'Still Life' by Boris Deutsch, 1926, Carnegie, Biltmore, Legion of Honor, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Works Progress Administration, Hollywood

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Signed, lower right, 'Boris Deutsch' (Lithuanian-American, 1892-1978) and dated 1926.

Deutsch began drawing at the age of five and and … Read more Signed, lower right, 'Boris Deutsch' (Lithuanian-American, 1892-1978) and dated 1926.

Deutsch began drawing at the age of five and and later attended the Bloom Academy of Art in Riga and at the Kunstgewerbe Schule in Berlin. In 1916, he immigrated to Seattle, settling in Los Angeles by 1919. He initially supported himself as a commercial artist but rapidly established himself as a successful Hollywood set designer. During the late 1930s, Deutsch undertook numerous commissions for the Works Project Association (WPA) including murals for post offices in Hot Springs, New Mexico, and Reedley, California as well as a total of 11 murals for the Los Angeles Post Office. A committed modernist, he specialized in genre and figural works and, during the last ten years of his life, experimented with a variety of graphic styles including monotypes.

Over the course of a long career, Boris Deutsch exhibited widely and with success including at LACMA, 1926, 1929, 1941; USC, 1926; Calif. Art Club, 1929; Mills College (Oakland), 1929; Zeitlin Gallery (LA), 1929; Seattle Museum, 1930; San Diego Fine Arts Society, 1930; Denver Museum, 1931; CPLH, 1931; Portland (OR) Museum, 1931; Dallas Museum, 1932; Oakland Art Gallery, 1931, 1932, 1936, 1940; Stockton Museum, 1940; UCLA, 1942; Biltmore Salon (LA), 1945; California Watercolor Society, 1945; Scripps College, 1946. In: LACMA; MM; Orange Co. (CA) Museum; Carnegie Institute; NMAA; CPLH; and Mills College.

Reference:
Who Was Who in American Art 1564-1975: 400 Years of Artists in America, Peter Hastings Falk, Sound View Press 1999, Vol. 1, page 900-901; E. Benezit, Dictionnaire des Peintres, Sculpteurs, Dessinateurs, et Graveurs, Jacques Busse, 1999 Nouvelle Édition, Gründ 1911, Vol. 4, page 521; Vollmer Allgemeines Lexikon der Bildenden Künstler des 20. Jarhhunderts, Hans Vollmer, Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag 1992, Vol. 1, page 555; Artists in California 1786-1940, Third Edition, Edan Milton Hughes: Crocker Art Museum, Sheridan Books 2002, Vol. 1, page 302; Mallett’s Index of Artists, Daniel Trowbridge Mallett, Peter Smith: New York 1948 Edition, R.R. Bowker Company 1935, page 110; Publications in Southern California Art 3, Nancy Dustin Wall Moure, Dustin Publications 1984, page 68; et al. See less