Leo Michelson

Leo Michelson ( Latvian Leo Mihelsons; born May 12, 1887 in Riga, Latvia, † 1978 in New York, NY ) was a Latvian- American painter, which is counted to the Paris school, although his works spanning many periods and styles.

Life

Michelson first attended the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, then the University of Dorpat ( now Tartu, Estonia). He made ​​friends in Berlin in 1911 with Lovis Corinth, who also portrayed him. Leo Michelson accompanied Lovis Corinth at his request on his art journey in 1925 to Amsterdam at Rembrandt, Frans Hals and other highly revered painters of Corinth. On this trip ill Lovis Corinth heavy and then died on July 17, 1925 in a hotel in Zandvoort, Holland.

The Russian Revolution of 1917 forced Michelson Russia to leave. He went to Munich and Berlin, where he had the beginnings of German Expressionism part. From 1920 Michelson lived in Paris and had already made internationally with his paintings, prints and sculptures a name. As a prominent member of the School of Paris, his works were the Soviet Union and the United States shown in exhibitions throughout Western Europe. After Paris was in 1940 fell to Nazi Germany, Michelson went to New York and became an American citizen in 1945.

Michelson is described as " eternal exile, perpetual student " because he always experimented and dabbled in new styles. Michelson was actually wearing colored pencils with them to draw anywhere can. His friend Marc Chagall said he knew no one who could better deal with colors. Art historians have compared Michelson both Chagall as well as with Pablo Picasso; he stated, however, that mainly Titian had inspired him. Michelson produced more than 1,000 paintings, most of which are located since 1985 in the Michelson Museum of Art Marshall ( Texas).