№ 5735 Alexander Altmann (Russian Empire-France, 1885 - 1950) Pêcheur en barque 1930 Oil on canvas Private collection •   Alexandre Altmann was born to a poor Jewish family near Kyiv in Ukraine in 1885. At the age of eleven, Altmann ran away to Odessa where he worked variously as a tailor, shoemaker, metalworker and grocery salesman. The painter Vlas Doroshevich took Altmann under his wing after noticing Altmann’s draughtsmanship and thus encouraged his pursuit of art. In 1905 Altmann moved to Vienna and then onto Paris where he simultaneously worked as a labourer and studied at La Ruche. Living in extreme poverty Altmann was once so faint from hunger he was taken to the Rothschild Hospital where he painted the portrait of another patient. Unexpectedly, the hospital’s Guardian bought Altman’s painting which crucially allowed him to enter the Académie Julian. A prolific painter of landscapes, still lifes, Parisian street-scenes and seaside towns, his style was Impressionist with attractive depth of text   •