LINA PO
(POLINA GORENSTEIN)
(POLINA GORENSTEIN)
1899- 1948
Polina Gorenstein was born in 1899 in Yekaterinoslavl (now Dnipro, Ukraine). Lina Po was her artistic pseudonym created from her first name.
As a child, Lina Po took dance and sculpture classes. After graduating from high school, she went to Kharkiv to attend Women’s Higher Education Courses, but soon dropped out and moved to Moscow to study at the famous Vkhutemas art workshops. In 1924, she received a dance director diploma after studying at choreography courses. For the next 10 years, she danced, taught dancing, and worked as a ballet master at various theaters. In 1934, Lina Po contracted encephalitis as a complication of a flu and ended up at a neurological clinic. The disease took an unfavorable course from the very first days, and eventually the artist lost her eyesight. Dmitry Shaburov, her doctor, recommended she make figurines out of bread, which is how Lina Po returned to sculpture. Still at the hospital, she created her first artwork that she named Veronika.
In 1937, less than a year after her release from the hospital, Lina Po had her first personal exhibition.
Her sculpting process differed from traditional methods. She worked on a sculpture from the bottom up, with one hand creating the forms and the other checking the general proportions and the ratio of parts.
Lina Po moved to Ufa from Moscow in, presumably, August of 1941. For a long time, she was not able to practice her art not only because of the more frequent spells of her illness but, above all, because of the lack of the materials. The conditions of the artist’s life in that period are well known thanks to her correspondence with Mikhail Nesterov who supported her with friendly communication and participation in her creative life up until his death in October of 1942.
1942 saw the opening of a Republican art exhibition For the Motherland at the Bashkir Opera Theater. Among its participants were both local artists and Muscovites such as Tavasiev, Po, Varnovitskaya, and others.
During World War II, Po created artworks that resonated with the current historic moment. Thus, a series of works titled Young Sniper appeared, which celebrated the defenders of the Motherland.
In November of 1948, Lina Mikhailovna had to undergo a surgery. She died shortly afterwards, on November 26.
As a child, Lina Po took dance and sculpture classes. After graduating from high school, she went to Kharkiv to attend Women’s Higher Education Courses, but soon dropped out and moved to Moscow to study at the famous Vkhutemas art workshops. In 1924, she received a dance director diploma after studying at choreography courses. For the next 10 years, she danced, taught dancing, and worked as a ballet master at various theaters. In 1934, Lina Po contracted encephalitis as a complication of a flu and ended up at a neurological clinic. The disease took an unfavorable course from the very first days, and eventually the artist lost her eyesight. Dmitry Shaburov, her doctor, recommended she make figurines out of bread, which is how Lina Po returned to sculpture. Still at the hospital, she created her first artwork that she named Veronika.
In 1937, less than a year after her release from the hospital, Lina Po had her first personal exhibition.
Her sculpting process differed from traditional methods. She worked on a sculpture from the bottom up, with one hand creating the forms and the other checking the general proportions and the ratio of parts.
Lina Po moved to Ufa from Moscow in, presumably, August of 1941. For a long time, she was not able to practice her art not only because of the more frequent spells of her illness but, above all, because of the lack of the materials. The conditions of the artist’s life in that period are well known thanks to her correspondence with Mikhail Nesterov who supported her with friendly communication and participation in her creative life up until his death in October of 1942.
1942 saw the opening of a Republican art exhibition For the Motherland at the Bashkir Opera Theater. Among its participants were both local artists and Muscovites such as Tavasiev, Po, Varnovitskaya, and others.
During World War II, Po created artworks that resonated with the current historic moment. Thus, a series of works titled Young Sniper appeared, which celebrated the defenders of the Motherland.
In November of 1948, Lina Mikhailovna had to undergo a surgery. She died shortly afterwards, on November 26.
Girl with turtle
Bronze
1941
Veronica
Bronze
1941