Solomon Yudovin (or Iudovin) (, 1892-1954) was a Belarusian Jewish graphic artist, photographer, and researcher of Jewish folk art.

Biography

Yudovin was born into a family of artisans in

Beshenkovichi Beshankovichy (; ; ) is an urban-type settlement in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Beshankovichy District and is a port on the Western Dvina. It is located west-southwest of Vitebsk on the railway line betwe ...

Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...

of the Russian Empire (now Belarus). He studied art from 1906 to 1910 at the School of Drawing and Painting in Vitebsk, under

Yehuda Pen Yudel Pen, also known as Yehuda Pen or Yury Pen, (5 June

4 May Old Style 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

1854 - 28 February 1937) was a Jewish artist and art teacher active in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union. He is best known for founding an influential art school in Vite ...

. He moved to St. Petersburg in 1910, to study at the School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts from 1910 to 1911 and with artists

Mstislav Dobuzhinsky Mstislav Valerianovich Dobuzhinsky or Dobujinsky (, ; August 14, 1875, Novgorod – November 20, 1957, New York City) was a Russian-Lithuanian artist noted for his cityscapes conveying the explosive growth and decay of the early 20th-century city ...

and Moisey Bernstein from 1911 to 1913. From 1912 to 1914, Yudovin participated in the

Jewish Ethnographic Expedition The Jewish Ethnographic Expedition (1912–1914) was a project to document and preserve the traditional Jewish culture of the Pale of Settlement, a region in the Russian Empire where Jews were legally restricted to live. Led by the writer and socia ...

organized by S. An-sky's Jewish Historical and Ethnographic Society, documenting and copying examples of Jewish folk art and ornaments. This sparked his lifelong interest in Jewish artistic traditions. In 1920 he, together with M. Malkin, published the album ''Jewish Folk Ornament'' (''Yidisher Folks-Ornament'') featuring 26 of his

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of relief printing in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief printing, relief surface. A design i ...

prints. From 1918 to 1923, Yudovin lived in Vitebsk, teaching at the Art School and Jewish Pedagogical Technical School. His prints from this period often depicted

shtetl or ( ; , ; Grammatical number#Overview, pl. ''shtetelekh'') is a Yiddish term for small towns with predominantly Ashkenazi Jews, Ashkenazi Jewish populations which Eastern European Jewry, existed in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. The t ...

life and Jewish folk themes, combining stylized folk elements with realistic details. After moving to Petrograd (St. Petersburg) in 1923, Yudovin worked as a curator at the Jewish Museum, created in materials of S. An-sky's expedition, until its closure in 1928. In the 1930s to 1940s his work became more narrative and detailed to conform to Socialist Realism, though still focused on Jewish subjects and folk imagery. He illustrated books by Jewish authors and created prints portraying Jewish life on collective farms. Yudovin had solo exhibitions in Vitebsk (1926), Yaroslavl (1944), Leningrad (1956) and Jerusalem (1991). His art blended Russian

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

influence with a commitment to documenting and celebrating Jewish cultural traditions through his prints, drawings and book illustrations.

Gallery

Udovin 014.jpg, Old man near a window, 1923 Саламон Юдовін. Стары. 1926.jpg, Old man, 1926 Biešankovickaja synagoga. Бешанковіцкая сынагога (S. Judovin, 1920-29).jpg, The Beshenkovichi synagogue, c.1920-1929 Biešankovičy, Dźvina. Бешанковічы, Дзьвіна (S. Judovin, 1934).jpg, Beshenkovichi, Dzvina, 1934 File:Майстэрня_абутку.jpg, Shoemaker, 1929 Mahiloŭ, Školišča, Chałodnaja synagoga. Магілёў, Школішча, Халодная сынагога (S. Judovin, 1913).jpg, Cold Synagogue, Mogilev, 1913 Mahiloŭ, Školišča. Магілёў, Школішча (S. Judovin, 1913).jpg, Cold Synagogue, Mogilev, 1913 File:Synagogue_in_Korets.jpg, Synagogue in Korets File:Соломон_Юдовин_Ткацька_фабрика.jpg Талмудзіст. Фота С. Юдовіна.JPG

References

External links

*{{commonscat-inline 1892 births 1954 deaths Jews from the Russian Empire Belarusian Jews Linocut artists

Biography

Gallery

References

Further reading

External links