Федер, Адольф

Painter, graphic artist

Born Odessa, 16 July 1886

Died Auschwitz, December 1943

Born in Odessa, Ukraine to a family of Jewish merchants. He received a traditional Jewish education as well as a secular education. In 1905 he joined the Bund- a Jewish organization that supported the 1905 revolution. Due to this political involvement, Feder had to flee the country. And he did- at the age of 19 he went to Berlin where he studied fine art. During the years 1908-1909 he went to Geneva and studied there in the city’s art academy. In 1910 he arrived to Paris where he continued his studies at the Academie Julien for two years and at Henri Matisse’s studio for one year. In 1923, he published his drawings in the Le Monde newspaper and also illustrated some works including those by Joseph Kessel and the poet Arthur Rimbaud. The same year he impressed the Parisian Bohemians with a reception he gave in honor of the Russian poet Vladimir Maiakovski, together with his friends Michel Larionov and Ossip Zadkine. At the break of World War two he refused to leave Paris with his sculptor friend Jacob Loutchansky and he joined the resistance. On June 10, 1942, he and his wife Sima were betrayed to the authorities and were arrested by the Petain militia. They were imprisoned at Cherche- Midi and later on at Drancy. On December 13, 1943 Feder was deported from Drancy to Auschwitz death camp, were he was murdered.

1925

1938