LEVINA-ROSENGOLTZ Eva Pavlovna

May 29, 1898 (Vitebsk) — June 10, 1975 (Moscow)

Graphic artist, painter

Eva Rosengoltz was born to a family of a merchant of the second guild. She studied at the Yehuda Pen’s School of Painting and Drawing under Vitebsk People’s Art School; she studied under the guidance of M. V. Dobuzhinsky, A. G. Rom, K. S. Malevich, and V. M. Ermolaeva. In 1914 she finished Alekseevskaya gymnasium in Vitebsk.

During the First World War, Rosengoltz worked as a medical nurse at the military field hospital. Rosengoltz attended the dental school in Vitebsk; in 1917 she was certified as a dentist in Tomsk University.

In 1917–1918 Rosengoltz lived in Moscow, met sculptor S. D. Erzia. In 1919 she returned to Vitebsk. In 1920 she moved to Moscow. Rosengoltz continued her art education at the studio of A. S. Golubkina; in the same year she entered the Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) — the studio of Robert Falk; in 1925 she graduated from the VKhUTEMAS with the title of an artist and the right for a trip abroad.  In 1923 young writer B. M. Levin married her. Levina-Rosengoltz showed her works at the exhibition of the society Moscow Painters and at the First All-Belarusian Art Exhibition in Minsk.

In 1926 the artist made a trip to France and England. In 1927–1928 she participated in the exhibitions of the artist community ROST (“Growth”) and the Society of artists­–activists (OKhO) in Moscow. In 1929 she entered the Higher Teachers’ Training Courses under the Higher Art Technical Institute (VKhUTEIN). Since 1932 Levina-Rosengoltz was engaged in textile painting at the Dorogomilovo factory, since 1934 she worked as a senior adviser on textile design under the National commissariat of light industry (Narkomlegprom).

In the mid-1930s the artist worked a lot in pastel, in particular she made a series of landscapes of Zamoskvorechye (historical district of Moscow). In 1937 she participated in the design of the Soviet pavilion at Paris World Fair. The brothers of the artist — professor microbiologist G. P. Rosengoltz and people’s commissar of foreign trade A. P. Rosengoltz were arrested in the same year. A. P. Rosengoltz was shot in 1938.

In the beginning of the World War II, Levina-Rosengoltz was evacuated to Chistopol. In 1942 she returned to Moscow. In 1949 Levina-Rosengoltz was arrested and convicted for 10 years of exile. In 1949–1954 the artist lived in Kranoyarsk region, was engaged in tree cutting; she also worked as a house painter, hospital cleaner, and nurse. In 1954–1956 she worked as a stage designer at Kazakh Drama Theatre in Karaganda. In 1956 Levina-Rosengoltz was rehabilitated, and she returned to Moscow.

In 1956–1974 the artist was engaged only in easel graphic art giving preference to drawings in Indian ink and pastel. Levina-Rosengoltz executed large cycles Trees, Bogs, People (Rembrandt series), Sky, Portraits, Frescos, Plastic compositions, which alongside with the series of pastels of 1930s Zamoskvorechye are considered as a major part of her artistic legacy.

In 1978 the one-day memorial exhibition of works by the artist was held at Moscow House of Artist. In 1996–1997 the retrospective exhibition of works by Levina-Rosengoltz was organized in the State Tretyakov Gallery. In 1998 the one-day exhibition of her works was held in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and was dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the artist’s birth. In 1999 the retrospective exhibition of the artist’s works was held in the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington, in 2001 — the exhibition of Indian ink drawings at New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture.

The major collection of the artist’s drawings is kept in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Works by Eva Levina-Rosengoltz are in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, in many private collections in Russia and abroad, in particular in the Norton and Nancy Dodge collection.