Abram Efros

Born Apr. 21 (May 3), 1888, in Moscow; died there Nov. 19, 1954. Soviet Russian scholar of art, literature, and theater; translator.

Efros studied at the law faculty of Moscow University from 1907 to 1911. He taught at the Second State Free Art Studios in 1919 and 1920 and at the State Institute of Theatrical Arts in Moscow, the Middle Asian University in Tashkent, and other institutions in the 1940’s and 1950’s. Efros, who made his debut as a translator in 1909, translated the Song of Songs and works by Dante and Petrarch. From 1917 to 1929 he was on the staff of a museum.

Efros began his career as an art critic and essayist in 1911. His favorite genre is the critical portrait that reveals the characteristics of the creative work and personality of an artist, writer, or actor. He wrote in this genre on such figures as V. A. Serov, V. I. Surikov, P. V. Kuznetsov, V. A. Favorskii, G. Apollinaire, J. Cocteau, P. Valéry, and S. M. Mikhoels. During the 1930’s, Efros translated and edited literary works by, and documents pertaining to, G. Vasari, P. P. Rubens, V. Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, A. G. Venetsianov, and Sil’vestr Shchedrin. Efros studied the drawings of A. S. Pushkin.