3.04 1862 – 31.05 1945

His name remains in the shadow of his son – Nobel laureate Boris Pasternak, but his paintings are kept in major museums around the world. April 3 marks 155 years since the birth of the brilliant portraitist, the magnificent illustrator Leonid Pasternak.

The future artist was born in a large family in Odessa. Despite the son’s infatuation with drawing, his parents wanted to give him a completely different profession. Following their will, Leonid Pasternak enrolled in the Moscow University in the medical faculty, but then transferred to the Faculty of Law at Novorossiysk University. In 1883 Leonid Pasternak entered the Munich Royal Academy in parallel, where he studied with the brilliant draftsman Ludwig von Herterich.

After the service in the army, Leonid Pasternak wrote his first big picture – “Letter from the Motherland”, Pavel Tretyakov bought this work directly from the easel for his famous gallery. But the favorite subject of the artist were family sketches. In 1889 Pasternak married Rosa Kaufman, in this marriage four children were born: sons Boris and Alexander and daughters Josephine and Lydia.

Pasternak is called the first Russian impressionist, in his works he allowed himself and generalizations, and flowing contours, skillfully owned the color, seeking a soft glow, characteristic of many of his paintings. Leo Tolstoy very highly appreciated the amazing, sharply distinguished against the background of realistic painting work Pasternak. They met in 1893 and from that moment the artist painted several portraits of the great writer, and also created some of the best illustrations to the works of Tolstoy.

Leonid Pasternak wrote a series of portraits of Einstein, with whom he met in Berlin. The painter is also considered the founder of Leninyan – he was one of the first to capture the leader, making sketches at congresses and congresses.

In 1921 Pasternak with his wife and daughters went to Germany for treatment. He did not return to the Soviet Union any more. In 1923 there was an essay by the artist “Rembrandt and Jewry in his work”. In 1938, being in Germany became especially dangerous, Leonid Pasternak was going to return to Moscow, but before he decided to visit his daughter, who lived in Oxford. The war forced the artist to stay in England. He died on May 31, 1945, on May 2, 1999 in the house where the Russian artist lived, the museum of Leonid Pasternak was opened.