Peter Krasnow (20 August 1886 – 30 October 1979), born Feivish Reisberg, was a modernist and

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

artist known for his abstract wood sculptures and architectonic hard-edge paintings and drawings which were often based on Hebrew calligraphy and other subjects related to his

Jewish heritage Jewish culture is the culture of the Jewish people, from its formation in ancient times until the current age. Judaism itself is not a faith-based religion, but an orthoprax and ethnoreligion, pertaining to deed, practice, and identity. Jewi ...

. Krasnow lived in

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for most of his life.

Early life and education

Born in 1886 in

Novohrad-Volynskyi Zviahel (, ; translit. ''Zvil'') is a city in the Zhytomyr Oblast (province) of northern Ukraine. Originally known as ''Zviahel'', the city was renamed to ''Novohrad-Volynskyi'' () in 1795 after annexation of territories of Polish–Lithuanian ...

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. ...

, he was an apprentice to his father, who was an interior decorator. Krasnow emigrated to the United States in 1907 and graduated from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1916.

Career

Krasnow first exhibited in the 1920s. He settled in the

Atwater Village Atwater Village is a neighborhood in the 13th district of Los Angeles, California. Much of Atwater Village lies in the fertile Los Angeles River flood plain. Located in the northeast region of the city, Atwater borders Griffith Park and Silver L ...

neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1922, purchasing the land where he built his home and studio from

Edward Weston Edward Henry Weston (March 24, 1886 – January 1, 1958) was a 20th-century American photographer. He has been called "one of the most innovative and influential American photographers..." and "one of the masters of 20th century photography." ...

, who was his friend and a fellow member of the early Los Angeles avant-garde. Krasnow lived there for over 50 years. His work was included in the exhibit that launched MOCA. He received a

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

fellowship in 1977.

Exhibitions

* 1922, Whitney Studio Club, New York (solo) * 1922,

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Page Museum). LACMA was founded in 19 ...

, Los Angeles * 1923,

MacDowell Club The MacDowell Clubs in the United States were established at the turn of the twentieth century to honor internationally recognized American composer Edward MacDowell. They became part of a broader social movement to promote music and other art forms ...

, Los Angeles (solo) * 1926, The Print Rooms, Los Angeles * 1927,

, Los Angeles * 1927, Temple Emanu-El, San Francisco * 1928, Oakland Municipal Art Gallery, Oakland (solo) * 1928, Seattle Society of Fine Arts, Seattle (solo) * 1928, Dalzell Hatfield Gallery, Los Angeles (solo) * 1928,

Zeitlin Zeitlin ( yi, צייטלין) is a matronymic Jewish surname. It is derived from the female name Zeitl according to the rules of Slavic languages, with the possessive suffix '-in' and literally means "Zeitl's". When transliterated from Yiddish to R ...

Bookstore, Los Angeles (solo) * 1929, Scripps College, Claremont (solo) * 1930, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles (solo) * 1931, California Palace of Legion of Honor, San Francisco (solo) * 1934, Galerie Pierre, Paris (solo) * 1935,

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

, Los Angeles * 1935, The Print Rooms, Los Angeles * 1935, California Pacific International Expo, San Diego * 1939, Fine Arts Gallery, San Diego * 1940, Stendahl Galleries, Los Angeles (solo) * 1940,

, Los Angeles * 1954, Pasadena Art Institute, Pasadena * 1964, Scripps College, Claremont (solo) * 1975,

Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery The Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery is located in the Barnsdall Art Park in Los Angeles, California. It focuses on the arts and artists of Southern California. The gallery was first established in 1954. Main building The Los Angeles Municipal ...

, Los Angeles * 1976, San Francisco Museum of Art, San Francisco * 1977,

Judah L. Magnes Museum The Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, formerly known as the Judah L. Magnes Museum from 1961 until its reopening in 2012, is a museum of Jewish history, art, and culture in Berkeley, California. The museum, which was founded in 1961 by Sey ...

, Berkeley * 1978, Skirball Museum, Hebrew Union College, Los Angeles * 1986, 1989, 1991, and 1993, Tobey C. Moss Gallery, Los Angeles

Artistic legacy

In 2000, the

Laguna Art Museum The Laguna Art Museum (LAM) is a museum located in Laguna Beach, California, on Pacific Coast Highway. LAM exclusively features California art and is the oldest cultural institution in the area. It has been known as the Laguna Beach Art Associati ...

acquired over 500 pieces of his work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krasnow, Peter Artists from Los Angeles Painters from California 1886 births 1979 deaths Atwater Village, Los Angeles Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Ukrainian painters Ukrainian male painters 20th-century American painters American male painters Jewish painters Jewish American artists Ukrainian Jews School of the Art Institute of Chicago alumni People from Volhynian Governorate People from Zviahel 20th-century American male artists