Alexandre Marchak
Alexandre Marchak (Oleksandr Marshak) was a jeweller, the younger son of the Kyiv jeweller Josef Marshak and the founder of the Paris house of Marchak. He lived in France from 1909.
After his father's death in 1918 and the nationalisation of the Kyiv factory, the family emigrated. In 1920 Alexandre opened a jewellery salon in Paris — at first under the name "R. Linzeler & Marchak", later as "A. Marchak" at 4 Rue de la Paix. By 1925 the house had won a Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris — the very exhibition that gave Art Deco its name. Its later clients included Jacqueline Kennedy, King Hassan II of Morocco and Yvonne de Gaulle.
Alexandre matters for a further reason: he left two manuscript memoirs, "The History of My Father's Factory" and "My Early Recollections". Through the Paris antiquarian Lev Grinberg they reached the scholar Marina Postnikova-Loseva, who in 1978 deposited them in the manuscripts department of the State Historical Museum. For twenty-five years they remained unknown to researchers; in 2003 the historian Oleksii Afanasiev prepared them for publication. These memoirs are the principal source for almost everything known today about Josef Marshak's life: without them the Kyiv jeweller's biography would amount to a few lines in a directory of maker's marks.Collection68