Felix Samoilovich Lembersky (Russian: Феликс Самойлович Лемберский) (November 11, 1913 – December 2, 1970) was a Russian/Soviet painter, artist, teacher, theatre stage designer, and organizer of artistic groups. He is known for his 'Execution: Babi Yar' series (1944–52), which are considered to be among the earliest artistic representations of the Nazi massacres of Jews in Kyiv.

Biography

Lembersky was born in 1913 into the family of Samuil Lembersky of

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

and relocated with his family to

Berdyczów Berdychiv (, ) is a historic city in Zhytomyr Oblast, northern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Berdychiv Raion within the oblast. It is south of the administrative center of the oblast, Zhytomyr. Its population is approxima ...

(now Berdychiv, Ukraine) following the Russian loss of Lublin to the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

army in 1915. In 1928, Lembersky moved to

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

to attend the Jewish Arts' and Trades' School (known as the "Kultur-Lige Art School," studio of Mark Epshtein). He worked as a set designer for the Jewish Theater in Kiev and Berdichev from 1930 to 1933 and attended the Kiev Art Institute from 1933 to 1935 to study painting with professor Pavel Volokidin. He then moved to

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

to study at the Russian Academy of Arts in 1935. During his studies, Lembersky toured the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

to collect material for his thesis, and he returned to Leningrad after Nazi Germany launched

Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...

against the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

on June 22, 1941. His parents remained in Berdichev and perished in the Holocaust. Lembersky was wounded during the defense operations on the outskirts of Leningrad in July 1941. He then contracted typhoid and was brought back to the Academy, which was converted into a home and a hospital for its students, professors, and staff during the war. He completed his thesis during the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

and defended it in December 1941, earning a degree in easel painting with honors for academic achievement. Lembersky joined the Union of Soviet Artists in 1944 and offered private art classes at his studio. From 1944 to 1954, he worked on commissions and portraits of workers, and he headed group projects. During this time, he created his Execution: Babi Yar series, which are the earliest known artistic renderings of the Nazi massacres of Jews in Kiev. He created the triptych Leaders and Children for Anichkov Palace in 1955, and he worked on the Novgorod and Pskov series from 1956 to 1957. He worked on the Urals Series from 1958 to 1964, and he created the Railway Pointer and Miners series and the Staraya Ladoga series during this time. Lembersky held a personal exhibition at the LOSSKh exhibition gallery in Leningrad in 1960. Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Lembersky spoke out for greater freedom in Soviet art, and he organized unofficial exhibitions of young artists. He died on December 2, 1970 at his home in Leningrad.

Career

Lembersky became a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists after the war and participated in both national and private art exhibitions across Russia. He traveled to various regions, including the Urals, Ladoga, Pskov, and the Baltic Republics, where he engaged in artistic endeavors. His artistic style was deeply influenced by his upbringing in Eastern Europe, particularly Ukraine and the Soviet Union. During his time as a theater set designer in Kiev during the 1920s and early 1930s, he was exposed to the early Soviet avant-garde, a period that left a lasting impact on his work. His affiliation with the Kiev Art Institute, where influential artists like Malevich and Tatlin taught, further immersed him in the avant-garde movement. This influence persisted throughout his studies in the 1930s. Lembersky also attended art history lectures by Punin at the Academy of Art, where he received a classical education that greatly influenced his techniques as a realist and impressionist artist. Despite the constraints imposed by state regulations on Western art, Lembersky's creative process drew from a diverse range of inspirations, including

German Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radi ...

, the French School, Mexican mural painting,

Russian icons Russian icons represent a form of religious art that developed in Eastern Orthodoxy, Eastern Orthodox Christianity after Kievan Rus' Christianization of Kievan Rus', adopted the faith from the Byzantine Empire, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire in ...

, African folk art, and Dutch and early Renaissance painting. His artistic interests extended beyond visual arts to encompass modernist and contemporary literature, poetry, theater, and music, which all played integral roles in shaping his creative vision. Lembersky's artistic expression often carried spiritual undertones and incorporated religious symbols. The memory of the Holocaust deeply affected him, and he incorporated symbols related to it in his work. Themes of war and industrial labor also found their way into his art, while his paintings were celebrated for their vibrant colors, luminosity, and formal elegance, evoking emotional responses and captivating the viewer's eye. �
Digital copy at California Polytechnic State University
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References

External links

lembersky.org
*
vimeo.com/21099061

vimeo.com/21097879

Felix Lembersky's exhibit at Boston University Rubin Frankel Gallery, Sept 1 – Dec 21, 2011
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lembersky, Felix 1913 births 1970 deaths Artists from Lublin Jews from the Russian Empire Ukrainian Jews Soviet Jews Jewish painters Soviet painters Modern painters Repin Institute of Arts alumni 20th-century Russian painters People from the Russian Empire of Polish descent Painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters Russian avant-garde Ukrainian avant-garde Russian people of Polish-Jewish descent Jewish Russian artists 20th-century Russian male artists