Leonid Mezheritski

• Name — Leonid Mezheritski • Born — 11 December 1930 • Birthplace — Odessa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union • Died — 12 November 2007 • Place of death — Berlin, Germany • Field — Painting: portrait, landscape, still life

Leonid Mezheritsky was born in Odesa on December 11, 1930. In 1955, he graduated from the Odesa State Art School, easel painting studio of D. Frumina. His training was also supervised by L. Muchnik and M. Mutselmakher. In 1971, Mezheritski joined the Union of Artists of the USSR (existing until 1991) and the Union of Artists of the Ukrainian SSR (after 1991 reorganized as the National Union of Artists of Ukraine). From 1955 onwards, he participated in numerous art exhibitions, including all-Ukrainian exhibitions in Kyiv and an all-Union exhibition in Moscow. Some of the works exhibited at these shows were acquired by the Union of Artists of Ukraine for transfer to a museum and cultural institution. In the 1990s, the artist made creative trips to Germany, Israel, and Italy. From late 1998, he lived and worked permanently in the city of Karmiel (Israel). His Israeli period included a major series of landscapes (more than 60 works), several still lifes, and one portrait. In Germany, he created urban landscapes of Berlin and several pencil sketches; in Italy, he painted Tuscan landscapes. Leonid Mezheritski spent the last year and a half before his death on November 12, 2007 in Berlin. He is buried at the Jewish cemetery Berlin-Weissensee. His artistic legacy is preserved and archived in Berlin and made available for art historical research.

Mezheritski worked primarily in oil painting in the genres of portraiture, still life, and plein air landscape. His artistic method was based on academic knowledge of drawing and composition, as well as on the study of coloristic systemsof French Impressionism and Post-Impressionism. The artist is known for his psychologically nuanced portraits, distinguished by their attention to the inner state and character of the sitter. A significant part of his legacy consists of landscapes of Odesa and its Black Sea coast, northern Ukraine, the Israeli Galilee, Berlin, and Tuscany. Many works were created during plein air studies, characteristic of the Odesa painting tradition. Still Lifes runs as a continuous theme throughout the artist's work. Through concise compositional structure and his treatment of background and drapery, he resolved colouristic and plastic challenges. Occasionally, he introduced one of his favourite motifs - bouquets of blooming lilac - into his portraits, as seen, for example, in the canvas "Portrait of the Mother" (1966, oil on canvas, 70×90 cm). Mezheritski's work was covered in Ukrainian and Israeli press and art publications. American artist and philosopher Adrian Piper wrote (2012) about his painting in Spike Art Magazine particularly noting the tension between realistic form and abstract energy of colour, the exceptional breadth of his palette, and the rhythmic, "musical" structure of his brushstrokes.

• Illustration — Springtime Sea Surf. 1970. Canvas, Oil, 28,5x43 cm • Illustration — Beach of Bolshoy Fontan. 1961. Canvas, Oil, 49х71 cm