The artist is Altman
As an artist Altman formed in the early 1910s. “Self -portrait” is an early canvas of the artist, most likely, immediately upon returning from Paris. Altman created a psychologically capacious, self -extinguished image. The basis of the picturesque structure of the work is a directly set the silhouette of the artist’s head and shoulders, which is relief on a dark background. Outwardly a calm image is permeated with internal stress. Its hidden energy and dynamics masterfully supported by an acute coloristic solution built on a contrasting comparison of colors. The minting of forms, their constructive clarity, a clear calculation of contrasts in order to strengthen the decorative moment – the distinctive features of the somewhat cold, rational art of the master. (G. TO.).
Russian portrait. XX century: St. Petersburg, 2001. WITH. 88.
The freedom of plastic generalization, the courage of color contrasts that distinguish this work indicate the enthusiasm of the young artist with new directions of French painting, in particular Fovism, the lessons of which he perceived at the Academy of Maria Vasilyeva, a student of Henri Matisse. During the year in Paris, a recent graduate of the Odessa Art College, famous for fidelity to the traditions of realism, learned the most important thing in the spirit "Parisian school" – picturesque liberation and freedom of figurative game.