Nahum Tschacbasov Explained

Nahum Tschacbasov
Native Name:Наум Чакбасов
Native Name Lang:ru
Other Names:Nathan Richter, H. H. Richter, Hanathan Richter, Nathan Lichterman, Chuck Tschacbasov, Nate Tschacbasov, Nahum Tschakbassoff, Nahum Lichter
Birth Name:Nahum Stefanovich Lichter
Birth Date:31 August 1899
Birth Place:Baku, Russian Empire
Death Place:New York City, New York, U.S.
Burial Place:New Montefiore Cemetery
Occupation:Visual artist, poet, graphic artist, businessperson, teacher
Known For:Paintings, prints, teaching
Movement:Expressionism, social realism, surrealist[1]
Spouse:
  • Esther Sorokin,
  • Irene Zevon

Nahum Tschacbasov (1899–1984;,[2])[3] also known as Nahum Lichter, and Nahum Tschakbassoff, was a Russian-born American painter, printmaker, graphic artist, poet, businessperson, and educator.[4] [5] He used many names including Nahum Lichter, Nathan Richter, H. H. Richter, Hanathan Richter, and Nathan Lichterman. Tschacbasov was a member of "The Ten", a group of expressionist artists.[6]

Early life

He was born on August 31, 1899, in Baku, Russian Empire,[7] into a Georgian Jewish family. In 1905, when he was a young child, his family moved to Chicago because of pogroms. There are varying stories as to why he used different names either due to a forged passport used for immigration; to avoid paying child support; and/or because he was a con-man. He served in the United States Navy from 1917 to 1919.[8]

Career

In the 1920s and 1930s, he worked as a businessman in Chicago where he made a fortune. His second marriage was to his secretary Esther. Tschacbasov moved to France in 1932 to 1933, where he studied painting with Adolph Gottlieb, Marcel Gromaire, and Fernand Léger.[9]

When the family returned to the United States the Tschacbasov family moved to Brooklyn. Early in his career he had a good relationship with artists Milton Avery, Raphael Soyer, Moses Soyer, Isaac Soyer, William Gropper, David Burliuk, and Philip Evergood. In 1935, he was part of a group exhibition at the Gallery Secession alongside Mark Rothko, Gottlieb, and the other artist members of "The Ten".

He taught at the Art Students League of New York.[10] Additionally he taught painting at his own art school in Woodstock, New York; and taught at the Marxist-focused John Reed Club School.[11] His notable art students include Fritzie Abadi,[12] James F. Walker,[13] and his future wife Irene Zevon.[14]

In 1982, Southampton College Press published his illustrated poetry book, Machinery of Fright.

Death and legacy

He died in February 1984 at New York University Hospital. He is buried in New Montefiore Cemetery.

It was estimated he had made some 7,000+ paintings and prints. His work is included in museum collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Jewish Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

In 2013, he had a posthumous solo exhibition curated by Marina Kovalyov at the National Arts Club, as part of the 11th Annual Russian Heritage Month.

Personal life

Tschacbasov was a member of the Communist Party.

His second wife was Esther Sorokin, who died in 1961; his third wife was painter and his former student, Irene Zevon.[15] He had two children. His daughter was Alexandra (or Sasha, Sondra), she was the second wife of writer Saul Bellows; together they had son Adam Bellow. Bellows book Herzog (1964) was influenced by his divorce to Alexandra.[16] [17] According to Alexandra in 2011, her father sexually abused her starting around age 11.[18]

Publications

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Genocchio . Benjamin . 2006-12-10 . Re-examining the Works of an Obscure Social Realist . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-26 . 0362-4331.
  2. Web site: Искусство и архитектура русского зарубежья - ЧАКБАСОВ Наум Степанович . 2023-03-11 . artrz.ru . ru.
  3. Book: Leader, Zachary . The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964 . 2015 . Alfred A. Knopf . 978-0-307-26883-9 . 463–465 . en.
  4. Web site: Nahum Tschacbasov . 2022-07-26 . Smithsonian American Art Museum . en-US.
  5. News: Delatiner . Barbara . 1982-06-27 . The Lively Arts; at 82, He Adds Poetry to His Art . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-26 . 0362-4331.
  6. Book: Patterson, Jody . Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in 1930s New York . 2020-11-17 . Yale University Press . 978-0-300-24139-6 . 75 . en.
  7. Web site: 2013-07-31 . Baku-born American artist's exhibition held in New York . 2022-07-26 . Azernews.Az . en.
  8. Web site: January 29, 1919 . Nahum Tschacbasov in the U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010 . Ancestry . Beneficiary Identification Records Locator Subsystem (BIRLS) Death File; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
  9. Web site: May 28, 2013 . Nahum Tschacbasov: A Retrospective, First Solo Exhibition in Over 25 Years . 2022-07-26 . ArtfixDaily . en.
  10. News: 1984-02-21 . Nahum Tschacbasov . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-26 . 0362-4331.
  11. Marquardt . Virginia Hagelstein . 1986 . The American Artists School: Radical Heritage and Social Content Art . Archives of American Art Journal . 26 . 4 . 17–23 . 10.1086/aaa.26.4.1557206 . 1557206 . 193369427 . 0003-9853.
  12. Book: Heller . Jules . North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary . Heller . Nancy G. . 2013-12-19 . Routledge . 978-1-135-63889-4 . 39 . en.
  13. Book: Yochim, Louise Dunn . Role and Impact: The Chicago Society of Artists . Chicago Society of Artists . 1979 . Chicago.
  14. Book: Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America . 1999 . Sound View Press . 978-0-932087-55-3 . 3 . 3681 . en.
  15. News: 2006-02-21 . Paid Notice: Deaths, Tschacbasov, Irene Zevon . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-26 . 0362-4331.
  16. 2015-05-04 . Saul Bellow's Revenge Novel . 2022-07-26 . The New Yorker . Condé Nast . en-US.
  17. News: Tanenhaus . Sam . 2015-04-27 . 'The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964,' by Zachary Leader . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-07-26 . 0362-4331.
  18. Franklin . Ruth . 2015-05-01 . Dissolution by Details: On women's history and group biography . en . May 2015 . Harper's Magazine . 2022-07-27 . 0017-789X.