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Leonid Pasternak

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Self portrait with the wife

Leonid Osipovich Pasternak (Template:Lang-ru, April 4 1862 N.S. - May 31 1945) was a Russian Impressionist painter.

Biography

Leonid Pasternak was born in Odessa to the family of a Jewish inn-keeper on April 4 1862. He was the youngest of the six children in the family. He started to draw very early, but the family was trying to stop him, as they were afraid the drawing interfere with his school studies. His first sponsor was the local street cleaner who actually was buying the art of Pasternak since Leonid was seven years old.

In 1881-1885 Leonid studied at Moscow University, first at Medical Department, then at the Department of Law. Eventually he decided to devote his life to the Art and entered the Royal Academy of Art in Munich that he graduated in 1887. He returned to Russia, served the compulsory two years in the Army (artillery regiment) and in 1889 started a career as a full time painter.

Moscow in Winter, 1912

The start of the career was very successful. His first exhibited painting was bought by Pavel Tretyakov the most important art sponsor in Russia of the time. He soon became a popular painter, a member of so called Polenov circle, that included Valentin Serov, Isaac Levitan, Mikhail Nesterov, Konstantin Korovin. In 1889 he married a prominent pianist of the time Rosalinda Kaufman.

Leonid Pasternak was one of the first Russian painters who labelled himself as an impressionist. In Russia of 1880ies and 1890ies it was novel enough to draw attention to an artist. Leonid also was a member of the Peredvizhniki and Union of Russian Artists movements. Leonid Pasternak was also a friend of Leo Tolstoy, for months lived in Yasnaya Polyana, and painted many portraits of the great writer as well as illustrated his novels War and Peace and Resurrection. He got a medal of World Fair in Paris (1900) for his illustrations of Tolstoy's novels.

Pasternak was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1905), he also taught at the Moscow School of painting, sculpturing and architecture.

In 1921 Pasternak needed an eye surgery, that was performed in Berlin. He travelled there with his wife and two daughters, leaving sons (Boris and Alexander) in Russia. After the surgery he decided not to return to Russia. He lived in Berlin until 1938, then he took the refuge from the Nazi in Great Britain. He died in Oxford on May 31 1945.

Works

External links

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