Braz Osip Emmanuilovich
(1873-1936)

Osip Braz was born and raised in Odessa. He began to study painting in Odessa School at KK Kostandi, in the years 1890-94. continued his studies in Munich, a private school of the Hungarian artist S. Holloshi.

 In Munich, and then during a trip to France and Holland, he studied the works of old masters, acquainted with modern European art. Braz already established artist in 1895, he entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, the studio I. Repin . Then he began to take part in exhibitions. His work, in the opinion of the artist and art historian A. Benoit , at the time featured "ripeness and taste some kind of" Europeanism "."

 In 1897 he received the title of artist Braz, but contrary to academic rules, not for a special picture for competition, and for a series of portraits. One of them - "Portrait of EM Martynovoj" (1896) - Pavel Tretyakov acquired. He also commissioned artist image Komissarzhevskaya and Anton Chekhov. Portrait of Chekhov (1898) received mixed reviews contemporaries, but is now the only complete portrait of the writer's lifetime.

In the workshop Repin Braz friends with young artists, which entered into shortly artistic association "World of Art", and went on to become a permanent member of its exhibitions. Under the influence of the "World of Art" artist turned to graphics, doing lithography and etching, in particular carried portraits and landscapes. Very popular exquisite portraits of women Braz, written interiors that featured a free and elegant style of painting.

 He created a gallery of portraits of Russian artists of the late XIX - early XX century.: Leonid Pasternak, AP Sokolov, Konstantin Somov, Konstantin Pervukhina, IY Gunzburg, etc. After a stay abroad in the years 1907-11. Braz painting style became more free, and saturated color. In this vein filled with views of the Crimea and Finland relating to the 1910's.

 In 1914, Braz was elected Academician of Arts. The artist was a great connoisseur and collector of art. In 1916, it incorporated as a specialist in the commission for the restoration of paintings of the Hermitage, and in 1918 he was appointed curator of the museum. One of the masterpieces of his collection - painting by Jean-Baptiste Chardin's "Still Life with Attributes of the Arts" - Hermitage must Braz. The artist found a picture in a thrift store, restored it and determine authorship. Braz has trained many artists.

Since the late 1890s. He taught in their own studio (it visited, for example, 3. E. Serebriakova) at the Drawing School of the OPH (1902-04), in 1920. - In Vhuteine. In 1924, Braz was sent to Novgorod, where the efforts of friends back in 1926 In 1928, he moved to Germany, where his family was then. Later, he settled in Paris. Knowledge and experience allowed the artist to successfully run an antique trade and gather a good collection of works of art