Alexander Osmerkin

Alexander Alexandrovich Osmerkin ( _ru. Александр Александрович Осмеркин; OldStyleDate|8 December|1892|26 November - June 25 1953) was a Russian painter, graphic artist and stage designer. He was a member of the Knave of Diamonds avant-garde group, AKhRR, and "Society of Moscow Artists" (OMKh) groups.

Biography

Childhood

Alexander Osmerkin was born in Elisavetgrad (now Kirovohrad, Ukraine) into the family of a post-office clerk. Young Osmerkin was raised by his Ukrainian nanny, who eventually stayed with him through the rest of his life as his personal assistant. He took his first art lessons at the drawing department at Elisavetgrad Regional Professional School under a Peredvizhnik painter Feodosy Kozachinskiy.

Artistic development

In 1911-1913 Alexander Osmerkin moved to Kiev to continye his education in art. He attended classes at Kiev Professional School of Art. In Kiev he met Alexandra Exter and other avant-garde artists, who cast influenced on his vision and style. Although he cited Paul Cezanne as his main influence, Osmerkin absorbed from many sources and styles, before he created his own. He turned to Fauvism after seeing works of Henry Matisse and Andre Derain and other Fauvists. He visited St. Petersburg several times to study art at museums, and also made numerous landscapes in his own manner blending classical St. Petersburg cityscapes with his Fauvist touch. Eventually he settled in Moscow and joined Ilya Mashkov artistic studio. He followed his teacher and became the youngest artist in "The Jack of Diamond" group.

After Revolution

Since 1918 Osmerkin worked as a Professor of Art, first in VKhUTEMAS in Moscow. At first he taught alongside Vassili Kandinsky, until the latter emigrated. Then Osmerkin opened his own workshop and also taught at the Surikov Institute of Fine Arts in Moscow. There his circle included such names as poet Osip Mandelstam, writers Osip Brik and Viktor Shklovsky, as well as his fellow artists from the "Bubnovy Valet" group.

Leningrad

During the 1920s and 1930s Osmerkin lived and worked in Leningrad. There, upon invitation form Isaac Brodsky, he taught at his master's workshop at the Leningrad Academy of Arts on Vasilevsky Island. In 1927 his canvas "Red Guards at the Winter Palace" ( _ru. Красная гвардия в Зимнем дворце), also known as "Takeover of the Winter Palace" ( _ru. Взятие Зимнего) was acquired for the permanent collection of the State Russian Museum in Leningrad. In 1927 Osmerkin took part in the major art show at the State Russian Museum, where his works were exhibited alongside the works of Marc Chagall, David Burlyuk, Natalia Goncharova, Mikhail Larionov, Vasili Kandinsky, Robert Falk, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Pyotr Konchalovsky and other masters of Russian art. At that time Osmerkin moved forward with his style, because the peak of avant-garde movements was over right after the revolution, and some trends were losing their novelty, so he embraced a classic and more traditional system of figurative and plastic imagery. He was also able to show his works at the Leningrad Academy of Arts, as well as at Union of Leningrad Artists, he also showed his works at the Leningrad Writers Club, with the help of his friends. In 1937 he made stage design for Pushkins play "Mozart and Salieri" at Bolshoi DramaTheatre. Osmerkin had a number of talented students in Leningrad, such as Elena Skuine, Aleksei Eremin, Gleb Savinov, Olga Bogaevskaya, V. Savitsky, Evsei Moiseenko and other artists.

Under Stalin

Osmerkin, as a highly original artist who contributed to development of the Russian avant-garde, was doomed to suffer from the Soviet officialdom under dictatorship of Joseph Stalin. He saw the destruction of cultural environment, private art collections, museums and libraries. Osmerkin survived the first wave of massive extermination of Russian intellectuals. He was emotionally devastated by the arrest and execution of his friend Osip Mandelstam. During the 1940s and 1950s Osmerkin enjoyed a continuous friendship with poet Anna Akhmatova.

In 1946, the Soviet Communist Party started attacks on intellectuals and creative artists. Along with other victims of Stalins dictatorship, such as Anna Akhmatova and Mikhail Zoshchenko, Osmerkin was accused of formalism, and spreading western influence to Soviet art. He was banned from teaching and exhibiting his works, so he was left without any income. During his last years, Osmerkin was completely cut off from the Soviet public life and became an underground artist, who expressed himself in painting. He died on 25 June 1953 while working on a landscape painting near Moscow. Alexander Osmerkin was interred in Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow.

Heritage

Alexander Osmerkin created over 700 works of art in a variety of genres. His paintings and drawings may be found at the Tretyakov Gallery and Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, as wellas at State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and many other museums internationally.

Works

As all of the Jacks of Diamonds he consider himself a Cezanne-ist. He also was influenced by fauvism and cubism. Later, not unlike another Jack of Diamonds, Robert Falk he was inspired with the experiments with the colors. Later in his life he became a neo-impressionist.

Osmerkin's successes were mostly connected with chamber landscapes, still-lifes and portraits. He also provided some Socialist Realism paintings like portraits of Stakhanovites or "Taking the Winter Palace"

References

* [http://www.region.in.ua/elisavet/osm02_e.html Osmerkin Museum]
* [http://www.elysium.ru/painter.asp?path=3ba34bb0bc79458aa557425b5e87a8af-6edbd97768d444ad80a43e08e4445e2b&page= Biography]
* [http://cray.onego.ru/~solvio/gostinaya/albom/osmerkin/osmerkin_bio.html Biography] ru icon
* [http://www.crossroads.com.ua/articles/2004/33/737.php E.K. Osmerkina-Galperina "Osmerkin" (Таким был Осмеркин)] ru icon