Moisej A. Steinberg

Ukrainian Landscape. Cardboard, pencil. 30 x 40 cm.

Moisey Aronovich Shtejnberg (6 May 1883, Kyiv - 16 January 1967) was a Ukrainian painter and graphic artist known for his small-format landscapes and still lifes.

Born into a family of photographers, he graduated from the painting department of the Kyiv Art School in 1912. In 1918 he attended the Free Workshops of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. In 1927 he completed his studies at the Kyiv Art Institute, receiving the title of artist and teacher.

Active from the 1910s onwards, he took part in major exhibitions in Odessa, St Petersburg, Kyiv, and Kharkiv; from 1938 he was a member of the Union of Artists of Ukraine.

He taught at the Kyiv Art Institute, first as an associate professor and later as a full professor. His works, admired for their delicate colour and attention to detail, are held in the Tret'jakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, and more than thirty-five museums across the former Soviet Union.

This work depicts a classic Ukrainian landscape executed in a refined and complex pencil-hatching technique. The dense network of crossed and overlapping lines creates a soft gradation of tone, lending depth to the shadows and luminosity to the passages of light. Signed lower right: autograph signature 'M. Shtejnberg.'