Ohio Jewish Chronicle, 1992-08-20

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THE
The Ohio Jewish Chronicle
Serving Columbus and the Central Ohio''
" '" Jewish Community since 1922'        "
VOLUME 70
NUMBER 34
AUGUST 20, 1992
21 AV 5752
DEVOTED TO AMERICAN AND JEWISH IDEALS
Columbus to be finalist
for 4Lead Community'
Garold Beim to receive
'Flowers For Living'
Leaders get look at
Rabin's new priorities
page 2
page 2
page 3
Capital II, Law School
signs joint venture
with Haifa, Israel
page 5
Gallery Players selects
Season opener cast
page6
lorldoi? Difference
initiates Nov. 15 concert
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COMMUNITY FEATURE
Local recognition eludes famous artist
By Ina Horwitz
Artist Lazar Sklutovsky and
his wife, Rachel, live quietly in
a Berwick apartment. In their
living room are his easel, work
materials and a number of his
paintings, some still unfinished.
At first glance, a person
might see evidence of an artist
who loves what he does. And
that would be true. But a closer look would reveal in his
works a great passion for creativity and a style deeply rooted in traditions and aesthetic
principles of the rich Jewish
and Russian cultures.
Sklutovsky, 78, who emigrated to Columbus a decade
ago from Kiev, was for many
years one of the best, most
honored and most prolific artists in the former Soviet
Union. He worked in every
medium, including theatre,
painting, sculpture, illustration, book design, space design and art education.
"My studio in Russia was
larger than my apartment," he
said, But it is evident immediately that regardless of where
or how big his studio is, his
dedication to his art remains
large enough to carry him
through every day, whether he
spends two hours or ten hours
at his craft..
Sklutovsky said he could
not truly live without his art.
His ideas constantly fill his
mind and his heart, and he
hones to have enough time in
his life to complete them all-
Noted his daughter Tamara
Shamson, an art historian who
emigrated with her husband,
Anatoly, to the U.S. in 1975,
"When the idea is ready in my
father's mind, he can quickly
transform it onto a canvas.
His artist friends have been
surprised at how fast he can
accomplish a piece and how
many people he can do. They
even thought he had assistants.
"The secret of his speed is
possessing a rich imagination," she said, "along with
having excellent professional
training and drawing, a quality now so rare among artists of
today."
Sklutovsky's background and
accomplished career before he
came to American was unique
because he excelled in so many
areas, and his art won him international acclaim and respect time and time again.
Born in 1914 in Siedlce, Poland, near Warsaw, he moved
as a young boy with his family
to Kharkov in the Ukraine.
In the family's neighborhood
lived two well-known artists
who, upon discovering the
five-year-old boy's talent, began teaching him drawing and
painting.
In 1928, after he had finished secondary school, Sklutovsky received a scholarship
to the theater department at
the Kharkov Fine Arts Academy.  His professors trained
him to develop technical skills
and sensitivity as an artist and
versatility as a designer. In
1932, he was awarded an honorary diploma for paintings
shown in Paris at the international exhibition for students
of Fine Arts Academies.
When he graduated from
the academy in 1934, he
moved'to Kiev where he became involved with the Kiev
Jewish Theatre. After his first
production, he was promoted
to head art director. Simulta
neously he designed sets for
dramas, operas and operettas
at other major theatres in
Kiev, Moscow and Leningrad
(St. Petersburg).
The 1920s and '30s were
good times for the Jewish theatre and culture in the Soviet
Union. At the request of the
chairman of the art department. Sklutovsky lectured on
other artists and stage designers on how to use stage design
to its utmost effect.
"In the Russian theater, the
artist must be an engineer,
electrician and construction
person as well," he said. "You
do it all."
He also worked with a famous Jewish leader, actor and
stage director of the period,
Mikhoels, who was chairman
of the Jewish Antifascist World
Committee, and anti-Nazi
group. Because of his involvement in the Jewish movement,
Mikhoels was ordered killed
by Stalin in 1948,
In 1941 Sklutovsky volunteered to fight against the Nazis until the end of World War
II in 1945. As a field officer in
an army tank battalion, he was
wounded three times and
awarded numerous orders and
medals.
The  Soviet  governments'
anti-Semitic policies made the
restoration of Jewish culture
impossible after the war. The
Jewish Theatre was shut down,
but Sklutovsky continued
working for other Ukranian
theatres. He created stage designs for productions of the
Kiev State Opera, worked on
festitval decorations for Kiefs
streets and squares and designed scenarios for sports parades.
Beginning  in  the   1950s,
Sklutovsky channeled his creative energies into paintings,
murals, book illustrations "and
commercial graphics. Those
years brought him numerous
international awards and
prizes. While most artists
painted or illustrated, Sklutovsky did both.
As well as in Russia, his
works were exhibited in Poland, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Rbmania, Bulgaria,
Yugoslavia, Italy and India.
During the 1960s, he made
original heavy wood and medal carvings taking him five
years to complete, which were
depicted in the book, Khoro-
sho. The book was written in
poetry form by a famous Soviet poet Vladimir Mayakovsky,
who later committed suicide
as a result of restrictions imposed on him by the State.
Sklutovsky's original sculptures were placed either in
Moscow museums, given to
friends or destroyed by Sklutovsky. When he left the country, he had to receive special
permission from the Ministry
of Culture to take one copy of
the book with him.
"And I hail to pay ten times
the going price for the book at
the time," he said.
Some copies of the book
found their way into bookstores in the United States.
Coincidentally, Sklutovsky met
a Columbus doctor who had
purchased a book in New
York City 12 years before the
artist came to America.
Sklutovsky is also listed in a
1973 Russian Dictionary of
Ukranian artists, published by
the Ukranian Encyclopedia.
The artists mentioned span six
centuries and only 50 contem-
see ARTIST pg. 3