He was born in Chisināu and spent his childhood in Odessa. He studied at the Odessa School of the Arts under the guidance of Vulf Reingbald, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts in S.t Petersburg. He later participated in lu. Bersadsky art classes. In the years 1935-1930, he studied at the Institute of Art in Odessa, with Professor T. Faerman. Since 1929, he has been a member of the Revolutionary Art Association ofUkraine. In 1930-1932, he taught at the Odessa Art Institute, in 1932 he moved to Moscow and dedicated himself to creative activity. In 1942-1945, he served in the mi- litary service. After World WarII, he taught at the studio of artists with war disabilities and at the School of Art for Children (1946-1967). Iosif Gurvich played in the 1960s an important role in rescuing theZamoskvorechye district of Moscow from destruc- tion. He photographed all the old houses in the Zamoskvorechye district, took large photographs of these historic buildings, multiplied them into several copies, traversed the images of the houses in red gouachephotographs, and sent all the copies to each of the Political Office members of the Central Committee of CPSU with appropriate comments. As a result, Zamoskvorechye was saved from demolition. Both ofhis chil- dren became artists- Mihail Gurvich and Elena Gurvich. His works are in the collec- tions of the Soviet Union.