Soviet Art

Congratulations with the gold medal! 1959 (diploma). Soviet painter-portraitist Elena Shegal (1924-1979)

Soviet painter-portraitist Elena Shegal (1924-1979) – Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1949).
Born June 23, 1924, Elena Grigorievna Shegal was the daughter of the prominent Soviet artist Grigory Mikhailovich Shegal (1889-1956). In the period of 1939-1941 she studied at the Moscow Secondary Art School, in the workshop of V.V. Pochitalov and her father Grigory Shegal. During the Great Patriotic War, 1941-1943 she lived in Bashkortostan. And after the war she graduated from the Moscow State Art Institute of Surikov (1949), where she studied in the workshops of I.I. Chekmazov and V.V. Favorsky, and raduated from the workshop of S.V. Gerasimov. Noteworthy, her diploma painting – “Congratulation with a gold medal!” (1959) – was exhibited at the art festival in Budapest, Hungary.
Read more »

Kukryniksy. Portrait Photo by Lev Ivanov. Soviet artists Lenin Prize Laureates

Soviet artists Lenin Prize Laureates
Noteworthy, the Lenin Prizes weге adjudged оn every birthday of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin ‘for works generally acknowledged as being best in literature, art, music, as well for the production of plays and acting in films and оn the stage‘. From the resolution by the Central Committee оf the Communist Party, and Соuncil оf Мinisters оf the USSR ‘Оn Lеnin Рrizes for the best works in sсiеnce, teсhnоlоgу, literature and аrt’. ‘Рrаvdа’. September 8, 1956.
This post features the most notable personalities in Soviet Art. In addition, the portraits of the awarded artists – work by Soviet photographer Lev Ivanov. These photographs appeared in the album prepared for the birthday centenary of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin by the Аvrora Art Publishers jointly with the Glаvроligгаfprоm Рrinting-hоusе # 5 attached to the Committee of the USSR Council оf Мinistеrs for Рrinting. And in the first photo – the trio of Kukryniksy – Mikhail Vasilievich Kupriyanov (b. 1903), Porfiry Nikitich Krylov (b. 1902), and Nikolai Aleksandrovich Sokolov (b. 1903). They received the highest award – the Lenin Рrize in 1965 for the series of political cartoons published in ‘Рravdа’ and ‘Кrокodil’.
Read more »

Soldiers. 1967. Oil, canvas. Ministry of culture of Latvian SSR. Painting by Soviet Latvian artist Karlis Dobrais (born 24 February 1943)

Soviet Latvian artist Karlis Dobrais
Born 24 February 1943 in the Sausnneja district of the Latvian SSR, in his childhood he attended Riga Art school of Rozental (1954—1961). And in 1970 he graduated from the State Academy of Arts of the Latvian SSR named after T. Zalkaln (the head of the thesis was E. F. Kalninsh).
The works of Karlis Dobrais attract the attention of spectators and art critics with an almost classical quality factor, a well-considered composition, every detail and every smear. Dobrais seemed to restrain the desire characteristic of any young and novice master to quickly find and approve his artistic self, more trust in the slow but steady organic growth process, collecting and accumulating creative forces.
In one of the first significant works of Dobrais – “Soldiers” (1967) – for all the dissimilarity of its stylistic manner to the almost sculptural pictorial language, which has become a kind of visiting card of the artist, the gravity and seriousness of the theme, clear logic of composition.
Read more »

Folk dance Kochari. 1967. Oil on canvas. Directorate of exhibitions of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Soviet Armenian artist Nana Gyulikekhvyan

Soviet Armenian artist Nana Gyulikekhvyan
Member of the USSR Union of artists, Honored artist of Armenian SSR, Nana Gyulikekhvyan was born in Leninakan. She studied at the Yerevan Art College (1942-1947) and the Art and Theater Institute (1948-1953), workshops of M.A. Aslamazyan and B.A. Kolozyan. Participant of exhibitions since 1954, including the All-Union Art Exhibition to the 50th anniversary of the USSR in Moscow (1972). Her works are mostly in the Nikolaev Art Museum.
In her work she often refers to the images of simple rural workers, to their uneasy life. It is in them that she sees the manifestation of the true essence of the Armenian people and the true poetry of the Armenian land. The roots of her art go to the very depth of popular life.
Read more »

Cold day (fragment). 1960. Oil on canvas. Painting by Soviet Georgian artist Elena Akhvlediani (1901-1975)

Soviet Georgian artist Elena Akhvlediani

There are masters who impress us with their constancy, fidelity once and for the whole life. This is Elena Akhvlediani – People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1960). Her love is Georgia, but the main thing that the artist devotes her work to is the beauty of Tbilisi, not subject to the action of time and history, an eternally blossoming and young city. With what indefatigable perseverance Akhvlediani again and again repeats her favorite composition – sticking on the slope of the mountain and as if hanging over each other’s houses! Of course, this does not exhaust the plot of her paintings.

Akhvlediani portrays Georgian village (Imereti, 1968), mountain landscapes (“Cold Day”, 1960), genre scenes (“Alazani Valley”, 1954), traditional for Georgian painting scenes of old spree, taking place directly on nature, with toasts, songs, and dances. The invariance of the theme helps the artist from year to year to improve her skills, find new artistic solutions. Despite some influence of primitivism (especially in the early years of creativity), her painting is classical. This definition applies equally to the external formal side, and to the inner purity and harmony of the sensations, feelings and thoughts that bring us the art of Elena Akhvlediani. No wonder in her youth she was fond of the Renaissance and traveled through Italy and France. The classics of Akhvlediani got a sense of proportionality, harmony in the picture, an in-depth, philosophical-lyrical understanding of nature.
Read more »

Festival. 1980. Oil on canvas. Painting by Soviet Azerbaijan artist Togrul Narimanbekov (August 7, 1930, Baku – June 2, 2013, Paris)

Works by the Soviet Azerbaijan artist Togrul Narimanbekov attracts us with a special sharpness, saturation, strength of color, and energy. Watching his pictures, we plunge into the tense world of emotional experiences, inner clashes, drama, into a world of full-blooded joy, temperament, a world of courage and fortitude. Cheerful and sad, pensive and happy, dancing and singing – Azerbaijan has found its reflection in the paintings of Narimanbekov.
Painting “Festival” (1980) – decorative and festive, built on the intense color rhythm, which comes back to the national traditions of Azerbaijani art.
Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1955), People’s Artist of Azerbaijan (1967) and People’s Artist of the USSR (1989), Narimanbekov lived and worked in Baku and Paris. He worked in the style of abstractionism and figurativism. First, he got his art education at the Azerbaijan Art School named after Azim Azimzade. Then, from 1950 to 1955 – at the Lithuanian Art Institute in Vilnius. Permanent participant of art exhibitions since 1952, his personal exhibitions took place in Baku (1961, 1965 and 1975), Moscow (1967 and 1972), Vilnius (1972), Volgograd (1973), and in Lvov (1975). In addition, he presented his paintings abroad – Prague (1965), Wroclaw, Warsaw and Sopot (1973).
Read more »

The village of Gridino. 1972. Soviet landscape painter Sulo Yuntunen 1915-1980

Soviet landscape painter Sulo Yuntunen
Rightly considered the pioneer of the modern Karelian landscape, Sulo Yuntunen managed to look at the nature of Karelia through the eyes of our contemporary, to plastically comprehend it in a new way. According to the artist, it is not enough to admire nature. This will inevitably lead to copying. You will work “under Levitan” or “under Van Gogh.” In order to show life in its own way, one must learn to think.”
Member of the USSR Union of artists (1946)
Read more »