Gregor Rabinovitch

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gregor Rabinovitch , actually Grigori Idelewitsch Rabinowitsch ( Russian Григорий Иделевич Рабинович ; born August 13, 1884 in Oranienbaum (Russia) near Saint Petersburg ; † October 31, 1958 in Zurich ), was a graphic artist and caricaturist . He lived in Switzerland from 1914 .

life and work

Gregor Rabinovitch was born to Jewish parents in Oranienbaum near Saint Petersburg, his parents came from Vilnius . After the father's death, the family moved to Minsk . From 1904 he studied graphics in Munich and architecture in St. Petersburg. Following the wishes of his parents, he began to study law at Moscow University , which he completed in 1911 with a doctorate . From 1912 he lived as an artist in Paris. On a trip to Austria with his future wife, the painter Stefanie von Bach , he got stuck in Geneva because of the beginning of the First World War . A few years later he settled in Zurich. Gregor Rabinovitch and Stefanie von Bach married here in 1917, their daughter Isa was born in the same year. He was strongly integrated into the city's artistic community and, unlike many other emigrants, did not leave Switzerland after the end of the First World War in 1918. In 1929 he received the citizenship of the city of Zurich.

Rabinovitch moved in circles of socially and politically committed artists, among his friends were Eduard Gubler and Otto Morach . But he kept his distance to the Zurich Dadaists around Hugo Ball . From afar he sympathized with the Russian Revolution . Soon he began to publish in the social democratic " People's Law ", from 1922 he worked for the satirical magazine " Nebelspalter ", to which he remained loyal until the 1950s. In terms of content, the drawings were characterized by pacifism and a strong commitment against fascism , and Swiss politics was not safe from his sharp pen. Both of these led to repeated protests and clashes with the censors . After the Second World War he, who had assessed the Soviet Union positively in 1934 , turned to anti-communism attacking Stalin .

An important and financially lucrative aspect of his work are the ex-libris (book owner's mark). He dealt with the client's profession, position or place of residence with wit and poetry. He also made a name for himself with portraits of contemporaries, which he drew in the Nebelspalter or as commissioned work.

In recent years, he has seen the decline of political caricature in the post-war period with increasing bitterness . Gregor Rabinovitch was buried in the Enzenbühl cemetery. His estate is in the Zurich Central Library.

Selection of works

Folders

  • Horrors of War , 6 etchings , Zurich 1915.
  • Jewish Agency , 36 heads (from the 16th Zionist Congress Zurich 1929), lithographs , Zurich 1929.
  • "12 nudes", lithograph , 30 numbered folders, Zurich 1933.
  • The members of the City Council, the President and the parliamentary group leaders of the City Council (of the City of Zurich) . Portrayed on behalf of the mayor, 1 sheet, 19 plates, Zurich 1954.

10 ex libris etchings, Zurich, self-published, 1922. This work was produced in a one-time edition of 80 copies on the Graf-Presse in Munich (hand-signed supplement). The present copy No. 68 contains a dedication to Sasha Morgenthaler. With this work, GR is showing graphic collectors its work in the field of ex libris for the first time (detailed foreword by EW Netter). The 10 ex libris belong to: Armin Ris, Heinrich Erzinger, Kurt Sponagel, Ferdinand Rieser, Harold Picton, Carl Brüschweiler , GR. Rabinovitch-Zurich, Emil Netter, Mario Genin, Marie Sokoloff.

Book illustrations

Own writings

  • The art of etching , in: Schweizerland 6 (1920), pp. 418–423.
  • Memories from childhood and youth (with 33 drawings), Zurich 1944.

literature

  • Stefan Hausherr, Charles Linsmayer (Ed.): Traumgestalten. Gregor Rabinovitch's bookplate work. With a biographical essay by Charles Linsmayer . Limmat-Verlag , Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-85791-515-3 .
  • Markus Britschgi, Doris Fässler, Eva Korazija (eds.): Gregor Rabinovitch, 1884-1958 . Diopter Verlag für Kunst und Fotografie, Luzern 1993, ISBN 3-905198-13-4 .
  • Eva Korazija: Gregor Rabinovitch 1884-1958. Image of man between the wars . Ed .: Joseph Bättig, Stephan Leimgruber. Graphic collection of the ETH, Zurich 1982.
  • Rudolf Utzinger: Gregor Rabinovitch In: Architektur und Kunst , Vol. 15, 1928, pp. 330–335

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Nachlass Rabinovitch Gregor (accessed on May 18, 2010; PDF; 70 kB)
personal data
SURNAME Rabinovitch, Gregor
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Рабинович, Григорий Иделевич (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Russian-Swiss graphic artist and caricaturist
DATE OF BIRTH August 13, 1884
PLACE OF BIRTH Oranienbaum
DATE OF DEATH October 31, 1958
Place of death Zurich