Soviet Art

Model airplane constructors, 1934. Saratov State Art Museum named after AN Radishchev. Soviet artist Boris Milovidov (12 November, 1902 – June 17, 1975)

Soviet artist Boris Milovidov (12 November, 1902 – June 17, 1975) – member of the USSR Union of Artists (1937), Artists Union of RSFSR, Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1973), Veteran of the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Boris Milovidov was born on November 12, 1902 in Saratov. According to his memoirs, he has always wanted to become an artist. Aged 16, he entered Higher State free art workshops (Saratov), which by the time of graduation in 1926 were converted into Art College. While a student, he studied the realistic traditions of the Soviet Art school. And in particular, the Saratov art school, originating from the realist school of Wanderers times. And just after graduating, he began working as a teacher. In his Alma mater, Saratov art college, he had worked for more than 40 years. He taught decorative drawing, painting and lithography until 1963. Boris Milovidov – an artist of a wide creative range. He worked in oil and tempera painting, gouache, watercolor, mixed media, graphics (using pencil, ink, Chinese ink, sauce, wet charcoal, and pen), studied lithography, book graphics and posters.
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A girl with books. Oil on canvas. Painting by Soviet artist Dmitry Belyaev (18 November 1921 – 25 September 2007)

Soviet artist Dmitry Belyaev (18 November 1921 – 25 September 2007) – a member of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Soviet Artists (1952). Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1998), Winner of the St. Petersburg government award in the field of literature, art and architecture (2004) for a series of works created in recent years. Laureate of Ilya Repin State Prize (2005). Member of Peter’s Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Soviet artist Dmitry Vasilievich Belyayev was born in the village of Ryazan Province. In 1929, after his mother’s death, the family moved to Moscow. First, Dmitry Belyaev studied in the studio of the Moscow House of Pioneers of the Bauman district, then in the Art School in memory of 1905. On the last course drafted into the Red Army. Member of the Great Patriotic War, fought in the South-West and the 2nd Ukrainian Front – was the commander of the tank compartment, was injured. Among his military awards are the Order of the Red Star, Patriotic War of the first degree, medals “For Victory over Germany” and others.
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Our locomotive goes forward! 1972. Oil, canvas. Painting by Soviet artist Revold Baryshnikov (18 November 1924 – 5 August 1985)

Soviet artist Revold Baryshnikov (18 November 1924 – 5 August 1985) – Member of the Union of Artists of the Ukrainian SSR (1960) and Honored Artist of Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic (1976). Revold Vladimirovich Baryshnikov was born November 18, 1924 in the city of Kharkov of Ukrainian SSR. The artist’s name Revold comes from the phrase “revolutionary movement”. In 1941, he graduated from art school and went to the front. He is a veteran of the the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). In 1948-1954 he studied at the Kharkov Art Institute, in the workshops of the Soviet artists S. Besedin and G. Tomenko. Revold Baryshnikov paid much attention to the military-patriotic theme, the reflection of the collective work and life of Soviet youth. He created many of his paintings under the influence of the “severe style”. Besides, his paintings are distinguished by laconically imaginative solutions.
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Snow Maiden. 1964. Soviet painter Elza Davidovna Khokhlovkina (born 1934, Donetsk)

Soviet painter Elza Davidovna Khokhlovkina – Member of the USSR Union of Artists (1960). The artist adheres to realistic direction, and works in the such genre of paintings as landscapes, still lifes and portraits.
Elza Khokhlovkina was born in 1934 in Donetsk. In 1953, she graduated from the Moscow Art School, where she studied in the workshops of A.P. Shorchev, N.I. Andriyaka, A.P. Gorsky, and N.K. Solomin. In 1953-1959 she studied at the Faculty of Painting of Moscow State Art Institute of Surikov. Her teachers were such prominent Soviet artists as professors P.P. Sokolov-Skalya, N.P. Khristolyubov and P.D. Pokarzhevsky. In 1959 she graduated from the institute with the diploma painting “Skiers in Sokolniki”. Upon graduation, Khokhlovkina worked on the order of the USSR Academy of Fine Arts under the direction of A. Plastov and TG Gaponenko. Painting “Khokhloma masters” is at the Museum of Russian Art in Kazan.
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The writer Valentin Rasputin. Tempera. 1981. Soviet artist Anatoly Ivanovich Alexeyev

Soviet artist Anatoly Ivanovich Alexeyev was born on 23 January 1929, in the Altai Territory of the USSR. In 1956, he graduated from the Kharkov State Art Institute, where he studied in the workshop of S.F. Besedin. In his original work, eventful history of Siberia and the Far East. No matter whom he draws – a nameless boarder guard on duty or a famous Soviet writer Valentin Rasputin, a graceful girl from the Gobi or a young builder of BAM – every portrait captivates with the inner dignity and moral integrity of character.
Anatoly Alexeyev is a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1988), Secretary of Department of “Ural, Siberia, and Far East” Union (1987), People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1981). From 1964 to 1975 – Chairman of the Board of the Irkutsk organization of the Artists Union of the RSFSR (1972-1988), Secretary of the Union of artists of the USSR (1983-1991), and in 1987 – Acting academician-Secretary of the Siberian-Far Eastern Branch of the USSR Academy of Arts.
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Sport girls. 1953. Oil on canvas. Soviet artist restorer Mikhail Devyatov (born 1928)

Soviet artist restorer Mikhail Devyatov – painter, graphic artist, and teacher. A member of the USSR Union of Artists, an Honored Artist of the RSFSR. He is one of the initiators of the establishment within the Union of artists the independent section of restoration, and in 1992-2006 was its permanent chairman.
Devyatov was born November 15, 1928 in Leningrad. In 1949, he graduated from the Sverdlovsk Art College. In 1949-1955 he studied at the Faculty of Painting of the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after IE Repin of the USSR Academy of Arts. Workshops of AA Mylnikov and VM Oreshnikov (graduate paintings – “Mother of the artist” and “Woman in White”). In 1958-1959 he engaged in post-graduate Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
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1930-1980s Soviet Christmas tree decorations

1930-1980s Soviet Christmas tree decorations

After the Great October Revolution in 1918, the People’s Commissars issued a ban on the celebration of the New Year, as an attribute of the Old World, and on January 1, it was an ordinary working day. However, Christmas tree was put occasionally in some of the houses, and Christmas tree decorations in the USSR were not easy to find. It was during this period appeared fashion on homemade Christmas decorations made from scrap materials.
Fortunately, in 1935, the Christmas tree ban was lifted by government decree! And already in 1936, the significance of the holiday, as a symbol of a new ideology, has been confirmed by a Christmas tree in the Hall of Columns. In addition, began the production of ornaments, including glass balls with pictures of Lenin and Stalin. Besides, the shops flooded with “the Kremlin stars,” pioneers, dogs, poultry, fruits and vegetables, astronauts, Father Frosts and Snow maidens, and so on. Today, it is fashionable to collect Soviet Christmas toys, but they are becoming rare. Christmas decorations of the Soviet period attract the attention of foreign collectors as well, because in the New Year’s toys reflected the history of several generations of the inhabitants of the Soviet Union.
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