Abraham Mintchine was a School of Paris painter of landscapes, portraits and still lifes. Born in Kiev, Russia in 1898, he apprenticed to a goldsmith at the age of thirteen as an engraver, but soon afterwards also began to paint. It is believed he was a student of Alexandra Exter at the Kiev Academy.

The collapse of the Russian empire, the persecution of Jews, the pogroms and then the Soviet rule all took their toll on Mintchine's health and he developed tuberculosis.

Mintchine left Russia in 1923 and went to Berlin, where in 1925 he exhibited some paintings in a Cubist manner, and designed sets and costumes for the Jewish theatre. Penniless, he moved to Paris in 1926, where he joined the group of emigree Russian and Polish artists of Jewish origin already working there -- Soutine, Kremegne, Kikoine, Chagall, Mane-Katz, Modigliani and others. All his surviving works date from these last six years. His first one-man show was at the Galerie Alice Manteau, Paris, in 1929.

His short life and tragic fate did not leave their mark on his work. His unaffected relationship with nature, with the daily objects in his immediate environment,with the people who played a role in his life, with the landscapes and working men is reflected in his works and does not suggest any hardship and bitterness but a great sensitivity, love, and a kind of gratitude to everything around him, even though at times he needed the guardian angel featured in his paintings.

Mintchine died near Toulon, France, in 1931, of a heart attack brought on by his tuberculosis.

Source:
Lucien Krief Gallery

Abraham Mintchine (4 April 1898 Kiev - 25 April 1931 Paris), was a Ukrainian painter. At 13, Mintchine was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Kiev. He began painting from the age of 16. In 1923, he left Russia for Berlin where he designed sets and costumes for the Jewish theatre. At the time of his first exhibition in Berlin he displayed some works that critics defined as of a style close to Cubism.

He arrived in Paris around 1925. In extreme poverty, married with a child, he was observed by the art dealer René Gimpel, who wrote in his journal: "I have bought about 35 of his canvasses, some are quite uneven, but that in itself is some proof of talent ...he barely managed to scrape a 100 sous to live on; he wouldn't eat, and, dying of hunger would say to his wife: 'Eat, Mintchine isn't hungry.' Now, (in 1929), that he's achieved a measure of comfort and his health has deteriorated, he continues to deprive himself for his wife saying: 'Mintchine doesn't need anything.' "

Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Mintchine