Soviet Art

USSR Culture

Soviet Estonian artist Elmar Yanovich Kits 1913-1972

V.I. Lenin. 1969. Oil canvas. State art museum of Estonian SSR, Tallin. Soviet Estonian artist Elmar Yanovich Kits (1913-1972)

V.I. Lenin. 1969. Oil canvas. State art museum of Estonian SSR, Tallin. Painting by Soviet Estonian artist Elmar Yanovich Kits (27 April 1913 – 24 March 1972)

Soviet Estonian artist Elmar Yanovich Kits (27 April 1913 – 24 March 1972) – People’s Artist of the Estonian SSR, laureate of the State Prize of the Estonian SSR. Born in 1913 in Tartu, in 1939 he graduated from the Higher Art School “Pallas” in Tallinn. And in 1944-1949 he taught at the Tartu Art Institute. Elmar Kits the author of paintings, portraits, still lifes and landscapes. Characterized by a desire for analysis and a broad generalization of life phenomena (triptych “Music, ballet, fine arts”, “Builders”), emotional and coloristic refinement.
In the canvas “V. I. Lenin “(1969), the artist finds the original form of a publicistic epic. The picture of revolutionary events consists of separate “frames” framing the central figure of Lenin. This method also creates a deep associative course of disclosure of the plot and at the same time enhances the moment of authenticity of the image. The tall imaginative structure did not deprive the picture of inner warmth and deep sincerity. Noble color, softly reminiscent of a fresco, contributes to the imaginative significance of the art.
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Soviet Estonian artist Olev Subbi 1930-2013

Soviet Estonian artist Olev Subbi (1930 - 2013)

Still life with a red carnation. 1968. Oil on canvas. Tretyakov Gallery. Painting by Soviet Estonian artist Olev Subbi (1930 – 2013)

Soviet Estonian artist Olev Subbi (1930 – 2013) – Honored Artist of the Estonian SSR (1976), People’s Artist of the Estonian SSR (1987), Honorary Foreign Member of the Russian Academy of Arts. The artist’s paintings are in the collection of the Estonian Art Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and the collections of other museums.
Laconic, subtly and artistically painted “Still Life with a Red Carnation” (1968). The environment and objects do not just coexist, come into contact – they are in continuous communication and interaction. Their colorful dialogue, paraded and mysterious, in its own way conveys the life hidden in nature and the emotionally excited feeling of a person arising from a meeting with nature.
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Soviet Georgian artist Jemal Nikolaevich Khutsishvili

Soviet Georgian artist Jemal Nikolaevich Khutsishvili

Autumn in Kakhetia. 1967. Oil on canvas. Painting by Soviet Georgian artist Jemal Nikolaevich Khutsishvili (born 1938)

born in 1938 in Telavi, Soviet Georgian artist Jemal Nikolaevich Khutsishvili did not get art education. However, he attended an art club at the House of Culture in Telavi, and from 1955 to 1958 studied under the guidance of artist S. Aslanov. The combination of humor and solemnity, imagination and authenticity, poetry and narrative creates a vivid identity of the creative manner of Jemal Khutsishvili. A special world of his paintings – real and fabulous at the same time. For example, the picture “Autumn in Kakhetia” (1967) seems to be composed of
Set of separate life scenes. The artist admires the touching details of the national way of life, painting out solid contours of figurines of people, conveys the vivacity of their characters and expressiveness of their gestures. In addition, he paints juicy fruits and bright utensils, transforming everything as a whole into a wide panorama of work and celebration. Georgian artist Jemal Nikolaevich Khutsishvili lives and works in Tbilisi.
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Soviet artist Alexey Dmitrievich Sokolov 1912-2004

Soviet artist Alexey Dmitrievich Sokolov 1912-2004

Gold balls. 1967. Canvas, tempera. State Russian Museum. Painting by Soviet artist Alexey Dmitrievich Sokolov (1912-2004)

Soviet artist Alexey Dmitrievich Sokolov (1912-2004) – a member of the USSR Union of Artists (1951) and veteran of WWII. He is the author of genre paintings, landscapes, portraits, and still lifes. Meanwhile, still life – not just a favorite genre in Sokolov’s work, it became for him one of the ways of figurative and poetic contemplation of the world, a kind of “dialogue” with nature. The artist depicts bouquets of flowers and dried herbs in an inexhaustible variety of forms, in his special plastic and poetry. Still life “Golden Balls” (1967) is distinguished by special skill in conveying the texture of plants, the musicality of painting, the complex transformation of the environment and objects, and deep emotionality.
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Soviet Latvian Artist Yanis Paulyuks 1906-1984

Soviet Latvian Artist Yanis Paulyuks 1906-1984

Let it always be sunshine. 1967. Oil, canvas. Soviet Latvian Artist Yanis Paulyuks 1906-1984

Soviet Latvian Artist Yanis Paulyuks was a Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Born in 1906 in Riga, he studied at the Latvian Academy of Arts. Author of paintings, portraits and landscapes, Paulyuks akin to virtuosic improvisation. Sometimes it may seem that his brush moves along the canvas almost casually, but such an impulsive manner corresponds to the artist’s intention. He subtly conveys his vision of the world (In the Garden, Football, Relay Team).
In the picture “Let it always be sunshine” (1967), the world seems being created before our eyes. But, preserving the sketchy freshness, the canvas has the inner completeness of the figurative solution. With great picturesque pathos the artist embodied the life-giving power of the sun, and the spring joy of childhood.
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Soviet artist Vladimir Fyodorovich Shtranikh 1888-1981

Soviet artist Vladimir Fyodorovich Shtranikh 1888-1981

Autumn on the southern borders of the country. 1963-1967. Canvas, oil. Soviet artist Vladimir Fyodorovich Shtranikh 1888-1981

Soviet artist Vladimir Fyodorovich Shtranikh
The landscape artist, Shtranikh created many lyrical paintings, but most of all the skill of the artist was manifested in the major industrial landscape. One of the main motives for his painting is the life of the fleet. The artist paints steel hulks of ships, floating docks, locks, and berths. He is keenly aware of the intense pulse of sea life, and can effectively convey the marine elements.
Like other canvases by the artist, “Autumn in the South Borders of the country” (1963-1967) shows the movement,
spewing energy, created by intense colorful sounds, elastic, tight brushstroke, and rhythmic distribution of color planes.
Born in 1988, Vladimir Shtranykh lived and worked in Moscow. People’s Artist of the USSR (1978), Honored Artist of the RSFSR, a member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. He graduated from the Moscow University of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1916, the workshops of A. Vasnetsov, A. Arkhipov, S. Malyutin, L. Pasternak, and K. Korovin.
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Soviet Estonian artist Leili Muuga 1922-2016

Soviet Estonian artist Leili Muuga (1922-2016)

Portrait of Anna Ekston. 1967. Oil on canvas. Soviet Estonian artist Leili Muuga (1922-2016)

Soviet Estonian artist Leili Muuga (1922-2016) – author of genre paintings, portraits and still lifes. As a portraitist, Muuga depicts people with a subtle and a complex inner world, a sublime and noble soul. Sensitively catching the shades of moods and feelings, she always gives a stable characteristic of the model, reveals its basic unchanging features.
In “Portrait of Anna Ekstoph” (1967), painted with great warmth and unconcealed sympathy, the nature of an elderly woman – a choreographer. All multifaceted complexity is in her artistic pose, her nervous hands. The intense inner life of the model is emphasized through the complex game of rigid graphic lines, and finely harmonized through the noble coloring.
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