Zhenya Gershman Explained

Zhenya Gershman is an American painter and portraitist. She is known for her "dramatic monumental portraits of iconic public and private figures"[1] and interest in art history.

Early life

Her grandfather Mikhail Matusovsky was an award-winning Ukrainian-born poet and lyricist who authored the lyrics to the song "Moscow Nights". Gershman held her first solo painting exhibition at the age of 14 in Saint Petersburg.[2] She received her BFA from Otis Art Institute with honors and MFA from Art Center College of Design. Gershman's early mentor was Soviet artist and illustrator Orest Vereisky[3] and she later studied under the guidance of American artist Lita Albuquerque.

Artist

Gershman's portraits are featured in public and private collections including Douglas Simon, Richard Weisman (she is included in the book "Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection"[4]) and the J. Paul Getty Research Institute.[5] Gershman's portrait of Sting is part of the permanent collection of the Arte Al Limite Museum, due to open in 2017 in Santiago, Chile.[6] The GRAMMY MusiCares selected Gershman to create portraits of Bruce Springsteen[7] and Bob Dylan.[8] A documentary film, The Model's Artist, highlights Gershman's innovative approach to working with artists' models.[9] [10] In 2000, Gershman was a recipient of ALEX Award in Visual Arts from The National Alliance for Excellence, Honored Scholars and Artists Program, presented by Peter Frank,[11] who is quoted as saying that[12] In 2021 Gershman was named an Ambassador to art materials company Royal Talens North America and art supply business BLICK Art Materials.[13] Gershman's "First Face of War: Intimate Portrait of Ukrainian Teacher" sold for $100,000 at the Heritage Auctions with 100% of proceeds from the sale benefiting Ukraine during the 2022 humanitarian crisis.[14] Gershman's painting depicts Ukrainian school teacher Olena Kurilo, who was wounded by shelling in Chuhuiv during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The painting was modeled from a photograph of a wounded Kurilo which was taken by photojournalist Wolfgang Schwan, and inspired the creation of a movement by Zhenya, called Brushes Over Bullets.[15] In her project 'Brushes over Bullets', Gershman encourages other artists to paint in solidarity with Ukraine.[16] Gershman has said that she intentionally made her "First Face of War" small in size, so that observers are forced to take a closer and more intimate look into the eyes and faces of her subjects.[17]

Other

In addition to her artistic career, Gershman is an independent scholar and a museum educator.[18] Gershman's identification of a figure in Rembrandt's painting Danaë as a possible self-portrait[19] was discussed in Le Monde.[20] She is a founder and host of the Invisible Museum Tours video series.[21]

External links

Notes and References

  1. http://www.jewishjournal.com/culture/article/zhenya_gershman_larger_than_life Zhenya Gershman Larger Than Life, Jewish Journal, 2015
  2. News: Mutkin. Vitaly. Родившиеся в Москве приложения художника Жени Гершмана новая работа в Калифорнии. 23 May 2015. News2World. 3 July 2013.
  3. http://www.theartcareerproject.com/interview/zhenya-gershman Zhenya Gershman. The Art Career Project
  4. https://www.amazon.com/Picasso-Pop-Richard-Weisman-Collection/dp/B000X8VLM0 Picasso to Pop: The Richard Weisman Collection
  5. http://archives2.getty.edu:8082/xtf/view?docId=ead/2008.M.61/2008.M.61.xml;chunk.id=dsc_1;brand=default;query=zhenya%20gershman
  6. https://www.arteallimite.com/featured_item_category/coleccion/ Colección AAL. Arte al Limite Limitada
  7. Zhenya Gershman to Reveal Springsteen Portrait at MusiCares 2013 - See more at: http://www.campuscircle.com/review.cfm?r=17001#sthash.fOquUiyc.dpuf. Campus Circle. Feb 1, 2013. http://www.campuscircle.com/review.cfm?r=17001
  8. Neale A. Bob Dylan Named 2015 MusiCares Person Of The Year. Monsters and Critics. 21st October 2014. http://www.monstersandcritics.com/bob-dylan-named-2015-musicares-person-of-the-year/
  9. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3955688/ The Model's Artist (2015). IMDb.com, Inc
  10. Miller CE, Miller TG. Zhenya Gershman: Unveling the Artist's Muse. World News. 27 April 2015. http://article.wn.com/view/2015/04/27/Unveiling_the_Artists_Muse/
  11. Building Bridges Art Exchange: Zhenya Gershman “Larger Than Life”. Fabrik. Feb 9, 2015. http://fabrik.la/building-bridges-art-exchange-zhenya-gershman-larger-than-life/
  12. http://artweek.la/issue/april-20-2015/article/zhenya-gershman-larger-than-life Zhenya Gershman: Larger Than Life. ArtweekLA
  13. Web site: Zhenya Gershman Projects | BLICK Art Materials .
  14. Web site: First Face of War by Zhenya Gershman Sells for $100K to Benefit Ukraine . April 2022 .
  15. Web site: Sabitova . Ansariya . 2022-04-12 . Portrait of Wounded Ukrainian Woman Launches a Movement . 2022-04-16 . The Moscow Times . en.
  16. Web site: brushes over bullets . 2022-04-16 . Zhenya Gershman . en-US.
  17. Web site: 2022-04-01 . First Face of War by Zhenya Gershman Sells for $100K to Benefit Ukraine . 2022-04-16 . Artists Network . en-US.
  18. Zhenya Gershman, education specialist at the J. Paul Getty Museum, discusses how Peter Paul Rubens used drapery. The Getty. 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgohJnLxV0g
  19. Gershman Z. Rembrandt: The “I” Witness Arion, A Journal of Humanities and the Classics. Boston University. http://www.bu.edu/arion/featured/rembrandt-the-%E2%80%9Ci%E2%80%9D-witness/
  20. http://www.lemonde.fr/culture/article/2012/02/02/l-invisible-rembrandt_1637988_3246.html?xtmc=zhenya_gershman&xtcr=1 Bellet H. "L'invisible Rembrandt". Le Monde. February 2, 2012
  21. Web site: Invisible Museum Tours . 20 September 2020 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Zhenya Gershman".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.