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Nodel'man, Semen Iakovlevich

Нодельман, Семен Яковлевич

Born May 28, 1912, Eel’sk (Yel’sk), Gomel’ Region, Imperial Russia; died 1979, location unknown, USSR

Semen Iakovlevich Nodel'man was a Soviet graphic artist, illustrator, teacher and book designer. In 1934 he graduated from the Kiev Art College and within a year was working as a professional illustrator on books and posters. During his career, he actively collaborated with the publishing houses Sovetskii Pisatel (Soviet Writer), Goslitizdat (State Literature Publishing), Goscultprosvetizdat (State Publishing House of Cultural and Educational Literature), Sovetskaia Rossia (Soviet Russia), and Uchpedgiz (State Publishing House of Student and Pedagogical Literature). In 1940, Nodel'man received 3rd prize at the All-Union Competition for the Political Poster. His winning design was for the poster "Study in the manner of Ilyich [Lenin]". In 1942 the artist received 2nd prize at the USSR "Best Defense Poster" competition. He was awarded the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945". In the post-war era, he worked mainly as a poster designer.

He joined the Union of Artists of the USSR in 1941 and from 1942-1945 served as union chairman in its graphics section in Samarkand, Uzbek SSR. Since 1965, Nodel'man was a member of the bureau of the industrial graphics of the Moscow Organization of the Union of Soviet Artists (MOSKh). He taught at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named for V.I. Surikov. Nodel'man participated in the following exhibitions: the political posters of Mistetstvo (Art Publishing House) of the Ukrainian SSR, the All-Union Exhibition of Advertising Posters (Moscow, 1940), Soviet Graphics (1946), All-Union book exhibitions (1947–1964), and in regional exhibitions at Samarkand (1941–1949), and Moscow (1968).

In addition to posters, Nodel'man illustrated the following books: “For a Just Cause” (1952) by Vasilli Grossman, “Tashkent - City of Bread” (1923) by Alexander Neverov, and “Black Cave” (1958) by Suleimanov, to name a few titles.

Fuentes

Bown, M. C. (1991). Art under Stalin. Oxford: Holmes & Meier.
tramvaiiskusstv.ru (artist bio)
artchive.ru (date of birth)
painters.artunion.ru (date of birth)