Ilya Bolotowsky

American, 1907 - 1981

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Ilya Bolotowsky, a Russian-born American painter, gained prominence for his embrace of the De Stijl principles propagated by Piet Mondrian. Departing from the rigid structure of De Stijl, Bolotowsky infused geometric forms and colors into his work, creating an aesthetically independent body that thrived on meditative color relationships. Reflecting on the sensory onslaught of contemporary art, he remarked, "There must all the more be a need for an art that searches for new ways to achieve harmony and equilibrium."

Born on July 1, 1907, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bolotowsky immigrated to New York in 1923. He attended the National Academy of Design, forging connections with fellow students Adolph Gottlieb and Mark Rothko. Bolotowsky's artistic contributions included commissioned abstract murals for the Works Progress Administration (WPA), notably adorning the Williamsburg Housing Project in Brooklyn. His teaching tenure at the Black Mountain College from 1946 to 1948 left an indelible mark, influencing notable artists such as Kenneth Noland.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum honored Bolotowsky with a retrospective in 1974. He passed away on November 22, 1981, in New York, NY. In a remarkable turn of events in 2012, two paintings by Bolotowsky, initially purchased for $10 each at a local Goodwill by a North Carolina woman for her pet portraits, were later confirmed to be the artist's works. Vertical Diamond (1966), one of these paintings, fetched $34,375 at a Sotheby’s auction the same year. Bolotowsky's legacy lives on in collections such as the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.