Abraham Manevich
( 25.11.1881 - 30.06.1942)
was a Ukrainian-American expressionist artist of Belarusian-Jewish origin.
Abraham lived in his homeland until the age of 20, graduated from school and went to work as a sign manufacturer.
He painted furniture at the factory, where he was noticed by Nikolai Bilyashevsky, director of a museum in Kiev.
Abraham Manevich belongs to a select group of artists who mastered the art innovations of the time and stood at the origins of 20th century Ukrainian culture. Time, marked by social upheaval, determined the fate of the artist – his life journey stretched from the banks of the Dnipro river to the shores of the Hudson. In both Europe and in the United States, the artist was associated with the Ukrainian avant-garde. His works can be found in museums all over Ukraine, Russia, the USA and Israel.
Key ideas:
– The innovative art of Abraham Manevich, like a mirror, reflects the search in the early 20th century for picturesque art. Decorativeness, with a distinct Cubist style of expression, prevailed in the artist’s works. As a talented landscape painter, he reproduced the uniqueness of the land on which he lived. He was recognized as a distinguished figure in his province.
– In many of his works, the grief of his persecuted people is felt, a grief he experienced growing up in the Jewish neighborhoods of small Mstislavl in Polissya. His paintings feature the small towns of Chernihiv and Podillya (Ukraine), the neighborhoods of Solomenka, Pskov, the outskirts of Moscow, suburban America and rural Canada, and contain soft notes of sorrow and melancholy.
Abraham Anshelovich Manievich's work has been offered at auction multiple times, with realized prices ranging from 293 USD to 339,978 USD, depending on the size and medium of the artwork. Since 2001 the record price for this artist at auction is 339,978 USD for Neige dans la forêt, sold at Koller Zurich in 2021.
Abraham Anshelovich Manievich has been featured in articles for ArtDaily and Forbes. The most recent article is Highly Successful Auctions at Koller written for ArtDaily in July 2021.