Solomon Gershov "Self-Portrait"

Solomon Gershov's creative path is complex and uneven. His formation as an artist is connected with the city of Vitebsk and the famous artistic environment created in this city first by Yehuda Penn, and then by Marc Chagall and Kazimir Malevich. Gershov is their student, and his artistic aspirations are more of Chagall's line, and he is less interested in the radical formalist pursuits of modernism. In 1922, he moved to Petrograd and again got into the distinguished artistic circle. Here his teacher was Alfred Eberling, he interacted with the artist Pavel Filonov's society. Later, the talented young creator was personally affected by Soviet ideological pressure; There were two exiles - first for three and then for eight years. As a result of repression, the artist's work of this period was, in fact, completely destroyed. He returned from the second exile in 1956, and after the official rehabilitation, he continued his creative activities with new energy. He worked hard, and his works were often and successfully exhibited, but mostly abroad. They were still viewed with suspicion in their homeland. The leitmotif of his work is the feeling of the tragedy of life, the plight of the Jewish people, the pain of people repressed by the communist regime; He often painted separation, funeral, biblical stories. Exhibitions of Solomon Gershov's works were organized in Moscow, Leningrad, Vitebsk, London, Paris, and many cities of the United States of America. In the 60s, the artist lived in Tbilisi for some time, where his exhibitions were also organized. Thanks to this, his not insignificant legacy was accumulated in Tbilisi.