Biography

Arkadi Natanov was born in 1954 in Bukhara, a city in the Central Asian republic of Uzbekistan. He began drawing at an early age. His family had limited means, so Arkadi drew on food wrapping paper and used old toothbrushes as paintbrushes. After secondary school and military service, he trained as a painter at the Academy of Fine Arts in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. There he learned the foundations of painting, including perspective and the choice of materials. His studies and work had to follow the requirements of the state.

Over time, Natanov felt increasingly constrained creatively by the Soviet system. Together with a group of like-minded artists, he secretly experimented with new forms of art. The West, and Western art in particular, became increasingly appealing. This feeling was gradually reinforced by experiences of insecurity for him and his young family, who were part of the Jewish diaspora.

Arkadi, his wife Anna and their two young children therefore moved west. On arriving in the Netherlands, they found temporary accommodation in an emergency reception centre. Natanov continued painting and soon attracted attention for a mural on a school’s bicycle shelter. When the family moved to a reception centre in Putten, his paintings on its walls again drew attention.

Interest in his work and the publicity surrounding him grew. In 1994, the family settled in Barneveld and received a temporary residence permit. With the help of an art collector, they found a house. Together with a couple who had become friends, they converted the barn into a studio.

The family applied for Dutch citizenship, which was granted with recommendations from, among others, Rudi Fuchs, former director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, and Edward van Voolen, former curator of the Jewish Historical Museum.

Fuchs wrote that Natanov’s presence in the Netherlands would further enrich the country’s already diverse visual arts. Van Voolen wrote: “With great interest I looked at your colourful work, which gives a very cheerful impression of Jewish life.”

Arkadi and Anna Natanov have now lived in the Netherlands for more than thirty years, and their two children have left home.