Soviet artist Vasily Nikolayevich Yakovlev 1893 -1953

Stalin Generalissimo of the Soviet Union. 1945. Soviet artist Vasily Nikolayevich Yakovlev (2 January 1893 – 29 June 1953)

Soviet artist Vasily Nikolayevich Yakovlev
Born on January 2 (14), 1893 in Moscow, V.N. Yakovlev was a Soviet painter, People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1943) and Laureate of two Stalin Prizes (1943, 1949).
The boy grew up in a wealthy merchant family. Since 1911 he studied at the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Moscow University, simultaneously visiting the art studio of VN Meshkov. Just before the Great October revolution, in 1917, he graduated from the Moscow University of painting, sculpture and architecture. In the university, his teachers were famous Russian artists Konstantin Korovin, AE Arkhipov, SV Malyutin, and others.
Vasily Yakovlev taught at VKhUTEMAS (1918-1922), at Moscow Institute of Arts (1934-1936), and Moscow State Institute of Architecture and Art named after VI Surikov (1948-1950). And in 1922 he became a member of Union of artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR).
After the great Patrotic war, in 1947 he became a full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. From

Marshal Georgy Zhukov. Painting by V.N. Yakovlev

1926 to 1932 he worked as an artist-restorer in the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. Besides, since 1930 he was in charge of the restoration department. In addition, in 1938-1939 and 1949-1950 served as the main artist of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. Yakovlev proved his high official status with heroic portraits of the period of World War II. Also, the artist enthusiastically acted as a teacher. In particular, he taught since 1918 in the Free Art Studios, the Surikov Institute and other colleges.

Soviet artist Vasily Nikolayevich Yakovlev

A.M. Vasilevsky. 1944

Being a master of battle and thematic paintings, portraits and still lifes, he created more than 1000 works. In particular, the portraits of AM Gorky, Stanislavsky, great Russian architects, composers, and famous military leaders (Dovator, Rokossovsky, Konev, etc.).

Depicting modern life, he created such portraits as “Hero of the Soviet Union VN Yakovlev” and “Partizan”. Noteworthy, these works were marked by the State Prize of the USSR. And his painting “The collective farm herd” received the State Prize of the USSR. Yakovlev’s works are in the leading museums of Moscow, and former USSR republics.

VN Yakovlev died on June 29, 1953, buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery.