ARBIT BLATAS

A painter, a sculptor and an opera stage designer, Arbit Blatas was the only child of Russian parents. By the age of fifteen he was already an accomplished artist. When, at 21, he arrived in Paris he became the youngest member of "The School of Paris." His famous portraits of his "School of Paris" friends and colleagues -- Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Dufy, Utrillo, Soutine, Cocteau and many others -- have been exhibited both in Venice and Paris (Musee Bourdelle, 1986) and now hang in halls dedicated to him in the "Museum of the Thirties" in Boulogne-Billancourt outside of Paris. Having escaped the Nazis, Blatas settled in New York in 1941. There he created his often exhibited series of paintings devoted to the " Three Penny Opera." (Teatro Goldini, Venice, 1984; Museum of the City of New York and Goethe Institute, Toronto, 1986; Leubsdorf Gallery, New York, 2001). His 1979 "Monument of the Holocaust," seven bronze tablets that commemorate the night the first 200 of Venice's Jews were rounded up for deportation and death, occupies the Campo del Nuovo Ghetto there. A second casting is found in Paris, and a third in Dag Hammarskjold Plaza in New York City. Mr. Blatas, who spoke eight languages, collaborated with his second wife, Metropolitan Opera singer and director Regina Resnik, to create stage sets for nine operatic productions in Venice, Lisbon, Warsaw, Hamburg and Sydney, Australia. Mr. Blatas' many honors included the Chevalier de la Legion d'Honneur by the French Government (1978); Officier de la Legion d'Honneur (1994) for his contribution to French art; the gold medal "Venezia Riconnoscente ( Venice, 1980) and the Medaille de Vermeil of the City of Paris (1987). His works are found in museums and private collections worldwide.

 

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