Impressions of a Russian Van Gogh

Aron Buch is a prominent Russian artist. He is also of Jewish heritage. But you would not know it. In fact, one is hard-pressed to extract from him any perspectives on the life of Jewish artists in Russia. All he wants to discuss is his art, his landscapes and his verses. And a little bit of his history. He, and his wife Maya, did all of this one recent afternoon with Russian Life  Executive Editor, Mikhail Ivanov.

Aron Buch is certainly not what you would call a wily marketeer. His ‘brochures’ for his work are a bunch of color photos, stained by his painted fingertips. And yet, his paintings long ago became part of private collections in the West, and have been exhibited by Washington’s Oscar Gallery, Paris’ Les Oreades and Spain’s Galeria Fontanar.

Certainly, one is not surprised to find that an artist does not have a knack for business. But what is surprising about this prominent Jewish Artist is how little he stresses his Jewishness.