Name David Shterenberg | Role Artist | |
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David Petrovich Shterenberg (Russian David Petrovich SHterenberg; b. July 26 [O.S. July 14] 1881 Zhitomir, d. May 1, 1948 Moscow) was a Ukrainian-born Russian painter and graphic artist.
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Life
Born to a Jewish family in Zhitomir, Ukraine, Shterenberg studied art in Odessa and then from 1906-1912 based himself in Paris where he studied with, amongst others, Kees van Dongen. Here he was influenced by the works of Paul Cezanne and by Cubism.
He made return visits to Russia but did not settle there until after the Revolution of 1917, when he was supported by his acquaintance Lunacharsky, who was the People's Commissar responsible for culture. He attended the Conference of Authors, Artists and Directors on cooperation with the Soviet Government at the Smolny Palace in Petrograd (St.Petersburg) with Nathan Altman and others . In 1917 -1918 he was a Commissar for Artistic Matters. In 1918 he had an exhibition with the group Jewish Society for the Furthering of the Arts together with Baranoff-Rossine, Altman, and Lissitzky, in Moscow. From 1918 to 1920 he was the Head of the Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment (NARKOMPROS). In 1918 he published his programmatic essay Tasks of Contemporary Art in the News of the Petrograd Council.
From 1920 to 1930 Shterenberg taught at the VKhUTEMAS. He showed at an exhibition of Jewish artists in Moscow in 1922 which also featured Marc Chagall. In the same year he wrote an essay for the catalogue of the First Russian Art Exhibition at the Gallery van Diemen, in Berlin. However his independent style ceased to find favour with the Soviet authorities and gradually his work was withdrawn from public view. After the 1930s he was forced to work in a more 'realistic' style. By his death in 1948 he was virtually forgotten. He is buried in Vagankovo Cemetery in Moscow.
Shterenberg was deeply conscious of his Jewish roots. He wrote to his wife Nadezhda: 'I have an Oriental blood in my veins, blood of my forebears who wrote the 'Song of Songs', - and there's no better song.''
Today his work is on view in public galleries in Moscow (Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum), St. Petersburg (Russian Museum) and Ekaterinburg. Much is still held in private collections in Russia.
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