Boris Deutsch

1892 - 1978

BiographyLithuanian-American artist Boris Deutsch is known for his Modern depictions of women, Jewish subjects, murals, and printmaking. Born in Krasnagorka, Lithuania, Deutsch began drawing as a young child. After deserting from the Russian Army at the start of World War I, Deutsch fled to Latvia where he received brief artistic instruction at Bloom Academy of Art in Riga, Latvia, and then to Berlin where he studied at the Kunstgewerbe Schule and other academies between 1913-1916.

Deutsch immigrated to the US in 1916, first to Seattle, WA before settling permanently in Loa Angeles three years later. In Los Angeles, Deutsch worked successfully as a commercial artist, special effects artist, and set designer for Paramount Pictures and other studios. Deutsch taught painting at Otis Art Institute in the 1920s. At the start of the Depression, Deutsch worked for the federal Resettlement Project, travelling to various states to sketch workers resettling onto farms. During the 1930s he worked for the WPA as a mural artist and created a number of murals including: Hot Springs Post Office, NM; Reedley Post Office, CA; and 11 murals in the Los Angeles Terminal Annex Post Office.

Deutsch exhibited widely in the 1920s to 1940s including Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1926, 1929, 1941); University of Southern California (1926); California Art Club (1929); Seattle Museum (1930); Oakland Art Gallery (1931, 1932, 1936, 1940); University of California Los Angeles (1942); the Biltmore Salon, Los Angeles (1945); and Scripps College (1946). His work is in the permanent collections of many California and national collections including LACMA and the Carnegie Institute. Deutsch died in Los Angeles in 1978.

Person TypeIndividual