Alfred ABERDAM (1894-1963), Composition

oil, canvas; 158.5 x 129 cm;
On the back 3 stickers: 1. sticker from a retrospective exhibition in Geneva, partially destroyed 2. sticker with handwritten inscriptions including dimensions 3. sticker with author and machine print partially destroyed.

Painter, sculptor; member of the "Modern Artists" group and the Professional Union of Polish Artists in Lviv. He graduated from a real school in Lviv. He studied at the Königliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Munich (1913-1914). After the outbreak of World War I, he was mobilized into the Austrian army; he was taken into Russian captivity; he was exiled to Siberia. Upon his return, he continued his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow under T. Axentowicz (1921-1923) and under Alexander Archipenko in Berlin. He made his debut in 1922 at the exhibition of the Circle of Lovers of Jewish Art in Lviv and at the Fourth Exhibition of Jewish Art in Warsaw. From 1923 he lived in Paris, where he regularly exhibited his works at the Salon des Independents and at the Autumn and Tuilerian Salons. He also took part in artistic life in Poland; he continued to exhibit in Lviv (solo exhibitions, 1931, 1932). His work is closest to the art of the École de Paris circle. Color played the greatest role in A.'s painting; the artist used a simplified form, characterizing objects almost exclusively by color and texture. He painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits and figural compositions, which often feature mythological and biblical figures (Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Merciful Samaritan, Three Graces). (Renata Piątkowska, Polish Judaic Dictionary)