Michael Levin is a painter, poet, journalist and resides and works in Kiryat-Yam. His life consists of both tragic events and happy meeting influenced on choice of the life road.
Michel was born in an intelligent Jewish family at Moscow in 1938. His father Nahum James Levin was a teacher on Jewish aesthetics and literature at the studio of the State Jewish theatre with the manager Solomon Michoels, as well as chief editor of Jewish antifascist committee. Michael’s mother Sara Michael Levin was an actress of the State Jewish theatre. The Jewish antifascist committee was abolished in 1948, and his managers were subjected to repression. The father as the chief editor of the Jewish antifascist committee (JAC) was shot and the mother was exiled to Siberia. The children, eleven-year-old Michael and his five-year-old sister Miriam were sent to a children’s prison for people enemies’ children – Moscow Danilov’s cloister. At a later time the children were deported to the mother’s exile. There were a lot of exiled celebrities in the village Taseevo, Krasnoyarsk region, much more than natives. The first epochal meeting which determined all further fate of Michael took place here. The academician of painting Sergey Osipov was among deportees who became his first teacher of painting. Michael Levin narrates – “He was the only person out of all celebrities deported to this village who had attracted me. I made acquaintance with the real “vivid” academician of painting at the first time in my 11 ears. He resided not far from us. All walls of his Siberian house were hanged with huge canvases with pictures of taiga. It was like the socialistic realism, as I understand now, but what kind of it? His taiga provoked terror and delight simultaneously. Here are the profound ravines covered with snow, the whole of gamut is dark blue and overhung gloomy woods and heavy even black pine pads…As it seems to me, he went in for me with pleasure. But may be the reason is that I was his only pupil?”
      After rehabilitation in 1956 the family came back to Moscow. Sara Michael could not find the job because S.Michoels’ theatre had been destroyed and the former Stalin’s cadres still remained on key posts.
      A still important event took place during this arduous period. Getting to know from acquaintances about their tragic fate, Korney Ivanovich Chukovsky invited the whole family to his dacha in Peredelkino. The dacha was big and two-storeyed, and opposite the gardener’s empty house. Sara Michael repaired it and the family settled in it. She worked in the K.I.Chukovsky library, put on the stage children’s plays according to K.I.Chukovsky’s fairy tales and arranged children’s festivals in the pine forest of his plot.
      Still one remarkable meeting took place here, in Peredelkino, with the famous painter and brilliant drawer Vladimir Shishkin, great grand-son of famous I.I.Shishkin. Michael has coped with skill of fast drawing making fast strokes in the notebook a day under leadership of V.Shishkin. He made his drawings in the subway, and as early as after a month, when the hill of notebooks with drawings had grown up, the technique and cognate faces of smiling, disputing and crying people have appeared.
      Later on he studied at the higher artistic-industrial school by name of Repin and served in the Navy. AS soon as he was demobilized, the family moved to Riga. The Jewish themes prevailed in Michail’s creative work at this period. He became acquainted with absolutely different painting in Riga. There socialistic realism was like a veil, and the modern European painting was visible under it. And this manner of painting attracted him much more as compared with teaching at the artistic school. He participated in many exhibits of young painters at this point.
The next turning-point of the fate, and Michael appeared at the extreme North. He worked as a correspondent of the newspaper “Soviet Taimir”, draw trans-polar North, taught small dolga and nganasan to draw, rode on dogs and raindeers along the whole Taimir towards hunters and herders. On coming back to Riga he continued to devote himself for journalism and of course artistic creative work. His personal exhibit took place at the Riga polytechnic institute.
      The whole family has been repatriated for Israel in 1993. At first they resided in Gilo, Jerusalem where their friends and known painters lived. At present Michael Levin lives in Kiryat-Yam. Being mobile and smart(looks younger of his age) he continues to work actively. He writes pictures and verses which are being printed in the magazine of the Israel Writers Union “Galilee”, contributes to newspapers. His pictures are exhibited at many collective and personal exhibitions in Arad, Haifa, Krayot. The pictures and verses by Michael Levin reflect his perception of life and artistic impressions which he divides among readers and audience generously.