Moshe Maimon was a Jewish - Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n painter

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...

 who was born in Belarus

Belarus

Belarus , officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno , Gomel ,...

, then part of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

. He was among the first known artist

Artist

An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...

s within the Jewish community of Russia. Grandson of author Alexander Ziskind Maimon

Alexander Ziskind Maimon

Alexander Ziskind Maimon was a Jewish author and scholar of the Talmud and Mishnah.Maimon was born in Seirijai, Lithuania. His commentaries on biblical literature, Mishanah, Talmud and Halacha were publicized from his younger years and throughout his life...

.

Maimon was born in Volkovisk (today part of Belarus). He was apprenticed as a clockmaker

Clockmaker

A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to repairing clocks and watches...

 in his youth and studied painting in Vilnuis and Warsaw

Warsaw

Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...

. In 1880 he was admitted to the Imperial Academy of Arts

Imperial Academy of Arts

The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, was founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov under the name Academy of the Three Noblest Arts. Catherine the Great renamed it the Imperial Academy of Arts and commissioned a new building, completed 25 years later in 1789...

 in St. Petersburg. His admission was based on his painting of the Marranos, for which he was awarded with a gold medal. Maimon graduated from the academy in 1883. In later years he was a member of the "Society for the Encouragement of Jewish Arts", which was established in St. Peterburg in 1916.

Apart from Maimon's breakthrough for Jewish artists in his time, his work concerned biblical tales and the history of the Jewish people. Among his familiar works are: "The Marranos", "The Hashmonaim","The Inquisition" (1893), "Back in the Homeland", "After the Pogrom", "The Battle in the Mountains of Turenchin" (1906) and series of paintings devoted to biblical figures. Maimon researched the background of his paintings. In his preparation for "The Marranos" he traveled to Spain to collect details of information to use.

Maimon's painting "The Marranos" was long believed lost by several scholars, including Gabriella Safran, Olga Litvak, and Hillel Kazovsky. But an article by Musya Glants at Harvard tells the exciting and amusing story of the painting's adventures and discovery and eventual "safe harbor". It is now installed at the Hebrew Home for the Aged in New York City.

His work was internationally known at his lifetime. Nine of Maimon's works were shown at the Russian exhibition at the St. Louis World's fair

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition, informally known as the Saint Louis World's Fair, was an international exposition held in St. Louis, Missouri, United States in 1904.- Background :...

 in 1904. Some of his work was shown at the JSEA's exhibition in 1916 - 1917.

Memoirs of Moshe Maimon were printed in the "Jewish Chronicles".

He died in 1924 in Leningrad (St. Petersburg).

External links

• "Torny way of Moses Maimon Lechaim June 2005
• Moses Maimon Article in "Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia"