Poret Alisa (Alla, Alisa-Ekaterina-Ada) Ivanovna

Poret Alisa (Alla, Alisa-Ekaterina-Ada) Ivanovna

1902, St Petersburg – 1984, Moscow

Painter, the graphic artist, book illustrator, worked in decorative and applied arts and monumental art. Studied at the School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of Arts (1917–1919) and under Alexander Savinov, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Pavel Filonov at VKhTEMAS/VKhUTEIN (1921– 1925). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1925), including the First Exhibition of Leningrad Artists (1935), 6th Exhibition of the Leningrad Branch of the Union of Artists (1940), Self-Portrait (Tretyakov Gallery, 1977), solo exhibition (Tretyakov Gallery, 1979), Soviet Art of the 1920s and 1930s (Russian Museum, 1988), and others. Member and exhibitor of the Circle of Artists (1926), Masters of Analytical Art (1926–1941). Participated in the collective work of Filonov’s followers: a panel for the House of Printing (1927, The Destitute, or the Lumpenproletariat; Tatyana Glebova’s Prison is on the second half of the canvas); did design work for the Karelian-Finnish epic Kalevala (Academia Publishing House, 1932– 1933).

From 1926–1933, she created several works with Tatyana Glebova, including illustrations for over 16 books. Worked in the Children’s Department of Gosizdat (from 1924; under Vladimir Lebedev); at the magazines Chizh and Yozh; at the Lomonosov Porcelain Factory in Leningrad; and at the Chamber of Commerce (books and trademarks). Began illustrating children’s books in 1927 and illustrated more than 40. The first illustrator for the Russian translation of A. A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. Was evacuated to Sverdlovsk (1942–1945); moved to Moscow in 1945. Was friends with Daniil Kharms (1930– 1933), and in 1980 published Recollections of Daniil Kharms. Kept a sketchbook her whole life, parts of which have been published as Alisa Poret: Writings, Drawings, and Recollections. Barbaris, Moscow, 2013.