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Pinchas Litvinovsky, Israeli, born in the Russian Empire,1894-1985.

Pinhas Litvinovsky, born Piotr Vladimirovich Litvinovsky, was born to a religious family of Jewish merchants in Novogeorgiyevsk (today in the Ukraine). In 1912, he immigrated to the Land of Israel and began to study at Bezalel Art School. Later he transferred to the Russian Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1919, he returned to the Land of Israel aboard the S.S. Ruslan with his wife and settled in Tiberias. In 1926, he designed the set for The Dybbuk, performed by Habima Theatre in Tel Aviv. Two years later, he moved to Jerusalem. There he joined the young modern artists’ movement. He showed his work at exhibitions of the Hebrew Artists Association(1924, 1925) and took part in the “modern artists” exhibitions at the Ohel Theater (1926-1928). He was also a member of the Egged group (1929). In the late 1930s, he joined the artists colony in Upper Motza.

In the early 1920s, Litvinovsky's work was influenced by Russian constructivism. He painted portraits and oriental scenes, and designed the logo of the Ohel Theater (1925) in this style. His best known paintings of the period are The Chicken Seller (1920s), The Orange Seller (1925) and Arab with a Flower (1925). From the 1930s, he began to create Expressionist paintings. In the 1950s, he devoted himself to works on paper in a minimalist graphic style.

Education

1912 Odessa Academy of Art, Russia
1912 Bezalel Academy of Art & Design, Jerusalem
1917 Academy of Art, Petrograd, Russia, with Professor Kronovsky, drawing

Teaching

Together with Moshe Mokady, he taught students who dropped out of Bezalel for a brief period in the 1920s

Awards And Prizes

1912 Scholarship to Odessa Academy of Art, Odessa, Russia
1939 Dizengoff Prize for Painting and Sculpture, Municipality of Tel Aviv-Jaffa
1980 Israel Prize for Painting
1980 Worthy of Jerusalem