Soviet Art

Portrait of E.M. Bebutova. 1922. Soviet Russian painter Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov (17 November, 1878, Saratov – 21 February, 1968, Moscow)

Soviet Russian painter Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov (17 November, 1878, Saratov – 21 February, 1968, Moscow) quickly and unconditionally accepted the revolution. He genuinely believed in the slogans it proclaimed. And believed that, just after the victory of the October Revolution, art should have been assigned one of the most crucial roles in the grandiose plans for building a new life. He actively participated in the design of public holidays, and was an initiative member of the Department of Fine Arts Commission and the protection of monuments of art and antiquities of the Moscow Soviet of Workers’ and Red Army deputies.
Simultaneously, the artist worked in the College of Fine Arts, and even before the October days, in July 1917, he became an art editor of the magazine “The Way of Liberation”, combining it with teaching at the Stroganov School of Monumental Painting. In 1918 he became elected professor at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In both educational institutions, Kuznetsov directed the workshops, and when the two free art workshops merged, Kuznetsov headed the united monumental workshop up until the end of 1929.
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To the light. Triptych. Central part. Oil. 1970. Soviet Turkmen artist Chary Amangeldyev (born July 5, 1933)

Soviet Turkmen artist Chary Amangeldyev – member of the USSR Union of artists, People’s Artist of the Republic of Turkmenistan.
Born on July 5, 1933 in Ashgabat, he graduated from the Ashkhabad Art College in 1951 and the Moscow State Art Institute named after VI Surikov in 1965. His thesis work was “Turkmen carpet-weavers” (led by famous Soviet artist D.K. Mochalsky). Meanwhile, in the Moscow State Art Institute Chary Amangeldyev first received a diploma of a restorer, and then graduated from painting department.
Amangeldyev was a permanent participant of All-Union, republican, and international exhibitions of Soviet Art since 1957. And his personal exhibitions took place in 1974, 1983 in Turkmen State Museum of Fine Arts, Ashgabat. Besides, he was a participant of the 2nd Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2002. His creativity no longer fit into the borders of Turkmenistan and the entire Soviet Union and went beyond them.
Associate Professor of the Turkmen Academy of Arts (1998-2004), Chary Amangeldyev made creative trips to Argentina, Bulgaria, Iran, Mongolia, Turkey, and Japan. His works are in the Turkmen State Museum of Fine Arts in Ashgabat, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow, and in private collections in the former USSR and abroad.
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Tonya, portrait. Oil on cardboard. Painting by Soviet artist Boris Ivanovich Vagin (1920-2002)

Soviet artist Boris Ivanovich Vagin – talented Russian painter born in Tula. In his childhood, he studied in the Tula art school. Later, in 1936, he moved to Leningrad to study at the Leningrad Art Studio. After having graduated from the studio, in 1939, he returned to his native Tula, where he lived and worked till his last days. Since 1941, he took an active part in the city, regional and zonal exhibitions of Soviet Art, including Moscow region. In addition, his personal exhibition took place in Tula in 1979. Works by Boris Ivanovich Vagin are in the State art museum in Tula, many regional museums, the Art Fund of the Russian Federation, as well as in private collections, sold at Western, Russian and Ukrainian auctions.
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Caucasian. 1979. Oil on canvas. Soviet Russian painter Viktor Ladeyschikov (born 1928, Sverdlovsk – died 1987, Kiev, the USSR)

Soviet Russian painter Viktor Ladeyschikov
Born in the village of Istok of Sverdlovsk region, Russia, Viktor Leonidovich graduated from the Sverdlovsk Art College (1950). Later, he moved to the Ukraine, where he entered the Kiev Art Institute, from which he graduated in 1956. He studied in the workshops of master of Soviet Art K. Trokhimenko and participated in republic art exhibitions while still a student. The same 1956 Ladeyschikov participated in All Union exhibitions of Soviet art and became the member of the USSR Union of Artists. Socialist realism artist, he worked mostly in the field of easel painting, and in particular, genre painting.
He created several paintings dedicated to social life. The artist’s works are in many regional museums of Russia and Ukraine and in private collections in Russia, as well as in England, Germany, Spain, and Japan. Works of the artist are very rare in the art market.

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New Settlers. Oil on canvas. 1965. Soviet Belarusian artist Mai Dantsig (27 April, 1930 – 26 March, 2017)

Soviet Belarusian artist Mai Dantsig 1930-2017

The passion for bright large canvases, life-affirming pathos, publicism are characteristic of the work of Mai Danzig. The artist perceives reality as if on a widescreen scale and speaks with the viewer in full force of voice and in full measure of emotions. Even the names of his paintings sounded exalted: “The Soligorsk land is rumbling”, “Belarus is the mother of the partisans” …
Danzig began with sketches, genre scenes and portraits. He painted the secluded corners of Minsk against the background of the sky with white clouds reminiscent of flying sails. He deployed on the canvases the prospects of squares and quarters with cranes, created a series of picturesque reports from the new buildings of the republic.
In the painting “New settlers” the artist clearly pretends to cause in the viewer complex associations. In the smiles and poses of his heroes, in the spaciousness of a freshly painted room, not cluttered with things of sustainable well-being, he seeks to express not so much the joy of a young family who has received a new apartment, but the bright and solemn feelings of the builders of a new life.
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Geese-swans. 1970s. Lithography. Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Bendinger (1924-2012)

Soviet graphic artist Vladimir Bendinger was born April 14, 1924 in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk. In 1948-53 he studied at the Leningrad Artistic and Pedagogical School, in the workshops of Soviet artists Vladimir Sudakov, and G.A. Shakh.
Participated in exhibitions since 1948. Member of the Leningrad and the USSR Union of Artists (1974). He mostly worked in print techniques of linocut and woodcut. Main themes in creativity of Bendinger – nature and landscapes of his country.
Vladimir Adolfovich Bendinger died in 2012 in St. Petersburg.
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Self-portrait. Soviet artist Vasily Prokofievich Yefanov (November 23, 1900 – March 3, 1978)

Soviet artist Vasily Prokofievich Yefanov (1900-1978) was a master of the ceremonial portrait, communist (since 1954), and five-time winner of the Stalin Prize (1941, 1946, 1948, 1950, 1952). Besides, a full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947) and People’s Artist of the USSR (1965). For his 50 years of artistic life, Yefanov has created a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries. His paintings entered the treasury of Soviet art. The master of the portrait and the teacher, Yefanov brought up a whole galaxy of young talented Soviet artists who took a prominent place in Soviet art.
Born on 23rd November 1900 in Samara, he studied at the local Art and Industrial College (1917-1921). After unsuccessful attempts to enter the Petrograd Free Art Workshops (the former Academy of Arts) and the Moscow Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (Vhutemas), in 1922 he moved to Moscow. There he studied at the studios of AE Arkhipov (1922) and DN Kardovsky (1922-1926).
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