Nathan Altman was born in
Vinnytsia, Imperial Russia (now in
Ukraine).
From 1902 to 1907 he studied painting and sculpture at the Art College in
Odessa.
In 1906 he had his first exhibition in Odessa.
In 1910 he went to
Paris (for one year). In 1910 he was the member of the group
Soyuz Molodyozhi (Union of Youth).
From 1910 to 1911 he studied at the Free Russian Academy in Paris, working in the studio of
Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine, and had contact with
Marc Chagall, Alexander Archipenko, and
David Shterenberg.
In 1912 Altman moved to
Saint Petersburg.
In 1914 he painted his famous
Portrait of Anna Akhmatova in
Cubist style.
From 1915 to 1917 Nathan Altman was the teacher at Mikhail Bernstein's private art school.
After 1916 he started to work as a
stage designer.
In 1918 he was the member of the Board for Artistic Matters within the Department of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat of Enlightenment together with Malevich, Baranoff-Rossine and Shevchenko. In the same year he had an exhibition with the group
Jewish Society for the Furthering of the Arts in Moscow, together with Wladimir Baranoff-Rossine,
El Lissitzky and the others. In this same year he installed a temporary work of architectural sculpture in
Palace Square to commemorate the 1st anniversary of the
October Revolution.
In 1920- he was the member of the
Institute for Artistic Culture (INKHUK), together with
Kasimir Malevich, Vladimir Tatlin and the others. In the same year- exhibition
From Impressionism to Cubism in the Museum of Painterly Culture in Petrograd.
In 1921 he moved to
Moscow. From
1921 to
1922 he was director of the Museum of Painterly Culture in
Petrograd (now Saint Petersburg).
From 1920 to 1928 he worked on stage designs for the
Habimah Theatre and the Jewish State Theatre in Moscow. In 1923- publication of Jewish graphic art in
Berlin.
In 1925 he participated in
Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Moderns (
Art Deco) in
Paris together with
Aleksandra Ekster, Vadim Meller, Sonia Delaunay-Terk and
David Shterenberg.
In 1926 - first solo exhibition in Leningrad.
In 1928 he moved to Paris.
In 1936 Altman returned to Leningrad ( after
Perestroika known as Saint Petersburg – as before the
October Revolution of 1917).
Altman worked mainly for the theatre, as a book illustrator and an
author of essays about art.
Nathan Altman died in Leningrad.
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