Nathan Isaevich Altman (Russian Натан Исаевич Альтман; December 22 [O.S. December 10] 1889 – December 12, 1970)[1] was a Russian avant-garde artist, Cubist painter, stage designer and book illustrator.
Biography
Nathan Altman was born in Vinnytsia, Imperial Russia (now in Ukraine). From 1902 to 1907 he studied painting and sculpture at the Art College in Odessa. In 1906 he had his first exhibition in Odessa. In 1910 he went to Paris (for one year). In 1910 he was the member of the group Soyuz Molodyozhi (Union of Youth). From 1910 to 1911 he studied at the Free Russian Academy in Paris, working in the studio of Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, and had contact with Marc Chagall, Alexander Archipenko, and David Shterenberg. In 1912 Altman moved to Saint Petersburg. In 1914 he painted his famous Portrait of Anna Akhmatova in Cubist style. From 1915 to 1917 Nathan Altman was the teacher at Mikhail Bernstein's private art school.
After 1916 he started to work as a stage designer. In 1918 he was the member of the Board for Artistic Matters within the Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment together with Malevich, Baranoff-Rossine and Shevchenko. In the same year he had an exhibition with the group Jewish Society for the Furthering of the Arts in Moscow, together with Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, El Lissitzky and the others. In this same year he installed a temporary work of architectural sculpture in Palace Square to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the October Revolution.[2] In 1920- he was the member of the Institute for Artistic Culture (INKHUK), together with Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin and the others. In the same year- exhibition From Impressionism to Cubism in the Museum of Painterly Culture in Petrograd. In 1921 he moved to Moscow. From 1921 to 1922 he was director of the Museum of Painterly Culture in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). From 1920 to 1928 he worked on stage designs for the Habimah Theatre and the Jewish State Theatre in Moscow. In 1923- publication of Jewish graphic art in Berlin. In 1925 he participated in Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderns (Art Deco) in Paris together with Aleksandra Ekster, Vadim Meller, Sonia Delaunay-Terk and David Shterenberg. In 1926 - first solo exhibition in Leningrad. In 1928 he moved to Paris. In 1936 Altman returned to Leningrad ( after Perestroika known as Saint Petersburg – as before the October Revolution of 1917). Altman worked mainly for the theatre, as a book illustrator and an author of essays about art.
Nathan Altman died in Leningrad.
References
- ^ German biography at 007-berlin.de
- ^ Catherine Cooke, Russian Avant-Garde, Academy Editions, 1995.
