Alexander Davidovich (in France – Sacha) Zaliouk was born in 1887 in small Jewish shtetl Radomyshl (Kiev province, Ukraine). From 1904 to 1910 he studied painting at the Odessa Art School. In 1910 he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, but was expelled (due to "Jewish" quote) already one month later. He returned to Odessa, 
where he began contributing to Odessa magazins "Crocodile" (1911-1912), "South Week" (1912-1913) and newspaper "South Night" (from 1911), published his drawings and illustrations in "Odessa Stage Revue" (1912). His working pseudonym at that time was "Sasha" (Sacha), "Sash" or "A.Z.". From 1908 to 1912 Zaliouk participated in the exhibitions of the Society of "South Russian Artists"
After 1912 the artist left Odessa for Paris, where he completed his art studies at the Parisian Ecole des Beaux-Arts. According to Odessa newspapers of the mid-1910s, Zaliouk enlisted himself as volunteer of the French Army and fought at Verdun.
He lived and became known in the Paris area of Montparnasse, renowned for its artistic environment. Among his acquitances he counted fellow-artist Leonard Foujita and his tutors Raphael Collin and Francois Flameng. His breakthrough came in 1919, when he exhibited his portraits of literary figures, artists and celebrities. The French newspapers of that time dubbed him "le plus Montparno des Montparno". He also made a number of sculptures. In Paris Zaliouk worked for such magazines as "Fantasio", "Sourire" and "La Parisienne", as well as the more scabrous "Paris-plaisirs", for which he illustrated "Philantropie" – a story by Georges Simeon.
Sacha Zaliouk died in Paris in 1971. On June 28th 2005 the Auction House "Bretagne Encheres" in Brittany, France, put up a large part of his remaining works for sale. Among them were many originals of his known illustrations.
Text from “Boris Wilnitsky”
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