Borukh (Boris)
Aronson
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Aronson was
born
on 31
October 1898
in Niezhin,
Chernigov
Gubernia,
Ukraine,
where his
father,
who is the
current
rabbi of
Tel-Aviv,
was the rabbi, R' Shlomo
Aronson. When
A. was ten
years old
the family
moved to
Kiev, where
the father
became the
local rabbi.
In Kiev, A.
received a
Yiddish and
general
education at
home.
Since
childhood,
he had an
urge for
painting and
in 1916
enrolled at
the Kiev art
school, and
then at the
art studio
of the
artist Ekster.
In 1919-20
A. became
the manager
of the
Yiddish art
studio of
the Kiev
“Culture
League”,
then studied
scenic
design in
Moscow with
the artist
Moshkov and
drew
costumes
for Waiter’s
“Daybreak”
for the
Yiddish
Chamber
Theatre and
subsequently
left Russia.
In December
1923 A.
participated
in the Great
Berlin Art
Exhibition
and then
left for
America,
where he
dedicated
himself to
the Yiddish
theatre.
In the years
1924-9,
A. created
the
decorations
and drew the
costumes for
Anski’s “Tog
un nakht
(Day and
Night)”,
Pinski’s “Letster
sokh-hkhl"
(The
Account)",
Moishe
Nadir’s “Tragedye
fun gornit
(The Tragedy
of
Nothing)”,
Dymow’s “Bronks
ekspres
(Bronx
Express)”, “Yoshke
muzikant (Yoshke
the
Musician)”,
and “Mentshn shtoyb
(Human
Dust)”,
Goldfaden’s
“La tkhmd
(Thou Shalt
Not Covet”,
Sholem
Aleichem’s "Stempenyu”,
Leon
Feuchtwanger’s
“Jew Suss”,
Chone
Gottesfeld’s
“Melahim oyf
der erd
(Angels on
Earth)”, and
for the
children's
play “Frilings-bafreyung
(Spring
Freedom)”. |
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A. also
published
a column
in
Yiddish
and
Russian
periodicals
about
painters
and
painting
in
general. At
the
Petropolis
publishing
house in
Berlin
(1923)
there
appeared
his
great
work
“Contemporary
Jewish
Graphics”
with
reproductions
and a
monograph
about
Chagall
(printed
in
Russian,
German,
French,
Yiddish
and
Hebrew).
In
December
1928 A.
had an
exhibition
of his
scenic
designs
in
Paris,
and
another
one in
the
summer
of 1929
in New
York.
In 1928
a book
containing
reproductions
of A’s
scenic
designs
was
published
in
Paris,
in
French,
with an
introduction
by
Waldemar
George
[16 p.-
journal
format
and
thirty-two
paintings.]
-
Zalmen
Reyzen
--
“Lexicon
of
Yiddish
Literature”,
Volume
I, pp.
163-5.
-
Dr. A.
Mukdoni-- A
Jewish
theatre
painter”,
“Tsukunft”
(“The
Future”),
New
York,
February
1929.
-
N.
Buchenwald
--
Borukh
Aronson’s
theatre
exhibitions,
“Frayhayt”
(“Freedom”),
N.Y., 16
December
1927.
-
Abraham
Teitelbaum
-- “Theatralia”,
Warsaw,
1929,
pp.
78-87.
-
Saul
Raskin --
B.
Aronson’s
decorations
for “The
Tenth
Commandment”
,
“Theatre
and
Art”,
New
York, 2,
p.31.
-
Boris
Aronson
-- Et l’Art du
Théâtre,
par
Waldemar
George.
Editions
des
Chroniques
du Jour,
Paris,
1928.
-
David
Borliuk
--
Aronson’s
theatre
exhibitions,
“Der
hamer”
(“The
Hammer”),
January,
1928.
-
A.
Alperin
--
Borukh
Aronson
the
theatre
painter,
"Literarishe bleter" ,
33,
1928.
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