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Modest Stein

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Modest Stein (1871-1958), born Modest Aronstam, was a Russian-born American illustrator and supporter of the anarchists Alexander Berkman and Emma Goldman.

Early life

Stein was born Modest Aronstam in Kovno, Russian Empire, on February 22, 1871. He was the cousin of Alexander Berkman, on Berkman's mother's side. Stein's father, Lazar Aronstam, was a pharmacist who moved to Kovno from Vilna. Stein attended gymnasium with Berkman, and left Russia for the United States in 1888, soon after Berkman did.

Stein met up with Berkman in New York City soon after arriving. Berkman introduced him to Emma Goldman, and the three shared an apartment, both men becoming romantically involved with Goldman. On July 25, 1892, after Berkman's unsuccessful assassination attempt on Henry Clay Frick, Stein followed to Pittsburgh with pockets full of dynamite to finish the job, but saw a newspaper with a headline warning against "Aaron Stamm" as a Berkman conspirator. Stein became frightened, left the dynamite in an outhouse and returned to New York.

Success

"A Live Wire", cover of Puck (magazine) v. 76, no. 1953, for August 8, 1914, painted by Modest Stein.

In the late 1890s, Stein worked as a pen and ink artist for the New York World and The New York Sun newspapers, and found even greater success as an illustrator for periodicals such as Argosy. With success, Stein reduced direct involvement with the anarchist movement, though kept supporting his old friends financially. Besides Berkman and Goldman, he was also a friend of Hippolyte Havel and Harry Kelly. He was sympathetic to the Bolshevik Revolution until he visited the Soviet Union in 1931, and Goldman and Berkman in southern France in the later 1930s.

Stein died in New York City, on February 26, 1958.

Family

Stein married photographer Marcia Mishkin on June 18, 1899. She was born in Minsk, Russian Empire, circa 1875, and emigrated to New York in 1885, along with her brother, Herman Mishkin. Both siblings became interested in the new art of photography, with Herman eventually becoming official photographer for the Metropolitan Opera 1905-1932. Marcia began work as a commercial portrait photographer in the mid 1890s. Her career significantly expanded in 1919, when she was hired by the French government to publicize a season of New York art and theater, after which magazines such as Theatre and Vanity Fair began publishing her photos of stage performers.

The Steins' only child, a daughter, Luba, was born in 1902. In 1907, Herman Mishkin became father of Leo Mishkin, making him the Steins' nephew. Leo Mishkin became a renowned theater, film, and television critic.



References

  1. ^ "Luba Stein Benenson", interviewed by Paul Avrich, in Anarchist Voices: An Oral History of Anarchism in America, AK Press, 2005, pp 55-56.
  2. Shields, Dr. David S. "Marcia Stein". Broadway Photographs. University of South Carolina. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  3. "Leo Mishkin, Reviewed Movies, Theater and TV". New York Times. December 31, 1980. Retrieved 2012-11-17. Born in New York the son of Herman Mishkin, photographer of the Metropolitan Opera from 1905 to 1932, Mr. Mishkin began his career as an office boy in the ... {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)


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