Biograms

Akymovych Vira

[АкимовичВiра]

(1890, Yelizavetgrad [now Kropyvnytskyi] – 1977, Odesa) — painter, pedagogue

Graduated from a girls’ high school in Odesa. In the years 1908–1913 she studied at the Odesa School of Art, and thereafter, until 1957, taught drawing at schools in the city. From 1945 a member of the Union of Visual Artists.

 

Atsmanchuk Oleksandr

[Ацманчук Олександр]

(1923, Odesa – 1974, Odesa) — painter, pedagogue

Graduated from the Odesa School of Art with distinction in 1947, and from the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture at the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts in 1953. Between 1953 and 1957 he taught painting, drawing and composition at the Odesa School of Art. In his own art he focused on easel painting, monumental painting, and printmaking. Landscapes of Odesa occupy an important place throughout his creative biography.

 

Babadzhan Veniamin

[БабаджанВеніамін]

(1894, Odesa – 1920, Feodosia) — poet, painter, art critic, book publisher

Co-founder of the Odesa publishing house Omfalos. As a poet he published his work under the pen name Klementyi Butkovskyi. In the spring of 1918, he joined the young poets’ group The Green Lamp.

 

Baranov-Rossiné Volodymyr
[Баранов-РоссінеВолодимир]
(1888, Kherson – 1944, KL Auschwitz) — painter and sculptor, avant-garde artist
In the years 1903–1908 he studied at the Odesa School of Art. In 1908 he entered the Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, but was expelled after his first year for absenteeism. In 1925 he emigrated to Paris, where he exhibited his work as Daniel Rossine. In 1943 he was arrested by the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz concentration camp, where he died in 1944.

 

Basanets Valeriy

[БасанецьВалерій]

(b. 1941, Brody) — sculptor, painter

Graduated from the Odesa School of Art in 1963. In 1993 he cofounded the Choven group, and in 1998 the Mamai creative association.

 

Bondero Vadym

[БондаренкоВадим]

(b. 1967, Baku) — painter, writer, author of video installations

Graduated from the faculty of painting at an art school in Baku in 1986. In the years 1989–1994 he studied industrial design at the Moscow State Specialist Institute of Arts. Co-founder of the Punkoptikum art group. He lives and works in Odesa and Amsterdam. 

Chatskin Ihor

[ЧацкінІгор]

(1963, Odesa – 2016, Tel Aviv) — one of the pioneers of Odesa conceptualism, artist, poet, performer
Studied at the Odesa Polytechnic Institute. A participant in many apartment artexhibitions, he was also the co-founder of the IYu group. From 2011 he lived in Israel, where he wrote poems which he fused with themed collages, under the pen name Win NCHL.

 

Depeshmod Yuliya
[ДепешмодЮлія]

(b. 1973, Odesa) — contemporary performer

Co-creator of the group Obshcheye sostoyanye, whose activities were characterized by eclecticism and artistic interventions in the urban space, as well as untrammelled creative freedom.

 

Dulfan Dmytro
[ДульфанДмитро] (b. 1971, Odesa) — printmaker, author of light sculptures, objects, installations, and performances in the punk glamour style
Graduated from the Odesa School of Art in 1990 and started work on models for light installations, for which he uses strip lights, paper, fabrics, neon bulbs, cellophane, mirrors, and all manner of ‘alchemist’s’ equipment (bulbs, tubes, and coils), producing unexpected optical effects. He also experiments with designs for spaceships using plastic and porcelain.

 

Emskyi-Mohylevskyi Zvi

[Емський-МогилевськийЦві]

(1887, Odesa – 1937, Odesa) — painter, real name: Hersh Zainvelovich, changed in the 1920s to Emskyi
A graduate of the Odesa School of Art, he painted chiefly realist landscapes in oils. His work, both as an artist and as the director of the Odesa Museum of Art, was cut short in 1937, when he was charged with having contacts with foreign consuls, espionage, and counter-revolutionary agitation, and sentenced to death by firing squad by the NKVD. His burial place remains unknown to this day. He was posthumously rehabilitated in the 1950s.

 

Erlich Dmytro

[ЕрліхДмитро]

(b. 1989, Odesa) —painter, printmaker, sculptor, and creator of installations

Graduate of the faculty of artistic design at the Odesa School of Art and the International Humanitarian University in Odesa. 

real name: Srul Arievych FaynzylberhGraduate of the Odesa School of Art. Author of caricatures for periodicals such as Krokodil, Teatr i Kino, and Bomba. Participant in the Salons des Indépendants in Odesa and Paris, where he emigrated in early 1922. His photographs, which he signed with the pseudonym Al Fas, were published regularly in the Paris weekly Vu and were shown at exhibitions including the 1937 World Expo in Paris. In 1942, Fasini and his wife were arrested and sent to the transit camp in Drancy outside Paris. From there, they were deported to the German concentration camp Auschwitz, where they were shot, according to various sources, in 1942 or 1944. 

Fraerman Teofil

[ФраєрманТеофіл]

(1883, Berdychiv – 1957, Odesa) — painter, printmaker, pedagogue

Founder of the Museum of Western and Eastern Art in Odesa. He studied at the Odesa School of Art (1897–1902) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich (1902–1903). Thereafter, he moved to Paris, where he became friends with Henri Matisse, and signed his paintings as Theo Fra. In 1914 he moved to London, and after the 1917 February Revolution he returned to Odesa, where he worked as a pedagogue at the Odesa Art Institute. 

Freidin Oleksandr

[ФрейдінОлександр]

(1926, Odesa – 1984, Odesa)—painter and draughtsman

Studied at the Odesa School of Art. He began his artistic career as a highly original impressionist, but the paintings from the final decade of his life are more severe in colour. At this point he was more interested in the texture of the canvas and in line than in colour palette. He made his own frames for his later works, because he perceived his paintings to be one with their frames.

 

Hershenfeld Mykhailo

[ГершенфельдМихайло]

(1880, Odesa – 1939, Odesa) —painter, printmaker, set designer, critic, pedagogue

Studied at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts and the Ecole nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts. He was one of the founders of the Society of Independent Artists, and its chairman in the years 1917–1920. In 1920 he became a board member at the Odesa Literary and Art Club, and in 1923 a member of the Union of Odesa Artists and Writers. He taught painting and art history in many educational institutions in Odesa.

 

Hosiasson Philippe (Hoziason Pylyp)

[ГозіасонПилип]

(1898, Odesa – 1978, Paris) — painter, writer

He studied briefly at the Odesa School of Art, and in 1912 embarked on a degree in law and art history at the university in Odesa. In 1924 he moved to Paris. In 1930 he joined Waldemar George’s neohumanist art group which brought together members of the Académie Ranson community. Over the years, his art-related interests remained focused on figurative, abstract expressionist, and monumental painting.

 

Husiev Ihor

[ГусевІгор]

(b. 1970, Odesa) — poet, author of performances, films, objects, and installations

Graduated from the Odesa School of Art in 1991. He founded the Odesa gallery Norma (2008–2011), and was the leader of the Art Raiders movement. His work is categorized in the New Wave of Ukrainian contemporary art. In his works he combines motifs from classical and contemporary art, lending them a unique new style. He lives and works in Odesa.

 

Karabinovych Mykola

[КарабіновичМикола]

(b. 1988, Odesa) — author of video installations and performances, sculptor, curator

Graduated from the Institute of Art in Ghent (Belgium) in 2020. His art focuses on the socio-historical aspect of Eastern Europe, the memory of the individual, and collective memory. To this end, he uses varied means of expression, such as video installations, performance, sound, and sculpture. Three times winner of the PinchukArtCentre Prize, awarded with the aim of popularizing and promoting the work of young Ukrainian artists.

 

Khrushch Valentyn
[ХрущВалентин]
(1943, Odesa – 2005, Kimry) — painter, sculptor, representative of the Odesa underground in the latter half of the 20th century.
Studied at the Odesa School of Art in the 1950s. He demonstrated skill in all painting styles, collage, sculpture, and carving. Khrushch’s artistic style is characterized by lightness and dynamism. He was the main organizer of the outdoor exhibitions at which works were displayed on fences along streets. Among the many painting genres in which he worked were the still life, the abstract, the nude, and the landscape.

 

Koltsova Darya

[КольцоваДар'я]

(b. 1987, Kharkiv) — author of installations, performer, curator

She graduated in history and art theory from the Academy of Fine Arts in Kharkiv. Winner of the first prize in the 2015 MUHi competition for young Ukrainian artists for her installation Defence Theories. In 2017 she was awarded the Gaude Polonia grant from the Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In her art at present she focuses on observing and commentating political, geopolitical, and social phenomena through installations, performances, and video.

 

Kononov Sergiy

[КононовСергій]

(b. 1994, Odesa) — painter

In the years 2009–2013 he studied at the Odesa School of Art, and thereafter, from 2015, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In his works he combines oil painting with spray painting, which helps him to achieve the effect of a blurred, hazy composition in his pictures. He lives and works in Paris.

 

Leiderman Yuri

[ЛейдерманЮрій]

(b. 1963, Odesa) — painter, writer, art critic, conceptualist

Co-founder of the Odesa Conceptual Group, established in 1982. He works at the intersection of the fine arts, literature, cinema, and ethnography, using installations, performances, body art, and in his early works also an expressionist style with elements of abstractionism. In 2013 he was awarded the Special Prize at the Rome Film Festival in the category 21st-Century Cinema for his film Birmingham Ornament 2. He lives and works in Berlin.

 

Marshak Arkadiy

[МаршакАркадій]

[n.d.] —sculptor

As part of the project Odesa through Touch, he made minicopies of the city’s most famous landmarks for blind and partially sighted people.

 

Martynchyk Svitlana

[Мартинчик Світлана]

(b. 1965, Odesa)— painter, writer

In the years 1982–1985 she studied in the Faculty of Foreign Languages at Odesa State University. A representative of conceptual art, her oeuvre includes works of literature and journalism, short stories, and reviews. She publishes her work under the pen name Maks Frei. She has also written the series of fantasy novels: The Echo Labyrinths, My Ragnarok, The Echo Chronicles, and Echo Dreams.

 

Maryniuk Viktor

[МаринюкВіктор]

(b. 1939, Kazavchyn)—painter

He graduated from the Odesa School of Art in 1967 and became a leading figure in Ukraine’s artistic underground. Co-founder of a group of young Odesan artists whose works stood in opposition to the de rigueur Socialist Realist canons. In the years 1975–1980, he participated in and organized many exhibitions in private apartments, a movement known as apt-art (apartment art), promoting the new wave in art. In 2008 he was named Distinguished Artist of Ukraine for services including his considerable personal contribution to the development of the nation’s fine arts.

 

MeshbergLev

[Межберг Лев]

(1933, Odesa – 2007, Carrara)— painter

In 1958 he graduated from the Odesa School of Art. In the years 1960–1973 he worked in the Odesa Art Production Complex. Thereafter, he emigrated to the USA and lived in New York, where he focused on easel painting. The postimpressionist influence was visible in his works, and that of abstract art in his later pieces.

 

Mitkovitser Petro

[Мітковіцер Петро]

(1888, Bakhmut – 1942, Moscow)—pedagogue, sculptor

HegraduatedfromtheOdesaSchoolofArtin 1909. After his degree, he emigrated to Paris, where he trained under the sculptorAugusteRodin until 1911. HewasamemberoftheKyriakKostandiArtists’ Society, whichwas active intheyears 1923–1926. He lectured at the Odesa Art Institute, where from 1920 until 1933 he ran the sculpture studio.

 

Naselenko Oleksandr

[НаселенкоОлександр]

(b. 1992, Bilhorod Dnistrovskyi)—photographer, journalist

He took up photography at the age of 17. His main areas of activity are portrait and documentary photography, and his works are often black and white. He concentrates on the landscape and history of the Ukrainian south, the bonds between humans and nature, and the memory of time and place. In 2015, his photography was used to illustrate a book by Hryhoriy Semenchuk, More Poems and Songs. Naselenko’s work was first exhibited in 2021, in the Muzeon experimental centre in Odesa (as part of a project called Light and Trace).

 

Nitsche Pavlo

[НітшеПавло]

(1885, Odesa – 1950, Belfast)—painter, pedagogue

Studied at the Odesa School of Art, and then from 1908 at the Academy of Fine Arts in Berlin. In 1936 he emigrated to Belfast, where he became an important figure in the artistic community. His work is characterized by perceptive observation of the world around him and skilled use of colour. His main areas of painting were still lifes (especially flowers), portraits, and landscapes.

 

Nurenberg Amshei

[НюренбергАмшей]

(1887, Yelizavetgrad [now Kropyvnytskyi] – 1979, Moscow) — painter, printmaker, art historian

In the years 1904–1910 he studied at the Odesa School of Art, after which he continued his studies in Paris, where he shared a studio with Marc Chagall. From 1915 he worked in Odesa as a lecturer and was an active participant in the city’s artistic life. In 1922–1924 he lectured in the history of painting at the VKhUTEMAS art university. He painted in several styles, from modernism to realism, taking his inspiration from the work of the Paris school. His works are held in collections including that of the National Museum of the Art of Ukraine in Kyiv.

 

Petrelli Oleksandr

[ПетрелліОлександр]

(b. 1968, Odesa) — author of performances and collages, painter

One of the founders of the group Dy Papl pod faneru, which was active until 2004, and the co-creator of the Palto mobile gallery. He is known for presenting to audiences at openings and other cultural events small works pinned to the lining of his overcoat. He has won awards for his art in the public space.

 

Petrenko Oleg

[ПетренкоОлег]

(1964, Odesa – 2014, Moscow) — conceptualist, printmaker, author of objects and installations

Debuted as an artist in 1984 at the exhibition Moscow – Odesa. Wtih Ludmyla Skripkina he founded the artistic group Percy, which functioned until 1999. His works are in collections including the New York Jewish Museum, Zimmerli Art Museum, and many private collections.

 

Roitburd Oleksandr

[РойтбурдОлександр]

(1961, Odesa – 2021, Kyiv) — painter, exhibition curator, representative of the Ukrainian New Wave

Graduated from the painting and printmaking faculty of Odesa Pedagogical Institute. From 1989 a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. Co-founder and chairman of the New Art association. In the years 2018–2021 director of the Odesa National Museum of Art.

 

Savko Oleksandr

[СавкоОлександр]

(b. 1957, Bendery) — painter, printmaker

In the years 1974–1981 he studied at the Odesa School of Theatre and the Arts, in the faculty of scenography. He has taken part in many individual and collective shows, biennales and art festivals both in Ukraine and abroad (e.g. in France, Montenegro, Austria, Finland, Norway, and Germany). In his works he often draws on well-known pieces of European art and adds figures from pop culture to them (e.g. the Simpsons, and Disney or Marvel characters).

 

Skripkina Ludmyla

[СкріпкінаЛюдмила]

(b. 1965, Sverdlovsk [now Yekaterinburg]) — contemporary artist, author of objects and installations

With Oleg Petrenko she founded the art group Percy (1985–1999). She has displayed her conceptual works in apt-art shows, as well as at individual and collective exhibitions, in countries including France, the Netherlands, and the USA.

 

Sokolov Nikolai

[СоколовМикола [Николай]]

(1904, Petersburg – 1990, Moscow) — architect, artist, designer

In the years 1924–1925 he was active in the Odesa literary and artistic association Yugo-LEF. Graduate of the VKhUTEMAS university (class of 1930), member of the Soviet Association of Contemporary Architects (OSA) and the editorial team of the magazine Sovremennaya Arkhitektura [Contemporary Architecture]. He also collaborated with the well-known constructivist Moisei Ginzburg.

 

Sokolov Oleg

[СоколовОлег]

(1919, Odesa – 1990, Odesa) — printmaker, painter, representative of the avant-garde and non-conformist movement

He attended art school in his native Odesa in the years 1935–1939. He fought at the front in World War II, and was badly wounded in 1941. After the war, he continued his education in Lviv, afterwards returning to Odesa, where in 1951 he graduated from the Odesa School of Art. In the years 1955–1990 he devoted himself to research and exhibition work at the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

 

Stiopin Ihor

[СтьопінІгор]

(1967, Odesa – 2018, Moscow) — artist, musician

In the years 1982–1985 he studied at Odesa State University. From 1986 he and Svitlana Martynchyk formed the art duo Martynchyky. He also worked with her publishing books under the pen name Maks Frei; he was responsible for the graphic design work. Stiopin’s works have been exhibited at both one-man shows and collective exhibitions (in Ukraine, the USA, Germany, and other countries).

Voitsekhov Leonid
[ВойцеховЛеонід]
(1955, Odesa – 2018, Odesa) — painter, printmaker, author of installations, performer
He studied at the Odesa School of Art and in the faculty of painting and printmaking at Odesa Pedagogical Institute. He was the leader of the conceptualist group Apt-art, and one of the foremost proponents of the Ukrainian Second Avant-garde. His works are held in collections including Museum Ludwig in Cologne, and contemporary art museums in Aachen, Berne, Melbourne and elsewhere. His 2016 book “Projects”, containing several conceptual ideas including Niagara Fountain, a detailed design to transform the famous waterfall into a gigantic fountain, caused a furore on the publishing market.

Voitsekhova Svitlana
ВойцеховаСвітлана [n.d.]—performer
The wife of Leonid Voytsekhov. 

Zhalobniuk Stas (Stanislav)

[ЖалобнюкСтаніслав]

(b. 1976, Odesa) — painter

In the years 1996–2001 he studied at the Odesa State School of Art in the faculty of painting. He uses collage and assemblage, incorporating everyday objects in creative ways. He lives and works in Odesa.

 

Zharkova (Anufriyeva) Margaryta (Rita)

[Жаркова (Ануфрієва) Маргарита (Ріта)]

(1939, Chelyabinsk – 1998, Odesa) — painter, watercolourist

She graduated from the printmaking faculty of the Odesa Pedagogical Institute. The apartment of Zharkova and her husband, the painter Oleksandr Anufriyev, was the centre of Odesa’s artistic life, a rendez-vous for artists, and an unofficial exhibition venue. In view of the role that she played in organizing the art scene, she was known as the Odesa Muse, or the Odesan Yoko Ono. In the years 1992–1996 she was a curator in the Tyrs Contemporary Art Centre.

 

Zhuk Mykhailo

[ЖукМихайло]

(1883, Kakhovka – 1964, Odesa) — painter, printmaker, lecturer, writer

In the years 1896–1899 he studied drawing at the school run by Mykola Murashko in Kyiv. In 1904 he graduated from the Kraków Academy of Fine Arts, where his teachers included Stanisław Wyspiański, Jan Stanisławski, and Józef Mehoffer. One of the founders of the Ukrainian Academy of Fine Arts. For many years a lecturer in the faculty of printmaking and ceramics at the Odesa Art Institute. His inspirations for his work were symbolism and Art Nouveau. He also created works of literature, both poetry and prose.

 

Yastreb Ludmyla

[ЯстребЛюдмила]

(1945, Saratov oblast, Russia – 1980, Odesa)—painter

Graduated from the Odesa School of Art in 1967. She was one of the leading proponents of the Odea nonconformist scene. Her early works focused on figurative art, while her later ones are closer to abstraction, full of light, and energetic, spontaneous brushstrokes. Her main theme was the female figure.

 

Yehorov Yuri

[ЄгоровЮрій]

(1926, Stalingrad [Volgograd] – 2008, Odesa) — painter, sculptor, pedagogue

In the years 1946–1948 he studied painting at the Odesa School of Art. Thereafter he continued his education in the Institute of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad, where from his fourth year he specialized in monumental painting. In the period 1994–1997 he served as rector of the Odesa School of Art. He is considered one of the most outstanding Ukrainian artists of the latter twentieth century, and a proponent of the Odesa classical school. He made easel paintings, drawings, tapestries, ceramics, stained-glass windows, and mosaics. The Museum of Odesa Modern Art has held a permanent exhibition of his works since June 2009.

 

Zvezdochetov Kostiantyn

[ЗвєздочотовКостянтин]

(b. 1958, Moscow) — conceptualist, painter

Graduate of a theatre school scenographic faculty. He participated in the art groups Muchomor, World Champions, Apt-art, and the CLAVA Avant-garde Club. His works have been shown at individual and collective exhibitions (in countries including Belgium, France, Switzerland, Turkey, and the USA), and at the Venice Biennale and Kassel Documenta.