Artist

Ilya Bolotowsky

born St. Petersburg, Russia 1907-died New York City 1981
Media - bolotowsky_ilya.jpg - 89941
Image is Courtesy of the Federal Art Project, Photographic Division collection, 1935-1942 in the Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Born
St. Petersburg, Russia
Died
New York, New York, United States
Biography

Born in Russia, Ilya Bolotowsky lived through World War I and the Russian Revolution, then fled to the United States while still a teenager. The violent upheavals of his early life led to his search for "an ideal harmony and order … a free order, not militaristic, not symmetrical, not goose-stepping, not academic."

Modernism & Abstraction: Treasures from the Smithsonian American Art Museum (exhibition text, Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1999)

Works by this artist (13 items)

Ilya Bolotowsky, In the Barber Shop, 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.79
In the Barber Shop
Date1934
oil on canvas
On view
Ilya Bolotowsky, Architectural Variation, 1949, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Patricia and Phillip Frost, 1986.92.4
Architectural Variation
Date1949
oil on canvas
On view
Ilya Bolotowsky, Tondo Variation in Red, 1978, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters through its Hassam and Speicher Purchase Fund, 1978, 1979.11
Tondo Variation in Red
Date1978
acrylic on canvas
Not on view
Ilya Bolotowsky, Untitled, 1970, screenprint, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1970.190
Untitled
Date1970
screenprint
Not on view

Related Books

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1934: A New Deal for Artists
During the Great Depression, president Franklin Delano Roosevelt promised a “new deal for the American people,” initiating government programs to foster economic recovery. Roosevelt’s pledge to help “the forgotten man” also embraced America’s artists. The Public Works of Art Project (PWAP) enlisted artists to capture “the American Scene” in works of art that would embellish public buildings across the country. Although it lasted less than one year, from December 1933 to June 1934, the PWAP provided employment for thousands of artists, giving them an important role in the country’s recovery. Their legacy, captured in more than fifteen thousand artworks, helped “the American Scene” become America seen.