David Petrovich Shterenberg (;

Zhitomir Zhytomyr ( ; see #Names, below for other names) is a city in the north of the western half of Ukraine. It is the Capital city, administrative center of Zhytomyr Oblast (Oblast, province), as well as the administrative center of the surrounding ...

– May 1, 1948

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

) was a Ukrainian-born Russian Soviet

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

graphic artist A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming l ...

Life

Born to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in Zhitomir,

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, Shterenberg studied art in

Odessa ODESSA is an American codename (from the German language, German: ''Organisation der ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen'', meaning: Organization of Former SS Members) coined in 1946 to cover Ratlines (World War II aftermath), Nazi underground escape-pl ...

and then from 1906 to 1912 based himself in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he studied with, amongst others,

Kees van Dongen Cornelis Theodorus Maria "Kees" van Dongen (26 January 1877 – 28 May 1968) was a Dutch-French painter who was one of the leading Fauves. Van Dongen's early work was influenced by the Hague School and symbolism and it evolved gradually into a ...

. He studied at the

Académie Vitti The Académie Vitti was an art school in Paris, France. It was founded and operated by a family of Italian artists' models from the Valle di Comino to the south of Rome. The academy was progressive in its support for women artists, and gained a h ...

in Paris. He was influenced by the works of

Paul Cézanne Paul Cézanne ( , , ; ; ; 19 January 1839 – 22 October 1906) was a French Post-Impressionism, Post-Impressionist painter whose work introduced new modes of representation, influenced avant-garde artistic movements of the early 20th century a ...

and by

Cubism Cubism is an early-20th-century avant-garde art movement which began in Paris. It revolutionized painting and the visual arts, and sparked artistic innovations in music, ballet, literature, and architecture. Cubist subjects are analyzed, broke ...

. He made return visits to Russia but did not settle there until after the

Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, when he was supported by his acquaintance

Lunacharsky Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born ''Anatoly Aleksandrovich Antonov''; – 26 December 1933) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissar (minister) of Education, as well as an active playwright, critic, es ...

, who was the

People's Commissar Commissar (or sometimes ''Kommissar'') is an English language, English transliteration of the Russian language, Russian (''komissar''), which means 'commissary'. In English, the transliteration ''commissar'' often refers specifically to the pol ...

responsible for culture. He attended the ''Conference of Authors, Artists and Directors'' on cooperation with the Soviet Government at the

Smolny Smolny is a place name in central Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is a compound of historically interrelated buildings erected in 18th and 19th centuries. As the most widely known of the buildings, the Smolny Institute, has been used as the seat of ...

Palace in

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

(St.Petersburg) with

Nathan Altman Nathan Isaevich Altman (; ; – 12 December 1970) was a Russian avant-garde artist, stage designer and book illustrator. Born in Vinnytsia (now Ukraine), he worked in Russia, France, and the Soviet Union. His works combine elements of Cubo-Futur ...

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 (IZO) 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. In 1920 Shterenberg was the Director of the Department of Fine Arts (IZO) at the People's Commissariat for Education. In this role he organised the funding of the

based

Institute of Artistic Culture The Institute of Artistic Culture ( abbreviated to ИНХУК/INKhUK) was a theoretical and research based Russian artistic organisation founded in March Moscow in 1920 and continuing until 1924. Origins It was established under the authority of th ...

(INKhUK). He explained that "We organised the INKhUK as a cell for the determination of scientific hypotheses on matters of art". 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 Marc Chagall (born Moishe Shagal; – 28 March 1985) was a Russian and French artist. An early modernism, modernist, he was associated with the School of Paris, École de Paris, as well as several major art movement, artistic styles and created ...

. In the same year he wrote an essay for the catalogue of the ''

First Russian Art Exhibition The First Russian Art Exhibition () was the first exhibition of Russian culture, Russian art held in Berlin following the Russian Revolution. It opened at the Gallery van Diemen, 21 Unter den Linden, on Sunday 15 October 1922. The exhibition was ho ...

'' at the Gallery van Diemen, in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. 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 Vagankovo Cemetery () is located in the Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. It was established in 1771, in an effort to curb 1770–1772 Russian plague, an outbreak of bubonic plague in Central Russia. The cemetery was one of those created ou ...

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 The Song of Songs (), also called the Canticle of Canticles or the Song of Solomon, is a Biblical poetry, biblical poem, one of the five ("scrolls") in the ('writings'), the last section of the Tanakh. Unlike other books in the Hebrew Bible, i ...

', - and there's no better song.'' Today his work is on view in public galleries in Moscow (

Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

and

Pushkin Museum The Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts (, abbreviated as , ''GMII'') is the largest museum of European art in Moscow. It is located in Volkhonka street, just opposite the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The International musical festival Sviatos ...

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

(

Russian Museum The State Russian Museum (), formerly known as the Russian Museum of His Imperial Majesty Alexander III (), on Arts Square in Saint Petersburg, is the world's largest depository of Russian fine art. It is also one of the largest art museums in ...

) and

Ekaterinburg Yekaterinburg (, ; ), alternatively Romanization of Russian, romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( ; 1924–1991), is a city and the administrative centre of Sverdlovsk Oblast and the Ural Federal District, Russia. The ci ...

. Much is still held in private collections in Russia. In 2019, David Shterenberg's work, along with works by

Wassily Kandinsky Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky ( – 13 December 1944) was a Russian painter and art theorist. Kandinsky is generally credited as one of the pioneers of abstract art, abstraction in western art. Born in Moscow, he spent his childhood in ...

Kazimir Malevich Kazimir Severinovich Malevich (

Vladimir Tatlin Vladimir Yevgrafovich Tatlin (; ; – 31 May 1953) was a Russian and Soviet painter, architect, and stage-designer. Tatlin achieved fame as the architect who designed The Monument to the Third International, more commonly known as Tatlin's Tower, ...

Mikhail Larionov Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov (; – May 10, 1964) was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Russian art. He was founding member of two important artistic groups Knave ...

Lyubov Popova Lyubov Sergeyevna Popova (; April 24, 1889 – May 25, 1924) was a Russian-Soviet avant-garde artist, Painting, painter and designer. Early life Popova was born in Ivanovskoye District, Ivanovskoe, near Moscow, to the wealthy family of Sergei ...

and others, were featured in a major group exhibition, Avant-Garde: List No. 1, presented at the Tretyakov Gallery.

Links to pictures

*
Still life with cherries
* (1948 - in the 'approved' style).

Sources

*Lazarev, Mikhail (ed.), (2000).''David Shterenberg''. Moscow.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shterenberg, David 1881 births 1948 deaths Artists from Zhytomyr Jewish Russian artists Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery Russian avant-garde Academic staff of Vkhutemas Russian landscape painters Bundists 20th-century Russian painters Soviet painters Russian portrait painters