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Pavel Zaltsman, an Alma-Ata artist after evacuation
Film, teaching and decorative works after evacuation.
Published
This is a translation. The original is Русский. Language review: not performed by a native speaker.
In 1942, Pavel Zaltsman was evacuated from besieged Leningrad to Alma-Ata with the Lenfilm studio. The artist and writer continued his work in film and painting here.
Zaltsman worked as a production designer at Kazakhfilm. Among his films, the museum lists “Devushka-dzhigit” (1955). He created mosaic reliefs for the facades of the studio buildings, which, according to the museum, survive.
Zaltsman was born to a German father and a Jewish mother. The museum links restrictions on his official work to the state campaign against “cosmopolitanism” from 1948 to 1953, which targeted the Jewish intelligentsia. During this period, he continued to create art and wrote prose and poetry.
Zaltsman also taught art history at arts institutions in Alma-Ata. He died in Almaty in 1985. The museum’s collection lists his 1978 work “Warriors”.