Soviet Art

Skier 1931. Soviet artist Nikolay Dormidontov (4 February 1898 – 24 October 1962)

Soviet artist Nikolay Dormidontov was born 4 February 1898 in St. Petersburg. He studied at the Drawing School of Society for the Encouragement of Arts (1914-1918). His teachers were prominent Russian artists Arkady Rylov, Nikolay Roerich, Ivan Bilibin and Grigory Bobrovsky. After graduation from drawing school, he studied art in Vkhutemas (Higher Art and Technical Studios), in the workshops of D. Kordovsky, V. Shukhaev, K. Petrov-Vodkin, and V. Tatlin (1918-1922). He began participating in exhibitions of Soviet Art in 1922. Nikolay Dormidontov was the founder of The Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1922-32), and head of its Petrograd (later Leningrad) branch. In addition, he was a member of such Art associations as “Sixteen” (1926-1928) and “Workshop of artists” (1930-1932). Besides, he taught art in Leningrad Art-Industrial college (1923-29). In 1932 he became a member of Leningrad branch of the USSR Union of artists. During the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) he lived in besieged Leningrad, where he created a series of graphic works on the theme Leningrad in blockade.
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Still life. Soviet artist Nikolai Andreyevich Tyrsa 1887-1942

Soviet artist Nikolai Andreyevich Tyrsa (1887-1942) studied at the All Russian art school at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, workshop of Léon Bakst (1905-1910). Then, in 1907-1910 in the school of drawing and painting of EN Zvantseva, in the etching workshop of V.V. Mate. Nikolai Tyrsa was a member of association of “Union of Youth”, “World of Art” (1915), the Union of Left trends in art (1922) and “Four Arts” (1926 – 1928). In addition, he worked in the Department of Fine Arts of the People’s Commissariat of Education (1918-1920). He was engaged in easel painting, book illustration (mostly for children) and easel graphics (drawings, lithographs), arts and crafts. Besides, he performed sheets for “Fighting Pencil” (1939).
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Tea set. Soviet artist Anna Yatskevich. Lomonosov Porcelain Factory. Leningrad, the USSR. Gold medal at Brussels World’s Fair. 1958. Symbolic geometric pattern of famous Soviet porcelain

Symbolic geometric pattern of famous Soviet porcelain

Few people know that the famous geometric pattern of the Leningrad porcelain is a symbol of remembrance of the heroic feat of the blockade of Leningrad. The most famous pattern of the Leningrad porcelain – Cobalt net. It appeared shortly after the end of the blockade in 1944. It was not just a geometric pattern. The artist Anna Yatskevich, author of the famous blue logo of Lomonosov Porcelain Factory (LPF), painted with mesh porcelain tea set of sculptor Serafima Yakovleva, in memory of the taped crosswise windows of homes and cross spotlights illuminating the sky during the siege of Leningrad.
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By the northern sea way. Soviet artist Leonid Baikov 1919-1994

Soviet artist Leonid Baikov 1919-1994

Leonid Baikov (28 July 1919 – 17 June 1994) – Soviet Russian painter, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists of the RSFSR, and a veteran of Great Patriotic war.
Leonid Petrovich Baikov was born July 28, 1919 in the city of Vyshny Volochyok of Tver province. His father, Peter Ivanovich worked as a carpenter, and mother Elizaveta Baikova (nee Koroleva) was a seamstress and worked in housekeeping. In 1927 the family moved to live in Leningrad. In 1933 he began studying at the Art Studio at the secondary school of Vasileostrovsky district. A year later he took part in city competition of young talents, after which he became the student of Leningrad Secondary Art School at the Russian Academy of Arts. His teachers were Soviet artists Vladimir Gorb and Alexander Debler.
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A boy behind car window. 1937. Pastel on paper drawing by Soviet graphic artist Vasily Litko (1900-1939)

Soviet graphic artist Vasily Litko (1900-1939)

Vasily Yeliseevich Litko – Soviet graphic artist, book illustrator and designer, poster artist and portrait painter. He lived a short life, but left a bright trace in the Soviet art. The talented young man entered the Petrograd Academy of Arts when he was 16 years old. And in the age of 18, he worked in Tsaritsyno, as a graphic designer in such newspapers as “The South’s Truth” and “Soldier of the Revolution.” In 1919 Litko created posters and sketches by participating in the “Satire Windows of ROSTa” of the Western Military District and Red Army front-line magazine “Red bumblebee”. At the age of 24, he successfully graduated from the Higher Art and Technical Institute in Leningrad (VHUTEIN).
But even while still a student, he taught in the Kremlin Joint School of All-Russian Central Executive Committee of Soviets of Workers ‘and Soldiers’ Deputies. In addition, as the graphic artist, collaborated with a number of publishing houses in Moscow.
Unfortunately, in 1939 the artist died tragically hit by a train. And in the same 1939 in the Moscow branch of the Union of Artists of the USSR held a posthumous exhibition of the artist.
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Flowers, palette, and artist. 1973. Soviet Russian artist Andrey Pozdeyev (27 September 1926 – 12 July 1998)

Soviet Russian artist Andrey Pozdeyev

Andrey Pozdeyev (27 September 1926 – 12 July 1998) – member of the USSR Union of Artists (1961).
He was an artist with a capital letter, like no one else. Born and lived all his life in Siberia, he devoted his creativity to the native land.
Born September 27, 1926 in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, he began drawing in early childhood. In 1937 he participated in the contest of children’s drawings, dedicated to the centennial memory of Alexander Pushkin. For his magnificent portrait of the poet Andrey Pozdeyev received an award.
When the war began, the artist got a job at the plant, but then decided to go to the mother’s relatives. For such unauthorized action the artist received 6 years in prison. Pozdeyev kept his head and continued to paint in the colony, engaging in a variety of design of wall newspapers.
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Polar Willow grouses. Soviet Finnish painter Toivo Ryannel (1921-2012)

Soviet Finnish painter Toivo Ryannel – member of the USSR Union of artists (1947), Honored artist of RSFSR (1974) and People’s artist of Russia (1991). The Krasnoyarsk art connoisseurs pronounce the name of Toivo Rännäli with great respect. Finn, for whom Siberia became a second home, is the pride of the Krasnoyarsk Territory and the whole of Soviet art.
Toivo Vasilevich Ryannel, the future honorary academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, was born in 1921 in the village of Tozerovo near Petrograd. Siberia, where the exiled family of Ryannel moved in 1931, became for him an inexhaustible source of inspiration and love throughout his creative life. He drew from his childhood, and studied in the Omsk Art College. During the war, he taught drawing at the school, then went to the geological party surveys as a technician. During long taiga expeditions in his backpack always were paints, pencils, and paper. So, in the brief moments of rest he did a lot of sketches. Developing, changing over the years, the artist remained faithful to realism, the Russian academic school.
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