Ilya Bolotowsky

Ilya Bolotowsky
Ilya Bolotowsky, from the Archives of American Art
Born	(1907-07-01)July 1, 1907 St. Petersburg, Russia
Died	November 22, 1981(1981-11-22) (aged 74)
Nationality	American
Field	Painting, murals, art education
Training	National Academy of Design
Movement	Abstract art, cubism, geometric abstraction, neoclassicism
Influenced by	Piet Mondrian
Influenced	Kenneth Noland

Ilya Bolotowsky (July 1, 1907 – November 22, 1981) was a leading early 20th-century painter in abstract styles in New York City. His work, a search for philosophical order through visual expression, embraced cubism and geometric abstraction and was much influenced by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.

Biography

Born to Jewish parents in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bolotowsky immigrated to America in 1923 via Constantinople, settling in New York City. He attended the National Academy of Design. He became associated with a group called "The Ten Whitney Dissenters," or simply "The Ten," artists, including Louis Schanker, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko and Joseph Solman, who rebelled against the strictures of the Academy and held independent exhibitions.

During this period, Bolotowsky came under the influence of the Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and the tenets of neoplasticism, a movement that advocated the possibility of ideal order in the visual arts. Bolotowsky adopted his mentor's use of horizontal and vertical geometric pattern and a palette restricted to primary colors and neutrals.

In 1936, having turned to geometric abstractions, he was one of the founding members of the American Abstract Artists, a cooperative formed to promote the interests of abstract painters and to increase understanding between themselves and the public.

He taught at Black Mountain College during the period 1946–1948, Kenneth Noland was among his students.

Bolotowsky's mural for the Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn, was one of the first abstract murals done under the Federal Art Project. Despite Bolotowsky's clear, precise control of his images, he emphasized the role of intuition over formula in determining his compositions.

In the 1960s, he began making three-dimensional forms, usually vertical and straight-sided. He taught humanities and fine arts at the Southampton, New York campus of Long Island University and The University of New Mexico.

On September 21, 2012, Sotheby's auctioned a Bolotowsky painting that was found at a North Carolina Goodwill store for $34,375.

External links

• List of artworks by Ilya Bolotowsky at The Smithsonian American Art Museum
• American Abstract Artists
• New York Times Article on Ilya Bolotowsky
• Image and artist bio at Rehs Galleries, Inc.