Anderson, Voldemar Petrovich (Anders, Vladimir)

Woldemar Petrovich Anderson was born into a working class family in Latvia. Early in life, he was enrolled in the Riga School of Painters and Decorators in 1910 but halted his education due to the outbreak of the First World War. From 1917 to 1922, he served with the 7th Latvian Rifle Regiment under the auspices of the Red Army during the Russian Civil War. Following the war, he moved to the USSR where he was a representative of the Latvian minority in the Soviet Union and he participated in the Latvian Labor Art Community that contained artists of the avant-garde movement. In 1922, he enrolled in classes at VKhUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios) and graduated in 1924. He subsequently began teaching in their art department after graduation. That same year, he became a member of A.Kh.R.R. (Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia). Anderson began exhibiting professionally as early as 1918, and he participated in the exhibition of the Tenth Anniversary of the Red Army (1928). During the Great Purge from 1936-1938, Anderson was arrested by Soviets and brought-up on charges of belonging to a counter-revolutionary, fascist organization. The charge reportedly stemmed from Anderson’s affiliation with the Prometheus Latvian Society for Education and Culture. He was executed in 1938 and buried at the Butovskii Shooting Range outside Moscow. Per various sources, Anderson’s birth year is also recorded as having been in 1883. His paintings are held in Russian and Latvian museums as well as in private collections.