Adolf Milman

Painter, graphic artist, teacher. Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (early 1900s) and in the studio of Ilya Mashkov (from 1904). Member of the Knave of Diamonds (1911–17) and the World of Art (from 1917). Taught in the private studios of Ilya Mashkov (1912–17) and Avagim Miganadjian (1917–18). Caught tuberculosis (1914), forcing him to make annual trips to the Crimea for treatment (1914–20). Painted Expressionist still-lifes and landscapes of Brittany, Moscow and towns on the River Volga (1911–14) and Cubist landscapes of the Crimea (1915–20). Contributed to the Moscow Masters almanac (1916). Elected assistant chairman and secretary of the Moscow Council of Artists’ Organisations (1917). Founded the Union of Artistic Education and Aesthetic Upbringing with Konstantin Korovin, Leonid Pasternak and Ilya Mashkov (1917, president) and helped to establish IZO Narkompros (1918). Moved to Kiev (1918), where he opened a studio of painting. Lived at Sudak in the Crimea (1918–20), where he caught encephalitis lethargica. Emigrated with his French wife Valentine Papandeau to Paris (1921), where illness forced him to give up painting and teaching at the Académie Colarossi (1922), eventually leaving him bedridden and completely paralysed (1922–30). Died in Paris and buried at the Cimetière du Montparnasse (1930). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Knave of Diamonds in Moscow (1912, 1913, 1914) and St Petersburg (1913), 1915 at the Claudia Mikhailova Art Salon in Moscow (1915), XXIII Moscow Fellowship of Artists at the Galerie Lemercier in Moscow (1917), Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures by Jewish Artists in Moscow (1917), World of Art in Petrograd (1917), Exposition des artistes russes à Paris en 1921 organisée par les membres et exposants de la Société Mir isskousstva (Monde artiste) at the Salon d’Automne and Galerie de la Boétie in Paris (1921), Salon du Champ de Mars (1921), exhibitions of Russian art in London (1921), Paris (1924) and The Hague (1924) and one-man shows in Theodosia (1920) and Moscow (2004).