André Lanskoy was born on March 31, 1902 under the name of Andrei Michailovich Lanskoy, son of Count Lanskoy. In 1919 the artist fled the Russian revolution, going to Kiev. After a sojourn in the Crimea, André Lanskoy reached Paris in 1921, where he stayed for the rest of his life. Soon the artist began to study painting at the "Académie de la Grande Chaumière". Lanskoy's figurative pictures and still lives of that time were inspired by Van Gogh, Matisse and Soutine. In 1923 André Lanskoy qualified for the "Salon d'Automne", where he was discovered by Wilhelm Uhde, who then put him in touch with the right people and helped him with his first solo exhibition in 1925. During this time, Lanskoy exhibited his works with those of Robert and Sonia Delaunay, Leopold Survage, Ossip Zadkine and other Russian artists in Paris. Soon Lanskoy's works could be found in museums and important private collections.
Towards the end of the 1930s the artist slowly gave up figurative painting, turning entirely to non-representational painting by 1943. In his continuous quest for new means of expression, he turned to the illustration of books, tapestries, mosaics and collages. André Lanskoy entertained a deep friendship with Nicolas de Staël, with whom he held a joint exhibition in 1948. During this time and the following decade, André Lanskoy gained international acclaim through exhibitions like the one of his latest works at the New York Fine Arts Associates in 1956.
André Lanskoy is one of the most important exponents of "lyric abstraction" within the "École de Paris" and was honored with numerous exhibitions. Thus, the artist participated in documenta II in 1958 alongside other artists of Informel and in the exhibition "Les Peintres Russes de l'école de Paris" at the museum of Saint Denis in 1960. André Lanskoy died on August 22, 1976 in Paris.