A Soulful Modernist Portrait, by Boris Deutsch (1892-1978)

Details

Description

On offer is a portrait of an unknown sitter who is rendered with profound dignity yet lifted from gloomy solemnity … Read more On offer is a portrait of an unknown sitter who is rendered with profound dignity yet lifted from gloomy solemnity by a vibrant and intriguing background. Notably, artist Boris Deutsch’s skills were such that he painted portraits of film luminaries including Charlie Chaplin and Gloria Swanson in earlier years.
But perhaps this deeper spiritual sense sprung from Deutsch’s youthful preparation to be a rabbi and his long study of the Talmud. While still young, his own character-forming life experiences began with birth in Lithuania in 1892, then art study in Berlin, and upon returning home, conscription into the Ukrainian army during World War I. When the opportunity arose, a chance to desert took the artist along a route into China, stopping in Harbin, on to Liaoyuan, then to Shanghai, and then at last to Japan, where in 1916 he boarded a ship in Hiroshima bound for Seattle. After several years there, he left for Los Angeles, where he remained for the rest of his life, pursuing a career not only as a portraitist and sought after muralist, but also at Paramount Pictures in their special effects department. He was also involved with the city’s noted Otis College of Art and Design.
Deutsch’s figurative works have been included in the collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Norton Simon Museum, the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, the Carnegie Institute, and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C.
In 2012, the Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center at Colorado College paired the lithographs and charcoal drawings by Thomas Hart Benton and Boris Deutsch for their exhibition “In the Field.” Should you be feeling curatorial, you may want this piece on exhibit in your own gallery space. See less