User:Cawhee/Draft:Adolphe Feder

Adolphe Féder (also Azik Féder; July 16, 1986 – December 13, 1943) was a Ukrainian painter and illustrator. He moved to France in 1908 where he remained until his deportation and subsequent murder at the hands of the Nazis.

Early life and education
Born to Jewish-Ukrainian merchants parents, in 1905 Féder found himself involved in the revolutionary Bund Labor Movement. His involvement in the organization would force him in to flee to Berlin at the age of 19.

Following his time in Berlin, Féder moved to Geneva before in 1908 moving to Paris to study at the Académie Julian. At the Académie he studied painting and worked closely with the French Impressionist, Henri Matisse in his workshop.

Visit to Palestine
In 1926, Féder made a trip to Palestine. On his trip he encountered many judaic elements which he painted. The trip's impact on him yielded many of his most notable paintings such as "Juif à barbe tenant un plateau, aquarelle." When Féder returned to Paris, he brought back with him many of these paintings which garnered him prestige in the Parisian artistic community.

Internment and death
When Nazi troops marched across France in 1942, Féder, aged 52, refused to surrender to the invading army. For this he was arrested along with his wife on June 10, 1942 before being transferred to the Drancy internment camp.

In Drancy, Féder continued to paint, painting portraits of those around him such as the other prisoners and guards. His paintings however stopped at his deportation to Auschwitz concentration camp in December 1943 where he was murdered. Unlike her husband, Féder's wife, Sima Féder, donated Féder's works from inside Drancy to the Ghetto Fighters' House.

Career
Féder's success came in 1912 when his landscape works were displayed at the Salon d'Automne. He continued to paint following this including a series of 45 illustrations created for a book of poetry by French poet Arthur Rimbaud. The book received a limited run of 350 copies in 1924, but was commended for its watercolor illustrations.

When Féder's work appeared in the Fearon Galleries in 1923, his work received great praise. An art critic writing on Féder's work said "Adolphe Feder struck me as the most original in his finely austere 'Joueur de Biniou' and more mirthful still life."