Description

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Nicolas Markovitch (Serbian-French, 1894-1964), artist, watercolorist, architect and printer. Markovitch used more than a few pseudonyms, such as; A. Marc or just Marc, and J. Philippe or Jean Philippe. Alternative sources mention other pseudonyms with the full name listed as Andre Marc or Andre Marc Rothenburg, both of which are still incorrect for the artist. Markovitch was an architect who worked and lived in France, and is best known for his architectural paintings of city buildings, cathedrals and monuments, along with Swiss, Italian, German, English and Belgian landscapes, cityscapes, mountain landscapes and seascapes, sea and sea scenes and many scenes in the US, particularly New York City cityscapes and other places such as Gloucester, MA. Markovitch painted watercolor illustrations for various books (Paris, Editions, Alpina) from the late 1920s-early 40s, and is credited for the watercolors in the Editions with his real name Nicolas Markovitch or N. Markovitch. He was one of the best watercolorists of the time and started to do a lot of work with the Stehli Brothers company Stehli Frères, Editeurs, Zurich, Switzerland during the 1930s and 1940s. Stehli Frères published many different watercolor series of his works and they were printed in various formats. He always drew them with his true name, Nicolas Markovitch, for his original visual art paintings or illustration work. For the chromolithographic reproductions or other prints of his landscapes and architectural series he drew them with the pseudonym of A. Marc or simply Marc, and for his floral / botanical prints he drew them with the pseudonym of Jean Philippe or only J. Philippe. Allegedly his watercolors were originally done for his architectural work that he did in France or just as a hobby. Anyway, it eventually became a profitable venture for him through his numerous book illustrations and published lithographs. His watercolors show a very fine technical and artistic skill, especially with his architectural series, and usually have a great composition with beautiful colors. His lithographs have been published and distributed all over the world and are nowadays loved by collectors. The lithographs of Stehli Frères were usually printed on a beautiful, heavier watercolor-like paper stack with rough edges to give the appearance of a real watercolor and were then produced with a very high lithographic quality. The print quality was so good that over the years many people thought they were original works of art and many still make the same mistake even today. Before the start of the Second World War, Markovitch lived in Figeac, a small municipality in southwestern France. During the war, Markovitch was deported to Slovakia, where he later worked in a deportation camp in Povrly (German Pömmerle), Czech Republic. He was imprisoned for two years for his liberation at the end of the war and on his return he weighed around 77 pounds. (35 kgs). He continued to live in Figeac for a while and painted many scenes of the city and surrounding areas. Markovitch died in 1964, in Bourg-la-Reine, a municipality in the southern suburbs of Paris, France