Robert Genin (russian: Роберт Генин; french: Robert Guénine; born 11 August 1884 in Vysokoye near Klimovichi in the Region of

Mogilev Mogilev (russian: Могилёв, Mogilyov, ; yi, מאָלעוו, Molev, ) or Mahilyow ( be, Магілёў, Mahilioŭ, ) is a city in eastern Belarus, on the Dnieper River, about from the border with Russia's Smolensk Oblast and from the bor ...

, now

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

; died 16 August 1941 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

) was a Russian artist, painter,

draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for ...

, and illustrator of Jewish origin, who lived in the

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, Switzerland and the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

.Fischer, Matthias. Der Briefwechsel mit Robert Genin// Sie lieber Herr Im Obersteg sind unser Schweizer für alles, Kunstmuseum Basel, 2011, S. 41-75. (in German)Proceedings of Marc Chagall Museum in Vitebsk, 2011 (in Russian)
Родионов, Алексей. Художник Роберт Генин (1884-1941). Творчество и судьба// Бюллетень Музея Марка Шагала, 2011, №19-20, с. 137-156.''Art Museum Basel newspaper, 2012 (PDF in German)''
/ref>

Biography

Born on 11 August 1884 in the family of a Jewish tradesman, Genin studied art in

Vilna Vilnius ( , ; see also #Etymology and other names, other names) is the capital and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the munic ...

(1898-1900) and in Odessa (1900-1902). At the end of 1902 he moved to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

where for a couple of weeks he attended the school of Anton Ažbe. In 1903, he moved to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, where he lived in La Ruche from 1905 to 1907.Warnod, André. ''De la Ruche à Java… et retour.'' In: '' Comoedia'', 28.11.1931, p.3 (in French) In Paris, he admired the art of

Puvis de Chavannes Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (14 December 1824 – 24 October 1898) was a French painter known for his mural painting, who came to be known as "the painter for France". He became the co-founder and president of the Société Nationale des Bea ...

, and many notable early works of Genin (until 1914) bear his influence. In 1907, Genin returned to

and began to work for the magazine '' Jugend'', where 40 of his illustrations were published. In 1912, he became one of the founding members of the artists group ''Sema'', and in 1913 became a member of the ''Münchener neue Secession''. The outbreak of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

(1914-1918) was a disastrous turn for this rise in the German art scene, and during the war Genin was interned in Munich as citizen of a hostile state. After the war he moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. In 1919, Genin has acquired a small house in the fishering village of Ascona in Switzerland, where he subsequently spent several months each year. Over the period of 1915-1926, the Genin's styles of painting and drawing developed in line with the direction of

German expressionism German Expressionism () consisted of several related creative movements in Germany before the First World War that reached a peak in Berlin during the 1920s. These developments were part of a larger Expressionist movement in north and central ...

. In 1926, Genin undertook a voyage to the island of Bali, which provided important impulse to his work.Rodionov, Alexej. Robert Genin. Auf der Suche nach dem Paradies: Bali, 1926. St-Petersburg, 2013, 96 S. (in German) Genin wrote and illustrated a book about his impressions, which was published 1928.Genin, Robert. Die ferne Insel. Aufzeichnungen von meiner Fahrt nach Bali in Wort und Bild. Verlag des Volksverbandes der Bücherfreunde, 1928, Berlin. (in German) In 1929, Genin moved to

. There, his artistic style developed further under the influence of Fauvism and

Neo-primitivism Primitivism is a mode of aesthetic idealization that either emulates or aspires to recreate a "primitive" experience. It is also defined as a philosophical doctrine that considers "primitive" peoples as nobler than civilized peoples and was an o ...

. In 1936, Genin finally returned to the

, with the intention of taking an active part in building up the new socialist society by painting frescos on the walls of Moscow's new buildings. In March of that year, while Genin was already in Moscow, his first (and the last) American exhibition was held in

NYC New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Lilienfeld Lilienfeld () is a city in Lower Austria (Niederösterreich), Austria, south of St. Pölten, noted as the site of Lilienfeld Abbey. It is also the site of a regional hospital Landesklinikum Voralpen Lilienfeld. The city is located in the valle ...

Galleries.NN. "An artist who was born in Russia..." In: ''Brooklyn Daily Eagle'', NYC, 29 March 1936, p. 34 In Moscow, his first major commission was a fresco for one of the pavilions at the ''All-Union Agricultural Exhibition (VSKhV)''. However, in October 1938, the fresco has been covered up, in line with the political processes which had gained strength in the USSR. His second major commission in Moscow was frescoes for the ''

Palace of Soviets The Palace of the Soviets (russian: Дворец Советов, ''Dvorets Sovetov'') was a project to construct a political convention center in Moscow on the site of the demolished Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The main function of the pa ...

'', a commission which was terminated by the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. Genin has committed suicide in August 1941, a few days after a devastating air raid by German bombers.

Monograph and catalogue-raisonné

During his life, Genin did not take care of his works, their integrity and preservation. Some of them he destroyed by his own hands, and many were lost during the Second World War. During the

Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...

era in Germany, some of his works were removed from museums along with other so called

degenerate art Degenerate art (german: Entartete Kunst was a term adopted in the 1920s by the Nazi Party in Germany to describe modern art. During the dictatorship of Adolf Hitler, German modernist art, including many works of internationally renowned artists, ...

, and others belonging to Jewish art collectors were confiscated. Those works which survived after

are widely spread. Information about them is being collected b
Friends club of Robert Genin
with the aim of publishing the monograph and the catalogue-raisonné.

Solo exhibitions during his lifetime

* 1913, Munich, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser (with catalogue) * 1917, Munich, Moderne Galerie Thannhauser, 1st floor - paintings, 2nd floor - graphics (with catalogue) * 1922, Berlin, Alfred Flechtheim Galeries * 1928, Cologne, Kunstgewerbemuseum * 1931, Paris, Galerie Jacques Bonjean * 1932,

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

, Galerie Kunstzalen A. Vecht * 1936, New York,

Galleries (with catalogue)

Major museum collections

Kunstmuseum Basel The Kunstmuseum Basel houses the oldest public art collection in the world and is generally considered to be the most important museum of art in Switzerland. It is listed as a heritage site of national significance. Its lineage extends back to ...

, Basel * Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg * RGALI, Moscow * Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago * Pushkin Museum, Moscow *

Berlinische Galerie The Berlinische Galerie is a museum of modern art, photography and architecture in Berlin. It is located in Kreuzberg, on Alte Jakobstraße, not far from the Jewish Museum. History The Berlinische Galerie was founded in 1975

, Berlin *

Museum Ludwig Museum Ludwig, located in Cologne, Germany, houses a collection of modern art. It includes works from Pop Art, Abstract and Surrealism, and has one of the largest Picasso collections in Europe. It holds many works by Andy Warhol and Roy ...

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Von der Heydt Museum The Von der Heydt Museum is a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The Von der Heydt Museum includes works by artists from the 17th century to the present time. History The museum is housed in the former city hall of Elberfeld, which in 1902 became a ...

Wuppertal Wuppertal (; "''Wupper Dale''") is, with a population of approximately 355,000, the seventh-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the 17th-largest city of Germany. It was founded in 1929 by the merger of the cities and tow ...

Lenbachhaus The Lenbachhaus () is a building housing an art museum in Munich's '' Kunstareal''. The building The Lenbachhaus was built as a Florentine-style villa for the painter Franz von Lenbach between 1887 and 1891 by Gabriel von Seidl and was expa ...

, Munich *

Belarusian National Arts Museum The National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus ( be, Нацыянальны мастацкі музей Рэспублікі Беларусь) is the largest art museum in Belarus and is located in Minsk. The museum comprises more than thirty t ...

Minsk Minsk ( be, Мінск ; russian: Минск) is the capital and the largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach and the now subterranean Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the admi ...

* MOMA, New-YorkWorks of Genin in MOMA
/ref>

Major publications about him

* 1914 Burger, Fritz. Robert Genin – München// Deutsche Kunst und Dekoration, 1914, 1, Heft 4, S. 288-296. (in German) * 1931 Fierens, Paul. Guenine or childhood regained// Formes, 1931, №19, p. 157-161. (versions in English and in French) * 2011 Родионов, Алексей. Художник Роберт Генин (1884-1941). Творчество и судьба// Бюллетень Музея Марка Шагала, 2011, №19-20, с. 137-156. (in Russian) * 2011 Fischer, Matthias. Der Briefwechsel mit Robert Genin// Sie lieber Herr Im Obersteg sind unser Schweizer für alles, Kunstmuseum Basel, 2011, S. 41-75. (in German) * 2013 Rodionov, Alexej. Robert Genin. Auf der Suche nach dem Paradies: Bali, 1926. St-Petersburg, 2013, 96 S. (versions in German and in Russian) * 2019 Robert Genin (1884-1941). Russischer Expressionist in München. Ausstellungskatalog. Hrsg. vom Schloßmuseum Murnau. 2019. 216 S. (versions in German or in Russian)

Gallery

File:Robert Genin - Arbeitende Frauen.jpg, Women at work (ca. 1912). Collection Im Obersteg in Kunstmuseum Basel File:Robert Genin - Arbeitende Männer.jpg, Men at work (ca. 1912). Collection Im Obersteg in Kunstmuseum Basel File:Robert Genin Selbstbildnis.jpg, Self-portrait with his wife Martha, Pastell (1913). Kunstforum Ostdeutsche Galerie, Regensburg File:Robert Genin. Portrait of Charley Chaplin, 1921.jpg, Portrait of Charlie Chaplin (1921) File:Музыкант з ліловым буйвалам і малпачкай.JPG, Musician with purple bull and monkey (1926) File:Robert Genin - Balinesin (I).jpg, Balinese (1926). Collection Im Obersteg in Kunstmuseum Basel File:Robert Genin - Balinesin (II).jpg, Legong dancer (1926). Collection Im Obersteg in Kunstmuseum Basel File:Автопортрет с церковью. 1930 г. Холст, масло.jpg, Self-portrait with church (1930)

References

External links

Friends club of Robert Genin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Genin, Robert 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters 1884 births 1941 deaths 1941 suicides Painters who committed suicide Suicides in Moscow Suicides in the Soviet Union 20th-century Russian male artists