rapidly became known for dressing the “chic, young Parisienne”, with his
innovative use of unusual fabrics and trimmings, and the promotion of the 'crinoline' evening
gown in the early 1950's. His clients included Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo, and Rita Hayworth.
Jacques Fath also designed costumes for several films, including those for Moira Shearer in
the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film “The Red Shoes”, and for Kay Kendall for her role in
the 1953 film ”Genevieve”. Jacques Fath died of leukemia at the young age of 42 in 1954 and
the House of Fath closed in 1957.