ARONSON Naum L’vovich

December 25, 1872 (Kreslavka, Vitebsk province) — September 30, 1943 (New York)

Sculptor, graphic artist

Naum Aronson was born to a Hasidic family, which was engaged in commerce. He was educated in heder. In 1889–1891 Aronson studied in Vilna drawing school under the guidance of I. P. Trutnev. Later Aronson tried to obtain permission to be a noncredit student of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. But he was not permitted to attend the Academy, because of the law of the Pale of Settlement. In 1891 Aronson moved to Paris, worked as a stonemason in sculpture studio. At the same time he studied in the School of decorative art under H. Lemaire and in the Academy F. Colarossi.

In 1894 Aronson returned to Russia in order to serve in the army, but he was exempted from military service by lot. In 1896 he moved to Paris again. Later Aronson took big order (2 000 francs) and he was invited to expose his works in the Salon of the Champ de Mars. In 1898 Aronson became a member of the National Society of Fine Arts. He exposed his works in the many Paris salons, in Berlin Secession.

Aronson was engaged in easel and monumental-decorative sculpture. In 1900s–1910s he created symbolic and genre sculptures of marble and plaster. In 1900 Aronson was awarded the second gold medal at the World exhibition in Paris. In 1905 he was awarded the first gold medal at the International exhibition in Liège. In 1903 he visited Brussels and The Hague. During the work on the bust of L. van Beethoven, which was mounted in front of the house of the composer in Bonn, Aronson traveled through Holland and to Bonn. In 1916 he voyaged to the USA. In 1917–1922 by the order of the French government he created approximately 15 busts of L. Pasteur, which were mounted in connection with his 100th anniversary in the garden of the Pasteur Institute in Paris, also in Tokyo, Brussels, Saigon, Hanoi and Leningrad. In 1926 the personal exhibition of Aronson was held in Paris. In 1930s he collaborated with the Paris communist editions Le Monde and Humanité. Aronson was a member of jury of the National Salon of Fine Arts. In 1938 he was awarded the order of the Legion of Honour. He designed decorative fountains in Paris and in Godesberg. In 1940 he left the occupied France, lived in Portugal for some time, then moved and settled in New York.

Aronson visited Russia and Soviet Union several times: in 1901, 1914, 1927, 1934, and 1935. In 1903 he took part in the competition for the best monuments of M. I. Glinka in St. Petersburg. At the end of 1909 he was invited to work on the monument of Alexander II in St. Petersburg and in Kiev. When he arrived to the capital, he was ordered to leave the country as he had not the residence permit. Aronson painted the portraits of L. N. Tolstoy, V. F. Komissarzhevskaya, I. S. Turgenev, A. A. Fet, G. E. Rasputin. He exposed his works at the Spring exhibition in the halls of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1902), at the Salon of S. K. Makovsky (1909), at the exhibitions of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (TPKhV, 1915). In 1904 Aronson together with B. M. Kustodiev and D. N. Kardovsky founded the New Society of Artists in St. Petersburg; participated in the first exhibition of the Society. In 1914 the personal exhibition of the painter was held in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Arts (IAKh). Since 1914 Aronson was a member of the Art and Literature Circle in Moscow. After the October revolution Aronson sympathized with the Soviet Russia. In 1922 he participated in the 1st exhibition of sculpture in Petrograd, in 1927 — in the 1st exhibition of the I. E. Repin Society of artists in Moscow. In 1925 Aronson painted the portrait of V. I. Lenin. In 1935–1938 he worked on the busts Shock worker and Female shock worker for Moscow metropolitan.

Naum Aronson was one of the most significant sculptors of so called Russian abroad. In his art he was close to symbolism and impressionism.