Mikhail Turovsky
Encyclopedia
Mikhail Turovsky is an American artist-painter
, and writer
-aphorist, resident in New York
since 1979.
. During the Second World War, he was evacuated to Samarkand
with his mother and an older brother. Although over the draft age, his father volunteered for active duty and was killed in action in 1943.
Turovsky attended the art school in Samarkand. His classmates included Ilya Kabakov
(later a noted conceptualist artist).
Turovsky returned to Kiev in 1944 and continued his studies at the Shevchenko State Art School
. He later graduated from Kiev Art Institute, where he studied under Tetyana Yablonska
in 1960. He continued his postgraduate studies at the Moscow Academy of Art from 1965 until 1968.
is a poet.
Mikhail Turovsky forsook his official career for the sake of creative freedom and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1979. The Turovsky family first settled in the Bronx and he resumed his work there. After that important move, his career developed rapidly. His international reputation grew as he exhibited in New York, Jerusalem, Paris
, Brussels
, Madrid
, Venice
, and other cities in Europe.
Mikhail Turovsky's work is represented in permanent collections of the National Art Museum of Ukraine
in Kiev, the State Tretyakov Gallery
in Moscow, the Yad Vashem
Memorial Art Museum in Jerusalem, the Herbert Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University
in New York, and the Notre Dame University Art Museum in Indiana, as well as many public and private collections. Among his well-known works are the cycle Holocaust, The End of an Utopia', many nudes, landscapes and still lifes; illustrations to the works of Ivan Franko
, Vasyl Stefanyk
, Aleksandr Blok, Sholom-Aleichem
, Leon Feuchtwanger, Johannes Becher
, and many other writers.
s, Itch of Wisdom (Cicuta Press, 1986) (originally published in Russian as Зуд Мудрости in 1984). This book is considered influential in its genre in Russian. Many excerpts from it have been included in the russophone
aphoristica anthologies.
Examples:
. He is the brother of sculptor Anatoly Turovsky.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
, and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
-aphorist, resident in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
since 1979.
Early life and education
Mikhail Turovsky was born in 1933 in KievKiev
Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....
. During the Second World War, he was evacuated to Samarkand
Samarkand
Although a Persian-speaking region, it was not united politically with Iran most of the times between the disintegration of the Seleucid Empire and the Arab conquest . In the 6th century it was within the domain of the Turkic kingdom of the Göktürks.At the start of the 8th century Samarkand came...
with his mother and an older brother. Although over the draft age, his father volunteered for active duty and was killed in action in 1943.
Turovsky attended the art school in Samarkand. His classmates included Ilya Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov
Ilya Kabakov, Russian Илья́ Ио́сифович Кабако́в , is a Russian-American conceptual artist of Jewish descent, born in Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine. He worked for thirty years in Moscow, from the 1950s until the late 1980s. He now lives and works on Long Island...
(later a noted conceptualist artist).
Turovsky returned to Kiev in 1944 and continued his studies at the Shevchenko State Art School
Shevchenko State Art School
Taras Shevshenko State Art School is a high school specializing in arts , in Kiev, Ukraine. There are many notable personalities among its graduates.It was incorporated on August 12, 1937....
. He later graduated from Kiev Art Institute, where he studied under Tetyana Yablonska
Tetyana Yablonska
Tetyana Yablonska was a Ukrainian painter. Her early vital pictures are devoted to work and a life of Ukrainian people . She has passed to generalizing images of the nature, differing a subtlety of plastic and color rhythms .Yablonska was born in Smolensk, Russia...
in 1960. He continued his postgraduate studies at the Moscow Academy of Art from 1965 until 1968.
Marriage and family
Turovsky married, and he and his wife had a son and daughter. Roman Turovsky is a painter and composer and Genya TurovskayaGenya Turovskaya
Genya Turovskaya is an American poet, born in Ukraine. Her work has been published in many journals and literary reviews. She received various awards and fellowships, such as a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a Montana Artist Refuge Fellowship, the Witter Bynner Translation Residency at Santa Fe Art...
is a poet.
Career
Turovsky commenced a prolific creative career in 1957, participating in numerous exhibitions of Ukrainian art in Kiev, Moscow, as well as in many traveling exhibitions to Europe and Latin America. In 1962 he became a member of the Union of Artists of USSR.Mikhail Turovsky forsook his official career for the sake of creative freedom and emigrated with his family to the United States in 1979. The Turovsky family first settled in the Bronx and he resumed his work there. After that important move, his career developed rapidly. His international reputation grew as he exhibited in New York, Jerusalem, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
, and other cities in Europe.
Mikhail Turovsky's work is represented in permanent collections of the National Art Museum of Ukraine
National Art Museum of Ukraine
The National Art Museum of Ukraine is a museum dedicated to Ukrainian art in Kiev, Ukraine.-Architecture:Constructed in 1898, by architect Vladislav Gorodetsky, the building was originally designed as the museum for the local society of patrons of arts and antique lovers...
in Kiev, the State Tretyakov Gallery
Tretyakov Gallery
The State Tretyakov Gallery is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world.The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Moscow merchant Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired works by Russian artists of his day with the aim of creating a collection,...
in Moscow, the Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem
Yad Vashem is Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust, established in 1953 through the Yad Vashem Law passed by the Knesset, Israel's parliament....
Memorial Art Museum in Jerusalem, the Herbert Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University
Cornell University
Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...
in New York, and the Notre Dame University Art Museum in Indiana, as well as many public and private collections. Among his well-known works are the cycle Holocaust, The End of an Utopia', many nudes, landscapes and still lifes; illustrations to the works of Ivan Franko
Ivan Franko
Ivan Yakovych Franko was a Ukrainian poet, writer, social and literary critic, journalist, interpreter, economist, political activist, doctor of philosophy, the author of the first detective novels and modern poetry in the Ukrainian language....
, Vasyl Stefanyk
Vasyl Stefanyk
Vasyl' Semenovych Stefanyk was a classical Ukrainian prose writer and political activist. He was a member of the Austrian parliament 1908-1918....
, Aleksandr Blok, Sholom-Aleichem
Sholom Aleichem
Sholem Aleichem was the pen name of Solomon Naumovich Rabinovich, a leading Yiddish author and playwright...
, Leon Feuchtwanger, Johannes Becher
Johannes R. Becher
Johannes Robert Becher was a German politician, novelist, and poet.-Early life:Johannes R. Becher was the son of Judge Heinrich Becher. In 1910 he tried to commit suicide with a friend; only Becher survived. From 1911 he studied medicine and philosophy in Munich and Jena...
, and many other writers.
Honors
- In 2008 Turovsky was awarded the title of People's Artist of Ukraine by the President of Ukraine Viktor YushchenkoViktor YushchenkoViktor Andriyovych Yushchenko is a former President of Ukraine. He took office on January 23, 2005, following a period of popular unrest known as the Orange Revolution...
- In 2009 he was voted in as a member of the Ukrainian Academy of Art.
Aphorist
Turovsky is also the author of a collection of aphorismAphorism
An aphorism is an original thought, spoken or written in a laconic and memorable form.The term was first used in the Aphorisms of Hippocrates...
s, Itch of Wisdom (Cicuta Press, 1986) (originally published in Russian as Зуд Мудрости in 1984). This book is considered influential in its genre in Russian. Many excerpts from it have been included in the russophone
Russophone
A Russophone is literally a speaker of the Russian language either natively or by preference. At the same time the term is used in a more specialized meaning to describe the category of people whose cultural background is associated with Russian language regardless of ethnic and territorial...
aphoristica anthologies.
Examples:
- "The first ape who became a man thus committed treason against his own kind."
- "Man is afraid of prison although he himself consists of cells."
- "Oppression is the legitimate mother of liberation. There's no hiding from alimony."
- "When your legs get weaker time starts running faster."
- "Broken wings fit more easily in standard-size boxes."
- "Death is so preoccupied with life, that is has no time for anything else."
- "Now the Rubicon peacefully flows into the Styx."
- "If you have got a fulcrum, there is no need to turn over the world."
- "The longer a dead-end, the more it looks like a road."
Personal life
He lives and works in New York City. He is the father of the painter and composer Roman Turovsky and the poet Genya TurovskayaGenya Turovskaya
Genya Turovskaya is an American poet, born in Ukraine. Her work has been published in many journals and literary reviews. She received various awards and fellowships, such as a MacDowell Colony Fellowship, a Montana Artist Refuge Fellowship, the Witter Bynner Translation Residency at Santa Fe Art...
. He is the brother of sculptor Anatoly Turovsky.