SELECTED BIOGRAPHY
1911 Born August 3 in Odessa, Russian Empire
1924 – 1931 Attended art studies at the studio of Y. Bershadsky, a graduate of the St. Petersburg Royal Academy of Fine Arts; graduated from the Theater Faculty of the Odessa Art College, under A. Gaush, V. Muller and G. Frayerman.
1931–1935 First professional work designing sets for at the national theaters in Krasnodar, Tashkent, Ashkhabad, and Stalingrad.
1936–1958 Worked at the “MOSFILM” studio, becoming a member of the Union of Soviet Artists from 1939 onwards. During the Second World War, designed scenery for touring theatrical performances of the Moscow Drama Theatre. In 1942, showcased his first solo exhibit of theatrical scenic designs in Borisoglebsk. From then on, collaborated in the production of two films, “Moryana” and “The Last Night,” and in over 70 theatrical productions – among them plays by Beaumarchais, Gogol, Ostrovsky, Schiller, Sukhovo-Kobilin, Gorky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Priestley, Lope de Vega, Mayakovsky, Katayev, Saratov, Vilnius, Tula, Bryansk, and Moscow.
1959–1961 Designed two pavilions at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow. Participated as part of traveling theater tours throughout Russia, and concurrently exhibited in national, regional, and Moscow group art exhibitions.
1962 Second solo show in Moscow at the Soviet Theatrical Society, showcasing thirty years of creative life – including sketches and costumes, landscapes, still life, portraits, prints, monotypes, and etchings.
1963–1964 More theatre work, now at Moscow’s famed Taganka and Mali Theatres.
1965–1968 Created two important bodies of work: “The Red Cavalry,” based on the writing of Isaac Babel and “Mama,” a series of portraits. Early work of the coming series, “Odessa of my Youth” begins.
1967 Exhibited as part of the 9th São Paulo Art Biennial in Brazil.
1969 Third solo art exhibition at the Central House of Artists’ in Moscow.
1969–1978 Full time work on series’ “Odessa of my Youth,” “Carcasses,” “Plants,” and “Self-Portraits”.
1975 “The Town of My Childhood,” a color monograph, is published by The Soviet Artist Publishing House. This is an incredibly rare achievement for a Jewish artist.
1978 Emigrated from the Soviet Union to Israel, destroying about 2,000 works which could not be taken out of Russia without the payment of an exorbitant customs tax. Repatriation of about 600 paintings permitted to be taken out of the country after “selection.”
1978–1979 Continuation of work on the two series – “Odessa of my Youth” and “Plants”. Start of the graphical section of the series “The Eternal Jew”.
1979–1980 Solo exhibit at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem; solo exhibit at the New Gallery of Haifa University.
1980–1982 Work on series – “The Lyublin Cemetery in Moscow,” “The Eternal Jew,” “Roots,” “Asenyka, as seen by the Artist, her Grandfather Yefim Ladyzhensky,” “Light and Shade,” and “Self-Portraits”.
1982 Solo exhibit at the Jerusalem Artists’ House.
1982 April 3. Tragic death of the artist.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Kent, Connecticut; “Yefim Ladyzhensky, Paintings and Drawings,” Ober Gallery
2016 – 2017 New York; “Odessa, Odessa: Babel, Ladyzhensky, and the Soul of a City,” Yeshiva University Museum, Center for Jewish History
2007 - 2008 Moscow; “Yefim Ladyzhensky: a Retrospective Exhibition,” Central House of Artists; (cat. published)
2007 Washington, DC; “Reconciling Worlds: The Work of Soviet Artist Yefim Ladyzhensky,” Ann Loeb Bronfman Gallery; (cat. published)
2005 Jerusalem; “Asenyka as seen by the Artist, her Grandfather, Yefim Ladyzhensky,” Jerusalem Theatre
2002 New Brunswick, New Jersey; “Yefim Ladyzhensky,” Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Retrospective Exhibition; (cat. published)
2001 - 2002 Tel-Aviv, Museum of the Diaspora; (cat. published)
1999 New York; Gregory Gallery
1996 Haifa; Mane Katz Museum
1995 Kibbutz Bar-Am; Ben David Museum
1993 Tel-Aviv; Shlomit Gallery
1992 London; Barbican Centre, Concourse Gallery; (cat. published)
1988 Jerusalem; Vera Gutkin Gallery
1985 Jerusalem; “In Memory of the Artist Yefim Ladyzhensky,” the Artists’ House
1982 Jerusalem; the Artists’ House
1982 Kibbutz Ein-Harod, Mishkan le-Omanut Museum
1980 Haifa; New Gallery, University of Haifa; (cat. published)
1979 Jerusalem; “Yefim B. Ladyzhensky,” the Israel Museum; (cat. published)
1969 Moscow; Central House of Artists; (cat, published)
1962 Mo scow; Central Theatrical Society; (cat. published)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2007 Tel-Aviv; GINA Gallery of International Naive Art
2006 Tel-Aviv; GINA Gallery of International Naive Art
2005 Tel-Aviv; GINA Gallery of International Naive Art
2005 Madrid, Spain; Eboli Galeria de Arte, Il Muestra de Arte Na i f Europeo
2004 Tel-Aviv; GINA Gallery of International Naive Art
1977 Moscow; the All-Union Exhibition of Drawing
1976 Moscow; Manezh, the 3rd Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia”
1975 Moscow; Manezh, “30 Years of Victory Over Fascism”
1973 Moscow; Manezh, Exhibition Dedicated to the 24th Party Congress
1970 Moscow; Manezh, “100 Years of Lenin’s Birthday”
1967 Sao Paulo; 9th Biennial Art Exhibition
1967 Moscow; Manezh, the All-Union Exhibition of Theatre and Cinema Artists
1966 Moscow; Autumn Exhibition of Moscow Artists
1965 Moscow; Manezh, the 2nd Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia”
1965 Moscow; “The Great Patriotic War in Works of Stage Designers”
1964 Moscow; “Moscow, the Capital of Our Homeland”
1962 Moscow; Exhibition to the All-Russian Conference of Stage Designers
1962 Moscow and Kiev; the 2nd All-Union Exhibition of Etching
1961 Moscow; the All-Union Art Exhibition at the Academy of Arts
1960 Moscow; Exhibition of Water Color and Ceramics of Moscow Artists
1960 Moscow; Manezh, Exhibition of Paintings by Moscow Artists
1960 Moscow; Manezh, Art Exhibition “The Soviet Russia“
1960 Moscow; Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the 2nd Exhibition of Etching
1959 Moscow; Exhibition of Paintings, Drawings and Ceramics
1959 Moscow; Exhibition of Sketches of Theatrical Costumes
1958 Moscow; the MOSKH Autumn Exhibition
1957 Moscow; the All-Union Art Exhibition, Manezh
1957 Moscow; Exhibition to the 1st All-Union Congress of Soviet Artists
1957 Moscow; the 3rd Exhibition of Water Color Paintings by Moscow Artists
1956 Moscow; Exhibition of Theatre and Cinema Artists
1956 Moscow; the 2nd Exhibition of Water Color Paintings by Moscow Artists
1955 Moscow; Exhibition of Works Painted in the Academic Dacha
1953 Moscow; Spring Exhibition of Moscow Artists
1951 Saratov; Radishchev Museum, Exhibition of Theatrical Stage Designers
1944 Moscow; Tretyakov Gallery, “The War and the Rear”
1942 Borisoglebsk; Solo Exhibition, the Red Army House
1939 Moscow; the Central House of Artists, Youth Exhibition
1934 Tashkent; the 2nd All-Uzbek Exhibition of Artists