Skul'ptor Oskar Meshchaninov
Illustrations and maps
illustrations
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Meshchaninov, Oscar Samoilovich (Yosel Shmuylovich)
(1884, Vitebsk - 1956, Los Angeles, USA) - A prominent representative of the Paris School, sculptor Oscar Meshchaninov was born in Vitebsk on April 9 (21), 1884. Meshchaninov received his primary art education at the Vitebsk school-studio of Yehuda Pen, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, who was the first teacher of many famous artists of the twentieth century - Marc Chagall, Ossip Zadkine, and others. Since 1908, Oscar Meshchaninov exhibited at Paris salons: the National Society of Fine Arts, the Society of French Artists, the Autumn Salon, the Salon of Independents, and the Tuileries. By the end of the 1910s, Meshchaninov had determined his priorities. In the world sculptural heritage, he was interested in works from the earliest eras in human history that retained a primitive-archaic character. The artist was especially attracted to ancient works from Southeast Asia. The outbreak of World War II forced the artist to emigrate to the United States, where he remained until the end of his days. During his American period, Meshchaninov worked extensively in the field of portraiture; his best works include "Portrait of Pierre Wertheimer" (1950), a businessman and one of the founders of the Chanel Perfume Company (Les Parfums Chanel). Oscar Meshchaninov's sculpture "Man with a Dead Child" (1952) was a response to the global catastrophe of war and the horrors of the Holocaust. In 1944, a personal exhibition of Meshchaninov's works was held at the Wildenstein Gallery in New York, and in 1955 at the Los Angeles Museum of Art. On July 14, 1956, the artist died in Los Angeles.
Oskar Meshchaninov's works are presented in state museum and private collections in France, the Netherlands, the USA, Israel, Russia, and other countries. The corporate collection of Belgazprombank OJSC contains a casting of the sketch of Meshchaninov's sculpture "Man with a Dead Child" (1952).
