Anisfeld was a student at the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Art in 1905, when, the painter and critic Igor Grabar discovered his work. In the same year, Anisfeld met the choreographer Serge Diaghilev, who employed him to create sceneries for him. In 1906, Anisfeld exhibited at both the St Petersburg World of Art and the Russian section of the Paris Salon d'Automne at the same time. This epoch-making event presented works by Matisse, Gauguin and Derain. Their dazzling canvases – characterised by intense colour, bold, innovative compositions, and rich textures – provoked adverse reactions from the public and critics alike. Branded by critics as the Fauves (wild beasts), these artists were soon acclaimed for their expressive use of magnificent saturated and contrasting colours. Anisfeld settled in the south of France c. 1913. He painted prolifically and continued to exhibit at the Salon d'Automne, where he had become a Member.
He returned to St Petersburg, but left again in 1917 when he was invited to organise a retrospective of his work in the United States. After this, Anisfeld never returned to Russia but threw himself into his work, creating stage sets for plays, operas and ballets with Fokine, Nijinksy and Diaghilev. Remarkably, just one year after his arrival in the United States, the Brooklyn Museum of Art (New York) organised a touring retrospective in nine cities with one hundred and twenty of Anisfeld’s works. Anisfeld launched his own artistic revolution in the United States, where his work proved enormously influential. From 1928, he devoted himself to teaching, spending 30-years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
For further information, please contact Artvera’s Gallery at
or +41 22 311 05 53