Artist of the week: Adolf Feder
ARTinvestment.RU   21 января 2020

Adolphe (aizik) Feder — one of the artists who emigrated to Europe from the Russian Empire and included in the galaxy of masters of the so-called Paris school. Today at auction AI exhibited his "still life"

Adolphe (aizik) Feder was born 16 Jul 1886 in freedom-loving Odessa into a Jewish merchant family and received a good education. From 1896 he studied at the Odessa drawing school, then continued his education at the Odessa art College. In 1905 he became a member of the political movement "Bund" (General Jewish workers ' Union) and from-за events 1905/1906 years was forced to flee from Russia. He moved to Berlin, where he studied art, then moved to Geneva, where he studied at the Academy of fine arts. In 1910 he moved to Paris in about a year he studied at the Academy of R. Julian, visited the Studio of Matisse. Once in the rapid whirl of Paris life and being sensitive to the creative pursuit, he, like many young artists, exploring alternative forms of art, acquainted on the Salons with cubism and other "isms".

In the late XIX — beginning of the twentieth century, Jews in France, particularly in Paris, I felt free enough, and the young man left his leftist views and was able to devote himself entirely to painting...

Lunacharsky wrote in 1913: "...the Work of Feder testify to the pursuit of noble forms and interestingly directed imagination. However, the work of Feder largely student, but it is still a young man." St. Petersburg newspaper "Against the tide" noted his "dim, but temperamental canvases, saturated with enthusiasm and vitality".

free cosmopolitan Plunged into the world of Bohemian Paris, Feder desperately soaked up everything new that he saw. Familiarity with the works of Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse and other artists left a clear imprint on his work. So, in the still lifes Feder has successfully developed a line of Gauguin. He was keenly interested in his still lifes, like Gauguin, willingly entered into his still lifes, figures or African masks ("still life with a statuette", "still life with flowers and mask"). But it wasn't just items, it was another great passion of the artist. In his Studio you can find sculptures of different period, African art and paintings, purchased at a flea market. In the magazine "Punch" published an article by A. Salmon "Negro art", illustrates just the items from the collection of the Feder.

His still life has some kind of graphic, decorative and a certain muted colors. Critics have interpreted this color as "a quiet song" — "the charm and mystery it makes you feel in the light that illuminates his still lifes".

In 1920-е years, the Federation collaborated with the left-wing Paris editions "Clarté" and "Le Monde"; in the Russian literature-художественной chronicle "Blow" repeatedly published articles about his work — in particular, we can note an interesting observation in a review of a solo exhibition at the gallery Licorne: "perhaps, Feder, as a Russian artist, remember he used and retained some influence of Russian realists, but it is far from literariness of Russian peredvizhnichestva and anecdotal and illustrative of the attributes of their followers". compared to Venetsianova, perhaps, the artist owes some of his paintings, including "pastoral," but you never know: the legacy of the artist poorly understood. And his "Procession", is exhibited at the salon d'automne, restless critics have compared with the works of El Greco.

In 1923, together with M. Larionov and A.Zadkine Feder was one of the most active members of the society of Russian artists, which was aimed at organizing exhibitions in France and abroad. They were active in the pulsating body of Parisian life. And their most notable event was the costume balls that were held each year at the restaurant "the Ball Bulge".

In 1924 Feder participated in the major expedition to Palestine, organized by Russian publisher A. E. Cogan. André salmon wrote later "He left Paris to Palestine just at a time when critics asked the question of whether there is a Jewish school of painting, and when so many Jews devoted himself to plastic art, which in other ages so was a little attracted to this nation. At one time it seemed that Feder could be the most recognized of Jewish artists. It is not that looking at any of his portraits, one can hear the Jewish prayer, Jewish Liturgy is true".

he was impressed with the scenery and flavor of the people with whom he met during a trip to the East. Back in Paris, he brought with him paintings depicting the life of the people. He didn't flatter his models and painted them as he saw them. And then the language of generalization and a simplification of forms sounds more like humility. It fits the image of people without demagoguery, tells the story of their lives "not a book of techniques, not sweeping lines and speaks their language, thinks scenic images near and dear to them beauty".

Feder had a high reputation in the Parisian art world — for example, the Beaux-Arts in 1937 named it as "a great artist". But things soon changed.

During world war II, Feder remained in Paris, participated in the French Resistance. In June 1942 he and his wife SIMA was arrested and placed in jail Serch-Миди, in September of the same year he was transferred to a transit camp in Drancy. 13 December 1943 the artist was deported to Auschwitz where he was murdered. The exact date of the death of Adolf Feder unknown.

Alexei Smirnov, specifically for AI