Feldman, Valentyn

Feldman, Valentyn [Фельдман, Валентин; Fel’dman], b 16 March 1864 near Saint Petersburg, d 26 February 1928 in Kyiv. Architect and painter. In 1889 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. He worked as an architect in Sevastopol, where he designed the Dormition Cathedral (1895–1905), the building with the panorama The Defense of Sevastopol in 1854–5, and several other buildings, and the famous monument dedicated to sailors who perished during the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War. In 1905 Feldman moved to Kharkiv where he taught at the Kharkiv Technological Institute and was one of the designers of the Choral Synagogue. In 1910 he moved to Kyiv, where he lectured at the Kyiv Polytechnical Institute and the Kyiv State Art Institute. Feldman produced numerous watercolors and graphics that exhibit an influence of impressionism. A retrospective exhibit of his works was held in Kyiv in 1940. He also published works on the theory of painting and on watercolors; for example, Svet i chistota krasok v zhivopisi (Light and the Purity of Colors in Painting, 1915). His book Iskustvo akvarelnei zhivopisi (The Art of Watercolor) was published posthumously in Kyiv in 1967.

[This article was updated in 2014.]