Soviet Art

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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Soviet artist Kapitolina Rumyantseva (16 December 1925 – August 8, 2002)

Soviet artist Kapitolina Rumyantseva was born December 16, 1925 in Leningrad, the USSR. In 1945-1950 she studied at the Leningrad artistic and pedagogical school, workshops of G. Shakh, D. Ryazanskaya, V. Petrova, and M.Shuvaev. After graduation, in 1950-1969 she taught art in schools of Moscow and Vasileostrovsky districts of Leningrad. Since 1969, she worked as an artist of easel and monumental painting in the workshop of pictorial and decorative arts. Simultaneously, since the beginning of the 1950s she worked creatively, and mostly in the genre of landscape and still life. Since 1970 Kapitolina Rumyantseva participated in exhibitions. In 1973 she became a member of the Leningrad branch of the USSR Union of Artists.
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Rear to Front. Magnitogorsk. Authors – Soviet sculptor Lev Golovnitsky, architect – Yakov Belopolsky. Material – bronze, granite. Height – 15 meters

Soviet sculptor Lev Golovnitsky (10 December 1929 – 29 April 1994) – People’s Artist of the RSFSR, member of the USSR Academy of Arts, and laureate of the RSFSR State Prize of Repin. Golovnitsky worked in the style of socialist realism. His work reflects the prominent figures and important events of the Soviet state. Chelyabinsk sculptor is the author of monuments to Vladimir Lenin, “Eaglet” in Chelyabinsk, the monument “Rear – to front” in Magnitogorsk and many others. Today, without the works of the sculptor is hard to imagine Chelyabinsk and other cities of the South Urals.
Born December 10, 1929 in the city of Kurgan, already in 1932 three-year-old Lev and his family moved to Chelyabinsk. From an early age the boy showed interest in drawing. From 1944 to 1947 he worked in the art studio of the Palace of Pioneers named after Nadezhda Krupskaya.
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Classes in the gym of the Children Youth Sport school ‘Burevestnik’. 1961. Soviet graphic artist Oleg Vishnyakov (11 December 1935 – 2012)

Soviet graphic artist Oleg Vishnyakov (11 December 1935 – 2012) – Stalin Prize winner, member of the Union of Artists of the USSR, the Union of Journalists of Russia and a member of the Board of the Union of Journalists of Moscow. Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR Union of Journalists (1987) for a series of works “The image of the contemporary.” Member of the Royal Academy of Cambodia. For two years he taught at the Moscow State Art Institute named after Surikov.
Oleg Vishnyakov was born December 11, 1935. In 1955 he graduated from the Moscow Art School. In 1955-1961 he studied at the Moscow State Art Institute named after VI Surikov (workshop of PD Pokarzhevsky). For success in studies he was awarded the Stalin Prize.
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