Israel Abramofsky (September 10, 1888 – January 16, 1975) was a Russian Empire born artist, who trained in Paris and settled in the United States, known for his landscape works and works depicting Jewish life in Eastern Europe.

Biography

Abramofsky was born in

Kiev Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the List of European cities by populat ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(present-day

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

) and left

Czarist Russia The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I ...

for

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Austria where he first took an interest in art. He lived briefly in Paris and arrived in the United States in 1909.

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

became his home. He went back to France in 1914, 1920 and 1925 to study with

Jean Paul Laurens Jean-Paul Laurens (; 28 March 1838 – 23 March 1921) was a French painter and sculptor, and one of the last major exponents of the French Academic style. Biography Laurens was born in Fourquevaux and was a pupil of Léon Cogniet and Alexa ...

and

Lucien Simon Lucien Joseph Simon (1861 – 1945) was a French painter and teacher born in Paris. Early life and education Simon was born in Paris. After graduating from the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, he studied painting at the studio of Jules Didier, then from ...

in the Julian Academy. In Paris, he saw the works of Chirico, Van Dongen, Delauney, Lhote, Leger, Ozenfant, Dufresne, Dufy, Gris, Modigliani, Segonzac, Gromaire and many others. For his first trip back to Paris from Ohio, he came with a letter of introduction from noted Toledo mayor Brand Whitlock. His works have been represented in collections of the

Luxembourg Museum Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

, the Museum in Israel, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

, in numerous museums in Ohio and many private collections. In a brief biographical piece, he wrote, "I am unable to classify myself, except I hope that I am a part of the twentieth century. I do feel that my Jewish types reflect the tradition and beliefs that . . . have kept them separate as a people since Abraham."

Exhibitions

*"Retrospective Exhibition of the Drawings and Paintings of Toledo's I. Abramovsky, March 8–19, 1966, Jewish Community Center, Toledo, Ohio *I. Abramofsky, Exhibition and Sale, March 28 through April 4, 1976, Temple Shomer Emunim, Sylvania, Ohio

References

External links

Biography
1888 births 1975 deaths Artists from Kyiv People from Kievsky Uyezd Ukrainian Jews Jewish painters 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States {{Ukraine-artist-stub