Ilya Bolotowsky

Ilya Bolotowsky
Ilya Bolotowsky in 1938, from the Archives of American Art
Born	(1907-07-01)July 1, 1907 St. Petersburg, Russia
Died	November 22, 1981(1981-11-22) (aged 74) New York City
Nationality	American
Education	National Academy of Design
Known for	Painting, murals, art education
Movement	Abstract art, cubism, geometric abstraction, neoclassicism

Ilya Bolotowsky (July 1, 1907 – November 22, 1981) was a leading early 20th-century painter in abstract styles in New York City. His work, a search for philosophical order through visual expression, embraced cubism and geometric abstraction and was much influenced by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian.

Born to Jewish parents in St. Petersburg, Russia, Bolotowsky moved to Baku and Constantinople, and immigrated to the United States in 1923, settling in New York City. He attended the National Academy of Design. He became associated with a group called "The Ten Whitney Dissenters," or simply "The Ten," artists, including Louis Schanker, Adolph Gottlieb, Mark Rothko, and Joseph Solman, who rebelled against the strictures of the Academy and held independent exhibitions.

Bolotowsky was mentored by Dutch painter Piet Mondrian and the tenets of De Stijl, a movement that advocated the possibility of ideal order in the visual arts. Bolotowsky adopted Mondrian's use of horizontal and vertical geometric pattern and a palette restricted to primary colors and neutrals.

Having turned to geometric abstractions, in 1936 Bolotowsky co-founded American Abstract Artists, a cooperative formed to promote the interests of abstract painters and to increase understanding between themselves and the public.