Boris Israilovich Anisfeld

Boris Anisfeld was discovered by artist and critic Igor Grabar when he was a student at the St. Petersburg Academy in 1905.  The same year Anisfeld was introduced to impresario Serge Diaghilev, who in turn recruited him into his artistic enterprise.  By 1906, a year after this seminal introduction, Anisfeld exhibited both with the World of Art and in the Russian art section of the progressive Salon d’Automne in Paris.  This decisive exhibition provided a crucial venue for artists such as Matisse, Gauguin, Derain, whose brilliantly inventive works, unusual and bold perspectives, rich in textures and colors shocked the critics and public alike.  These Fauves or ``wild beasts,’’ as they were dubbed by the critics, recognized the emotive quality of primary and contrasting colors, essential to heightening the expressive content of a work of art.  An emphasis on emotional intensity derived from color, characterizes much of Anisfeld’s oeuvre, who claimed on various occasions, ``I always see a thing first in color,’’ and ``I paint what I feel not what I see.’'

The 1906 Paris Salon d’Automne exhibition traveled to Berlin and Venice and Anisfeld’s work became increasingly featured throughout the European continent.  1906 also marked Anisfeld’s commission to design sets and costumes for the St. Petersburg 1907 production of Hugo von Hofmannstahl’s The Marriage of Zobeide, which catapulted the artist into set design fame.  From this point and until his emigration to the United States in 1917, Anisfeld worked tirelessly on designs for the theater, opera and ballet in conjunction with Diaghilev, Fokine and Nijinsky. 

Remarkably, one year after arriving in the United States, the Brooklyn Museum of Art in New York mounted a major retrospective of Anisfeld’s work.  Featuring 120 artworks, the exhibition toured to nine US cities.  In the United States, Anisfeld worked for the Metropolitan and Chicago Operas, and moved to Chicago to teach at the Art Institute in 1929 where he taught until 1957.