Albert Abramovitz 1879-1963

Painter and printmaker Albert Abramovitz was born in Riga in Latvia and studied art at the Imperial Art School in Odessa, before moving to Paris to study at l'Académie de la Grande Chaumière. He became a member of the Salon de Paris in 1911, part of the jury in 1913, and a member of the Salon d'Automne, winning widespread recognition and acclaim with prizes including the Grand Prix at the Universal exposition of 1911 in Rome and Turin. In 1916 Abramovitz emigrated to the United States, holding his first solo exhibition at the Civic Club in Manhattan in 1921, prior to moving to Los Angeles in the late 1920s, then finally settling in Brooklyn. His work was widely exhibited across the United States, and renowned for his unusual technique and his radical socio-political point of view. He worked for the Federal Arts Project Works Progress Administration in New York between 1935 and 1939. His work is in the collections of the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Smithsonian, among others.