Jacobson Alexandra Nikolaevna (05.20.1903 - 09.17.1966) - Soviet graphic artist, illustrator of children's books, painter, master of easel lithography, representative of the Leningrad school of graphics. Alexandra Nikolaevna was born on May 20, 1903 in the family of Nikolai Jacobson in the city of Irkutsk, where her father, a cabinetmaker, was exiled for participating in the Narodnaya Volya organization.
Alexandra always painted, from the age of 16, beginning to study at the school of the Irkutsk artist Ivan Kopylov, from 1925 continuing her education at the Leningrad Academy of Arts and then all her life without letting go of a pen, then a pencil, then a brush and pastel. In the 1920s, the Irkutsk art workshop-studio was one of the brightest and most fruitful provincial schools, the artist I.L. Kopylov raised such masters as Peter Sokolov, Miney Kuks (later husband A. Jacobson), Valentin Fedorov, Mikhail Skulyari and others.
Work from the time of classes at Kopylov suggests that Alexandra Jacobson got acquainted with creative wealth ranging from artists of the Renaissance to members of the World of Art society. In 1930 she graduated from the painting department of the Leningrad branch of the Academy of Arts, where her teachers were K.S. Petrov-Vodkin and P.N. Filonov. The work done during training at the Academy is about the unconditional influence of the then teacher, Petrov-Vodkin. But the early works, and the graphics of recent years, are the work of the unconditional master. Jacobson painted, as she sang, the sources of talent were in the villages surrounding Irkutsk, forests, fields and meadows, songs of villagers singing not for the public, but at work.
In the late 1920s, 1930s, she worked in the art department of Detgiz under the guidance of V.V. Lebedev. Worked with him N. A. Tyrsa, N. F. Lapshin, V. M. Ermolaev, V. M. Konashevich and their students - A. F. Pakhomov, E. I. Charushin, Yu. A. Vasnetsov.
She was engaged in easel and book graphics, children's illustrations (mainly folk and literary tales, poetic folklore for children). Folk and fairy-tale themes prevail in book illustrations, which the artist also uses in prints. It is the illustration of books: Russian folk tales, «The Scarlet Flower» by S. T. Aksakov, «Malachite Box» by P. P. Bazhov, «Latka» and «Club of Columbuses» by V. V. Bianka, works by Pushkin, Lermontov, Turgenev, Ostrovsky , Leskov, Shishkov, Kaverin, Marshak, foreign writers - brought A. Jacobson widespread fame.
In the 1930s and 40s, she worked in the Experimental Printing Workshop along with the leading masters of Leningrad graphics: A.S. Vedernikov, G.S. Vereisky, V.A. Vlasov, Yu.A. Vasnetsov, B.N. Ermolaev, V.F. Matyukh, V.I. Kurdov, A.L. Kaplanom, M.I. Kuksom, M.N. Skulari. Participant of exhibitions since 1934. Member of the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists since 1941.
In the first months of the war, A.N. Jacobson worked in the Hermitage, helping to send the museum's collection to the rear. During the war, Alexandra Nikolaevna was twice evacuated, the first time in Kazakhstan, the second time in the Yaroslavl region. The works of this time are also the spirit of the era, girls in tunics, campaign posters, but this is still the same Jacobson. She participated in exhibitions organized by the Yaroslavl branch of the Union of Artists. In the post-war period, Alexandra Nikolaevna worked in such genres as lithography, book graphics, watercolor, and to a lesser extent etching. And countless sketches, from nature, from memory, are fabulous images. Lithographs brought to perfection with the help of many preliminary sketches, but also instant sketches of one pen, an incredibly accurate line.
After the artist’s death, the publishing house «Soviet Artist» published a set of postcards with reproductions of her works and a self-portrait. The works of Alexandra Jacobson are stored in various collections and collections, including the State Russian Museum.
