Artist

1901-1998

Moscow, USSR

Graphic artist, genre painter

Aleksander Illarionovich Rozhdestvenskii was born in Moscow. His father was a wealthy pharmacist. Aleksander started to draw at an early age, and he took private lessons with A. Charlamov on the Old Arbat.

He was drafted by the Red Army for the Civil War, where his painting talent was soon recognised, and he made a large amount of political posters.

In 1923 he started to study at VKhuTeMas, and his main teacher was Osmerkin. In the development of his specific colouristic style, he was inspired mainly by Mashkov and Konchalovskii.

After graduating from VKhuTeMas, Rozhdestvenskii worked in different Moscow publishing houses, making illustrations for various literary journals.

From the 1950's, he changed his style and started to concentrate on genre scenes and his favourite media gouache. He painted many recollections from his childhood and youth before the revolution, and depicted many images of the harmony and struggle between the old and the new Moscow and its inhabitants. Many paintings show impressions from an artist's daily work.

 

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