MINCHIN (Mintchine) Abram (Abraham)

April 14, 1898 (Kiev) — April 25, 1931 (La Garde near Toulon, France)

Painter, graphic artist, scene-designer

Abram Minchin was born to a Jewish family; probably he was a brother of the artist Isaak Minchin. In his youth Minchin studied jewellery. In 1914 he studied at Kiev Art School; probably he took lessons of painting and drawing at the studio of Aleksandra Ekster.

In 1923 Minchin immigrated and lived in Berlin. He worked as a scene-designer at the Jewish Theatre. The artist was interested in Cubism. In 1916 Minchin moved to Paris with a group of Russian-Jewish painters; in Paris he became friends with Chaim Soutine and Mark Chagall.

Since 1925 Minchin showed his works at the exhibitions of the Salon of Independents, Tuileries and Autumn Salon. In 1928 three paintings by Minchin were exhibited at the Russian section of the exhibition The Modern French Art in Moscow. In 1929 two personal exhibitions by the artist were held in Paris. Later he was under the patronage of powerful marchand René Gimpel; the artist became free in art, he settled in Mediterranean town La Garde in Province, where he organized his studio. The artist died because of tuberculosis.

Retrospective exhibitions of Abram Minchin were held in Paris (1931, 2000), in London (1960), and in Bergamo (2004).