Nathan Altman (December 22 1889 – December 12, 1970)
was an avant-garde artist, Cubist painter, stage designer
and book illustrator. Among his paintings  still lives and
portraits were prevailing.

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Early life

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He was born in Vinnytsia in 1889 in the family of Jewish
merchants.

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Career

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From 1902 to 1907, he studied painting and sculpture at the Art College in Odessa. In 1906, he had his first exhibition in Odessa.

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In 1910, he went to Paris, where he stayed for one year. He studied at the Free Russian Academy in Paris, working in the studio of Volodymyr Baranoff-Rossine, and had contacts with Marc Chagall, Alexander Archipenko, and David Shterenberg. In 1910, he became a member of the group Soiuz Molodiozhi (Union of Youth).

 

In 1912, Altman moved to Saint Petersburg. His famous Portrait of Anna Akhmatova, conceived in Cubist style, was painted in 1914. 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.

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In 1920, he became a member of the Institute for Artistic Culture,
together with Kazymyr Malevich, Volodymyr Tatlin and the others.
In the same year, he participated in the exhibition From Impres-
sionism to Cubism  in Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg). In 1921,
he moved to Moscow. From 1921 to 1922, he was director of
the Museum of Painterly Culture in Petrograd.

 

From 1920 to 1928, he worked on stage designs for the Habimah
Theatre and the Jewish State Theatre in Moscow. In 1923 a volume
of his Jewish graphic art, Jewish Graphics by Nathan Altman, was

published in Berlin.

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In 1925, he participated in the exhibition in Paris together with other artists. His first solo exhibition in Leningrad was in 1926.

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Altman moved to Paris in 1928. In 1936, he returned to Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg). He worked mainly for the theatre, as a book illustrator and an author of essays about art. 

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Death

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Nathan Altman died in Leningrad aged 81.

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Did you know?

 

Аlthough Nathan Altman spent most of his life outside
Vinnytsia, the city residents and authorities cherish his
name and his memory. For example, the Contest of
Contemporary Visual Art named after Nathan Altman
has been held in the city for several years. This contest
gives a chance to young artists working in the contem-
porary visual art genre to show their work and compete
for a chance to exhibit for free in one of the capital's
galleries. Artists under 35 are invited to present their
innovative and creative projects. The contest takes place on the day of Nathan Altman’s birthday.

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Also, in 2016, the project of the Budget of public initiatives proposed to create Altman Square in the city center on the street of Architect Artynov. The idea was finally supported in 2019 on the initiative of the mayor. Nowadays representatives of the architectural community are taking part in the competition for the best project of Vinnytsia Altman Square. Architects, urbanists, landscape architects, artists and students from various parts of

Ukraine were invited to design the project of the square and to make it one of the city’s attractions. The competition is now in progress.