Michail Grobman was born in 1939 in Moscow. He is an artist and a poet. In the 1960s he was an active member of The Second Russian Avant-garde. In 1971 he immigrated to Israel. In 1975 he founded the Leviathan group and art periodical.
He works in collage, painting, installation, and object. The use of text is very important in Grobman’s art, he writes minimalist poems, and "visual verses" consisting of magazine headings, transforms old book covers into poetic texts. Grobman currently lives and works in Tel Aviv, Israel.
bibliography
Michail Grobman: Acts and Words
Symbol, Letter, and Word in Michail Grobman’s Art (EN) – Marc Scheps
Symbol, Letter, and Word in Michail Grobman’s Art (HE) – Marc Scheps
Michail Grobman at the Moscow International Biennale (EN) – Vasili Tsereteli
Michail Grobman at the Moscow International Biennale (RU) – Vasili Tsereteli
From Leviathan to Levitan: Michail Grobman within the context of russian conceptualism’s metamorphoses – Lola Kantor-Kazovsky
The Grobman Project – Marc Scheps
Selected Solo Exhibitions
- 2007 Last Skies, Loushy & Peter Art & Projects, Tel Aviv (cat. text: Marc Scheps)
- 2006 Creation From Chaos to Cosmos, Bar-David Museum of Fine Art and Judaica, Kibbutz Baram (cat. text: Sorin Heller)
- 2002 The Last Sky, installation, Tsveta Zuzoritch pavilion, Belgrad (cat. text: Irina Subotitch)
- 1999 Michail Grobman: Works 1960-1998, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (cat. texts: Evgenija Petrova, Marc Scheps, Lola Kantor- Kazovsky, Michail German)
- 1998 Picture = Symbol + Concept, Herzliya Museum of Art, Herzliya (cat. texts : Lola Kantor- Kazovsky, Marina Genkina )
- 1995 Password and Image, University Gallery, Haifa University (Leaflet)
- 1990 Michail Grobman ,Tova Osman Gallery, Tel Aviv
- 1989 Michail Grobman, Tova Osman Gallery, Tel Aviv
- 1989 The Beautiful Sixties in Moscow (Jointly with Ilia Kabakov), The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv (cat. text: Mordechai Omer)
- 1988 Michail Grobman: Künstler und Sammler, Art Museum, Bochum, Germany (cat. text: Peter Spielmann(
- 1987 Messiah, installation and performance in the streets of Jerusalem (cat.)
- 1985 Khlebnikov 100, performance in the streets of Acre, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Tel-Aviv
- 1984 Michail Grobman, Zvi Noam Gallery, Beit Levik, Tel Aviv
- 1977 Michail Grobman, Spertus Museum, Chicago
- 1977 Performance in Judean desert
- 1973 Michail Grobman, Negev Museum, Beer Sheva
- 1973 Michail Grobman, Beth Uri and Rami Museum, Ashdot Yaacov (cat.)
- 1972 Michail Grobman, Nora Gallery, Jerusalem
- 1971 Michail Grobman : Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv (cat. text: Haim Gamzu(
- 1966 Michail Grobman, Projects Engineering Institute, Moscow
- 1965 Michail Grobman, Artists House, Moscow
- 1965 Michail Grobman, Energy Institute, Moscow
- 1965 Michail Grobman, History Institute, Moscow
- 1965 Michail Grobman, Usti-nad-Orlicy Theatre, Czechoslovakia (leaflet text: Dushan Konetchni)
- 1959 Michail Grobman, Mukhina Art Institute, Leningrad
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2007 Jews of Struggle- The Jewish National Movement in the USSR, 1967- 1989, Bet Hatefutsoth, Tel Aviv (cat.)
- 2007 Rebellious Art : Painters of the Second Russian Avant-garde from Kenda and Jacob Bar Gera’s Collection, Museum of History of City Lodz, Lodz
- 2007 La Deuxieme Avant-garde Moscou 1950-1970, Galerie Minotaure, Paris (cat. text: Lola Kantor- Kazovsky )
- 2007 Sotz- Art, Political art in Russia, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
- 2006 Black Coffee, Beit Hagefen, Haifa (cat. text: Hana Kofler )
- 2006 Times of change, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg (cat.)
- 2005 Avantgarde im Untergrund, Russische Nonkonformisten aus der Sammlung Bar–Gera, Kunstmuseum, Bern (cat. text: Evgeny Barabanov) Etched Voices, Yad-Vashem, Jerusalem (cat. texts: Judith Shen Dar, Sorin Heller)
- 2005 Accomplices, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (cat. text: Andrei Erofeev)
- 2004 Poeta pingens, The State Museum of Literature, Moscow (cat.)
- Cosmopalit, Ben-Gurion University, Beer-Sheva (cat. text: Haim Maor)
- 2003 Das Recht des Bildes, Judische Perspektiven in der Modernen Kunst,Museum Bochum (cat.)
- 2003 Persecuted art & artists, Under Totalitarian Regimes in Europe during the 20th Century, Monart Museum, Ashdod (cat.)
- 2003 Yes do yourself…, Regeneration of Judaism in Israeli art, Zman Omanut, Tel Aviv (cat. text: Gideon Ofrat)
- 2002 Matrimony, Beit Hagefen, Haifa (cat. text: Hana Kofler)
- 2001 Children, Beit Hagefen, Haifa (cat. text: Hana Kofler)
- 2000 Green not Cement, Artists Follow Poet H.N. Bialik, Tel-Aviv (cat. text: Doron Polak)
- 2000 Nonkonformisten 1955-1988, Markishes Museum, Witten (cat.)
- 2000 The Moscow Underground to Jindřzich Chalupecký, Galeria Ztihla Klika, Praha (cat. text: Jiři Šetlik)
- 1999 Open House, Beit Hagefen, Haifa (cat. text: Hana Kofler)
- Top 2000, Beit Hagefen, Haifa (cat. text: Hana Kofler)
- 1998 Aspects of Israeli Art of the 70’s: 1.The Boundaries of Language, Tel Aviv Museum of Art
- 1998 2.Tikkun, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel-Aviv University (cat. texts: Mordechai Omer, Ellen Ginton)
- 1998 Forbidden Art, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, The State Tretyakov Gallery,Moscow, Miami University Art Museum (Cat. texts: Alexander Borovsky, Evgeny Barabanov, John Bolt, Irena Vrubel- Golubkina)
- 1996-97 Nonconformists: The Second Russian Avant-garde, from the Bar Gera Collection, The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg; The State Tretyakov Gallery,Moscow; State Gallery, Frankfurt; Albers Museum, Bottrop, Germany; Kunsthalle, Leverkusen, Germany (cat. texts: Hans Peter Ruse, Evgeny Barabanov, Alexander Borovsky)
- 1996 Ketav: Flesh and Word in Israeli Art, Ackland Art Museum, North Carolina (cat. texts: Jerry Bolas, Gideon Ofrat, Michael Sgan-Cohen)
- 1995 Our Century, Ludwig Museum, Cologne (cat. texts: Marc Scheps, Barbara Tiemann, Stephanie M. Baumann, Jens Bove, Gerard Goodrow, Martin Spanting)
- 1994 The Printer’s Imprint, The Israel Museum, Jerusalem (cat. texts: Meira Perry-Lehmann, Arik Kilemnik)
- 1994 Anxiety, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan (cat. texts: Miriam Tovia-Boneh, Ilana Tenenbaum)
- 1994 Europa Europa: The Century of the Avant-garde in Central and Eastern Europe, Kunsthalle, Bonn (cat. texts: Pontus Hulten, Karl Ruhrberg, Richard Stanislavsky, Cristopher Brockhouse, Norman Davies, Sergei Averinzew, Krysztof Pomian)
- 1993 Understandable Art, The Museum of Israeli Art, Ramat Gan (cat. texts: Miriam Tovia-Boneh, Yevgeny Steiner)
- 1993 From Malevitch to Kabakov: Russian Avant-garde in the 20th Century, Ludwig Museum, Cologne (cat. texts: Marc Scheps, Eveli Weiss, Noemi Smolik, Stephan Diederich, Gerard A. Goodrow)
- 1991 The Return to Painting in Israeli Printmaking, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv
- 1991 Text-Image, Janco-Dada Museum, Ein Hod (cat. text: Sara Hackert)
- 1990 Different Art, The State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (cat.)
- 1990 The Museum as Collector, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv
- 1990 Chagall to Kitaj: The Jewish Experience in 20th Century Art, Barbican Art Gallery, London (cat. text: Avram Kampf)
- 1989 Wortlaut, K. Schopenhauer Gallery, Cologne (cat.)
- 1989 The Russian Avant-garde in the Early 20th Century, University Gallery, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva (cat. text: Haim Finkelshtein) Abattoir ’89, Marseilles (cat.)
- 1988 Avant-garde – Revolution – Avant-garde, Tel Aviv Museum of Art (cat. texts: Marc Scheps, Peter Spielmann)
- 1988 Upon One of the Mountains: Jerusalem in Israeli Art, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University (cat. text: Mordechai Omer)
- 1987 Art Works Done in Groups, K-18, Kassel (cat.)
- 1984 Transformations, The Genia Schreiber University Art Gallery, Tel Aviv University (cat. text: Mordechai Omer)
- 1982 Leviathan Group, Jerusalem Theatre (cat.)
- 1982 Russian Samyzdat Art, 1960-1982, Franklin Furance Gallery, New York; Chapaque Library Gallery, Washington, D.C. (leaflet)
- 1980 East European Art in the 20th Century, Museum of Art, Bochum, Germany (cat.)
- 1979 Leviathan Group, Artist’s House, Jerusalem (cat.)
- 1979 20 Years of Independent Art in the Soviet Union, Gallery of St. Mary’s College, Maryland (leaflet)
- 1978 Leviathan Group, Beth Uri and Rami Museum, Ashdot Yaacov (cat.)
- 1978 New Art from the Soviet Union, Pratt Institute Gallery, New York (leaflet)
- 1975 Progressive Trends in Moscow, 1970-1975, Museum of Art, Bochum, Germany (cat.)
- 1973 Modern Russian Art: Avant-garde Drawings, Ostwall Museum, Dortmund (cat.)
- 1970 New Trends in Moscow, Museum of Art, Lugano (cat.)
- 1969 The New Moscow School, Pananti Gallery, Florence;Bar Gallery,Stuttgart; Interior Gallery, Frankfurt
- 1969 The Russian Avant-garde Today, Gmurzinska Gallery,Cologne (cat.)
- 1968 The New Moscow School, Museum of Art, Ostrov-nad-Ozhy, Czechoslovakia (cat.)
- 1965 Artists from Moscow, Artists House, Moscow, Trade Union Club, Usti- nad- Orlicy, Czechoslovakia
- 1964 Patent Institute, Moscow
- 1963 Dostoevsky Museum,Moscow
- 1962 Young Artists, Udarnik Cinema, Moscow