Soviet Art

Still life with mask. 1934. Soviet artist Beniamin Basov 1933-2000

Soviet artist Beniamin Basov
The bright, changeable, sometimes full of contrasts the life of the Soviet art has left its mark on the creative biography of the vast majority of artists who started their way into the post-war years. Considering many of them, you see how changed the language of art over the years, finding new forms, and new themes.
Beniamin Basov seemed to stand apart from these rather drastic changes. Since that time, he graduated from the Moscow Art Institute (1948), and his work developed by its own laws, while maintaining amazing consistency and integrity. Having received from his teachers (primarily from Sergei Vasilyevich Gerasimov) traditions of Russian realistic art, Basov stays true to this tradition. His paintings and drawings always maintain the vitality of the observations, the accuracy of the figure, and the objectivity of artistic vision. These qualities are inherent in the art of Basov constantly – from the mid-fifties to his last day.
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Sunset in Buzovny. 1973-1974. Oil on canvas. Property of artist. Soviet Azerbaijani artist Farhad Khalilov

Soviet Azerbaijani artist Farhad Khalilov

Generation of Soviet Azerbaijani painters to which Farhad Khalilov (b. 1946) belongs, began his career with a sense of gratitude to his senior colleagues. Tahir Salahov and Tofig Javadov, each in its own way, discovered the painting world of industry people, stern, and reserved. In the sixties, the concept of “Soviet Azerbaijani school of painting” has acquired a new meaning. It has been widely accepted outside the republic as a significant and independent phenomenon. In the canvases of Farhad Khalilov, we also immediately feel the internal relationship with these new traditions of Azerbaijani painting. And in the understanding of color, and in a hidden but undeniable sense of decoration, and the temperamental brush.
Khalilov began studying at the Stroganov School of Industrial Art, then, after a long break, he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Printing. And at the same time, perhaps, never seriously intended to leave for any applied arts, or in the book, and all the time was drawing, studying and perfecting the craft of the painter.
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Alexander Nikolayev (Usto Mumin). 1897-1957. Dutar player. 1920s. Tempera on panel. Tashkent art museum of Soviet Uzbekistan

Tashkent art museum of Soviet Uzbekistan

Today the Tashkent art museum boasts an excellent collection of Russian paintings. The inimitable originality of eighteenth century portraiture is reflected in the works of А. Antropov, D. Levitsky, F. Rokotov and V. Borovikovsky. Besides, there аге portraits and urban landscapes created by unknown artists of the eighteenth and early 19th centuries. The material amassed in the Museum gives ап idea of the diversity of themes and the depth of insight into life characteristic of early nineteenth century Russian artists, as well as of the development of genre, landscape and portrait painting in the 19th century.
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Vasily Vereshchagin. 1842-1904. Opium eaters. 1867. Oil on canvas. Soviet Uzbekistan Art museum collection

Soviet Uzbekistan Art museum collection

The first state art museum in central Asia was established at а time when the young Soviet Republic, despite the complex international situation, foreign intervention and economic disruption, was taking all possible measures to save and preserve the art treasures that were its national heritage. It is above all with this in mind that the Soviet government issued its first decrees of 1917-18 оп the nationalization of museums and private collections, and оп the preservation of historic and artistic monuments. All this was in complete accord with the general aims of the Soviet government in its attempt to bring about а cultural revolution.
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Self-portrait. Oil on canvas. 1962. Soviet art painter Maya Andreevna Korotkova

Soviet art painter Maya Andreevna Korotkova – Member of the USSR Union of Artists.
Maya Korotkova was born in 1925. Since childhood, drawing was a constant need for her, and a vital necessity. After the war, she graduated from the Leningrad Art College. As a thesis Maya Andreevna chose a thematic painting “Meeting of V.Belinsky with M. Lermontov.” And her further training skills continued at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after Repin. Here her teachers were V.M.Oreshnikov and AA Mylnikov. Her thesis painting “At the festival” was a success. The main Soviet magazines, such as “Ogonyok”, “Youth” and “Rabotnitsa” immediately published reproductions of this work.
Works by Korotkova in 60s-70s characterize her as a bright representative of socialist realism art. At that time, she has traveled around the country with creative trips. Paintings, dedicated to rural themes, created during a trip to the farm “Comintern” of Sumy region: “Poultry farm”, “Milk farm”, “Shepherds on the farm”, and others. The portraits of farmers are very interesting. Contrasting shade, tanned faces, the transmission of sunlight, and major mood characterize these works.
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Before holiday. In the village shop. 1957. Oil on canvas, painting by Soviet artist Viktor Kiselev (12 July 1907 – 14 June 1985)

Soviet artist Viktor Kiselev (12 July 1907 – 14 June 1985) – painter, member of the USSR Union of Artists (1945), Honored Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the State Prize of Ilya Repin. Born in the village of Komarovka of Simbirsk, now Mainsky district of the Ulyanovsk region, he studied painting in the workshop of the famous representative of Soviet art Arkady Plastov. In addition, he studied at the art courses in Moscow (1929-1930), and in the Moscow art Institute of Surikov (1936-1941), workshop of S. Gerasimov. The main theme of his creativity – work and life of the Soviet peasantry. And the main characters of his paintings are his countrymen and villagers. The artist often painted his father, Vasily Osipovich (“The Return”, “Harvest”, “On leave.” The works of Soviet artist Kiselev are kept in the Ulyanovsk Regional Art Museum. And among them are such paintings, as “At the apiary”, “Zina”, “Before the feast,” “The sultry noon,” “Rye in the wind”, “On leave”, and more. Viktor Kiselev died June 14, 1985 in his native village.
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Fragment of painting “Golden autumn”. North Ossetian men reading newspaper. Oil on Canvas. 1957. Soviet artist Pavel Mironovich Zaron (1915-1991)

Soviet artist Pavel Mironovich Zaron was born December 15, 1915. Member of the USSR Union of artists, Honored artist of the RSFSR (1960). Honored Art Worker of the North Ossetian Autonomous Soviet Socialist republic. He lived and worked in the capital city of North Osetia – Ordzhonikidze. Pavel Zaron is the author of such paintings, as “In the mountains of Ossetia”, “On the Waves”, “Rocks”, “Golden Autumn” and others. Soviet artist Pavel Zaron died in 1991. Unfortunately, other details about the artist are unknown. However, it is known that for some time the artist spent in the Stalin Gulag. According to the same source (ossetia.news), Pavel was born in Kiev, into a Jewish family. In 1934, aged 18 was arrested and exiled to the Soviet north. After his release he settled in Vladikavkaz, where started a family and became a well-known artist. Pavel was one of those whose work had a great influence on the development of the Soviet Art, and in particular, Ossetian painting.
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