Natan Altman (Born Vinnytsia[now within Ukraine; then Russian Empire]. 1889–1970)

View our publication Brilliantly Eccentric: Natan Altman, Between Tradition and Modernity, 1910–1935

In the 1920s, Natan Altman (Al’tman) was a member of the Art Section of the Kultur-Lige in Moscow and a key participant in the international artistic avant-garde.

After studying at the art school in Odessa between 1903 and 1907, he lived in Paris from 1910 to 1912,  where he was a member of the émigré colony of La Ruche. He attended Marie Vassilieff’s Académie russe and absorbed the latest European artistic developments—especially Cubism. An accomplished portrait painter, Altman created his iconic Cubo-Futurist portrait of the poet Anna Akhmatova in 1914. In 1913, he contributed to the second edition of the Futurist book Vzorval’ (Explodity) and in 1915 his work was included in the landmark 0,10 exhibition in Petrograd.

The combination of Altman’s notable artistic skill and avant-garde ethos were well-suited to the aims of the Bolshevik regime. Between 1918 and 1921, he was a member of IZO Narkompros (Visual Arts Section of the Commissariat of Education), was involved in the production of its journal, Iskusstvo Kommuny (Art of the Commune), and taught at SVOMAS (Free Artistic Studios). In 1918, in honor of the first anniversary of the Revolution, he created decorations for Uritskii (Palace) Square in Petrograd that transformed the Alexander Column into a series of Cubo-Futurist constructions. The same year, he was commissioned to design the first Soviet postage stamp. Altman was also commissioned to create an official sculptural portrait of Lenin. In 1921, a selection of sketches for this project were published in the book Lenin: Risunki (Lenin: Drawings).

In 1922, Altman was a member of the organizing committee for the landmark Erste Russische Ausstellung (First Russian Art Exhibition) in Berlin. He designed the poster and was represented by almost twenty paintings, sculpture, and works on paper. During the 1920s, Altman became acquainted with such major writers as Isaak Babel and Ilya Ehrenburg, for whom he designed books. 

Altman participated in Jewish art exhibitions and in the work of the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. In 1922, his designs for Moscow’s flourishing Jewish theater scene included Constructivist sets for GOSET’s (Yiddish State Theater) production of Karl (Carol) Gutzkow’s Uriel Acosta and HaBima’s Hebrew-language production of Solomon An-sky’s play The Dybbuk. In 1928, he accompanied GOSET on its European tour and stayed abroad until 1935. Upon his return to the Soviet Union, he remained active in theater production and book illustration. He died in Leningrad.

All titles are in Russian unless otherwise noted.

Key Primary Sources:

Abram Efros. Portret Natana Altmana (Portrait of Natan Altman). Moscow: Shipovnik, 1922.

B[oris] Arvatov. Natan Altman. Berlin: Petropolis, 1924.

Key Secondary Sources:

Mark Ėtkind, Natan Al’tman. Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1971. (German translation published by Verlag der Kunst Dresden, 1984.)

Aleksandr Kamensky. Natan Altman, 1889-1970. Exhibition catalogue. Moscow: Sovetskii khudozhnik, 1978.

Ruth Apter-Gabriel, ed. Tradition and Revolution: The Jewish Renaissance in Russian Avant-Garde Art 1912–1928. Jerusalem: The Israel Museum, 1987, p. 239.

Hillel Kazovsky. The Artists of the Kultur-Lige. Jerusalem: Gesharim, 2003, pp. 176–191.

Nathalie Hazan-Brunet and Ada Ackerman, eds. Futur antérieur: l'avant-garde et le livre yiddish, 1914–1939. Paris: Skira Flammarion and Musée d'art et d'histoire du Judaïsme, 2009, pp. 86–93.

The works shown here represent only a selection from the collection. Please contact us for further inquiry.