Nahum Tschacbasov

Nahum Tschacbasov (1899–1984; Russian: Наум Степанович Чакбасов,[2] Georgian: ნაუმ ჩაჩბასოვი)[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.[3] Tschacbasov was a member of "The Ten", a group of expressionist artists.[6]

Nahum Tschacbasov
Наум Чакбасов
Born
Nahum Stefanovich Lichter

(1899-08-31)August 31, 1899
Baku, Russian Empire
DiedFebruary 1, 1984(1984-02-01) (aged 84)
New York City, New York, U.S.
Burial placeNew Montefiore Cemetery
Other namesNathan Richter, H. H. Richter, Hanathan Richter, Nathan Lichterman, Chuck Tschacbasov, Nate Tschacbasov, Nahum Tschakbassoff, Nahum Lichter
Occupation(s)Visual artist, poet, graphic artist, businessperson, teacher
Known forPaintings, prints, teaching
MovementExpressionism, social realism, surrealist[1]
Spouses
  • Esther Sorokin,
  • Irene Zevon

Early life

He was born on August 31, 1899, in Baku, Russian Empire,[7] into a Georgian Jewish family.[3] In 1905, when he was a young child, his family moved to Chicago because of pogroms.[3] 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.[3] 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.[3] His second marriage was to his secretary Esther.[3] Tschacbasov moved to France in 1932 to 1933, where he studied painting with Adolph Gottlieb, Marcel Gromaire, and Fernand Léger.[3][9]

When the family returned to the United States the Tschacbasov family moved to Brooklyn.[3] 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.[3] 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".[3]

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.[10][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.[5]

Death and legacy

He died in February 1984 at New York University Hospital.[10] He is buried in New Montefiore Cemetery.

It was estimated he had made some 7,000+ paintings and prints.[5] His work is included in museum collections including the Smithsonian American Art Museum,[4] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[10] the Brooklyn Museum,[10] the Jewish Museum,[10] and the Whitney Museum of American Art.[10]

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.[9]

Personal life

Tschacbasov was a member of the Communist Party.[3][6]

His second wife was Esther Sorokin, who died in 1961;[3] his third wife was painter and his former student, Irene Zevon.[10][15] He had two children.[10] His daughter was Alexandra (or Sasha, Sondra), she was the second wife of writer Saul Bellows; together they had son Adam Bellow.[3] 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.[3][18]

Publications
  • Tschacbasov, Nahum (1982). The Machinery of Fright. Southampton College Press. ISBN 9780943052007.

References
  1. Genocchio, Benjamin (2006-12-10). "Re-examining the Works of an Obscure Social Realist". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  2. "Искусство и архитектура русского зарубежья - ЧАКБАСОВ Наум Степанович". artrz.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-03-11.
  3. Leader, Zachary (2015). The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964. Alfred A. Knopf. pp. 463–465. ISBN 978-0-307-26883-9.
  4. "Nahum Tschacbasov". Smithsonian American Art Museum. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  5. Delatiner, Barbara (1982-06-27). "The Lively Arts; at 82, He Adds Poetry to His Art". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  6. Patterson, Jody (2020-11-17). Modernism for the Masses: Painters, Politics, and Public Murals in 1930s New York. Yale University Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-300-24139-6.
  7. "Baku-born American artist's exhibition held in New York". Azernews.Az. 2013-07-31. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  8. "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. January 29, 1919.
  9. "Nahum Tschacbasov: A Retrospective, First Solo Exhibition in Over 25 Years". ArtfixDaily. May 28, 2013. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  10. "Nahum Tschacbasov". The New York Times. 1984-02-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  11. Marquardt, Virginia Hagelstein (1986). "The American Artists School: Radical Heritage and Social Content Art". Archives of American Art Journal. 26 (4): 17–23. doi:10.1086/aaa.26.4.1557206. ISSN 0003-9853. JSTOR 1557206. S2CID 193369427.
  12. Heller, Jules; Heller, Nancy G. (2013-12-19). North American Women Artists of the Twentieth Century: A Biographical Dictionary. Routledge. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-135-63889-4.
  13. Yochim, Louise Dunn (1979). Role and Impact: The Chicago Society of Artists. Chicago: Chicago Society of Artists.
  14. Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America. Vol. 3. Sound View Press. 1999. p. 3681. ISBN 978-0-932087-55-3.
  15. "Paid Notice: Deaths, Tschacbasov, Irene Zevon". The New York Times. 2006-02-21. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  16. "Saul Bellow's Revenge Novel". The New Yorker. Condé Nast. 2015-05-04. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  17. Tanenhaus, Sam (2015-04-27). "'The Life of Saul Bellow: To Fame and Fortune, 1915-1964,' by Zachary Leader". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-07-26.
  18. Franklin, Ruth (2015-05-01). "Dissolution by Details: On women's history and group biography". Harper's Magazine. Vol. May 2015. ISSN 0017-789X. Retrieved 2022-07-27.
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