Fine Art of Leningrad

The time produced publications that became the zenith of book art: Pushkin's Bronze Horseman with illustrations by Alexandre Benois and Dostoyevsky's White Nights featuring drawings by Mstislav Dobuzhinsky.

Drawings of Lenin made from life by the artists Nathan Altman, Isaak Brodsky, and Piotr Buchkin became the foundation for a whole genre of "Leniniana" in Soviet fine art.

Sergey Chekhonin personally and others working from his drawings painted a large number of plates with slogans and the initials of the RSFSR, dishes, cups and whole services decorated with a pattern of many flowers and gilding.

Besides the purely ornamental and allegorical pieces, the factory also produced from Sergey Chekhonin's drawings a series of graphic portraits of the leaders of the world proletariat as well as a large oval dish bearing the autographs of all the most prominent figures of the October Revolution.

[13] Artists involved in the creation of agitation porcelain included М. М. Adamovich, N. I. Altman, Alexandra Chekotikhina—Pototskaya, Natalia Danko, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Alexander Samokhvalov, Pavel Kuznetsov and Mstislav Dobuzhinsky.

[15] Over the course of its existence more than 70 artists participated in its activities (Tatyana Glebova, Boris Gurvich, Sophia Zaklikovskaya, Eugene Kibryck, Pavel Kondratiev, Alise Poret, Andrew Sashin, Мikhail Tsibasov and many others).

The LOSSKh filled its ranks by inducting the members of the dissolved artistic associations and groups, and later with graduates from the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (the former Academy of Arts) and other educational establishments in the city.

Particularly notable among the solo exhibitions were retrospectives of Isaak Brodsky (1934, Moscow, Leningrad), Arkady Rylov (1934, Academy of Arts), Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1936, Moscow, Leningrad), Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1940, Russian Museum) and personal exhibitions in the LSSKh of Vladimir Konashevich, Dmitry Mitrohin, Mikhail Avilov, Alexander Vedernikov, Nathan Altman, Pavel Basmanov, Aleksander Golovin, Elizaveta Kruglikova, Victor Zamiraylo, Ivan Drozdov, Leonid Ovsannikov and others.

They invited Dmitry Kardovsky, Alexander Osmerkin, Semion Abugov, Eugene Lanceray, Pavel Shillingovsky, Isaak Brodsky, and Nikolai Radlov to join the faculty and between them those professors did much to revive the academy's role in training art specialists.

Brodsky enlisted to teach at the institute some major artists and educators: Konstantin Yuon, Pavel Naumov, Boris Ioganson, Alexander Lubimov, Rudolf Frentz, Piotr Buchkin, Nikolai Petrov, Victor Sinaysky, Vasily Shukhaev, Dmitry Kiplik, Nikolay Punin, Vasily Meshkov, Mikhail Bernshtein, Yefim Cheptsov, Ivan Bilibin, Matvey Manizer, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Alexei Karev, Leonid Ovsannikov, Sergei Priselkov, Ivan Stepashkin, Konstantin Rudakov and more.

One of the consequences of the consolidation of creative forces and the reform of the academy was a strengthening of the role of easel and monumental painting and, particularly, the thematic picture among the other types and genres of Leningrad art.

Among the creations of Leningrad artists in the 1930s, critics single out the paintings Girl in a Sport Shirt (1932), Woman – metro's builder with a drill (1937), The Komsomol on a War Footing (1933), Sergei Kirov Taking a Parade of Athletes (1935) and Female Delegates (1939) by Alexander Samokhvalov, Bird Cherry in a Glass (1932) and Alarm (1934) by Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Portrait of the Artist Tatyana Shishmareva (1934) by Vladimir Lebedev, In Green Banks (1938) by Arkady Rylov, Nude (1937) by Nikolai Tyrsa, Portrait of Maxim Gorky (1937) by Isaak Brodsky, Self-Portrait (1933) by Kazimir Malevich, Mikhil Yudin, a Hero of the Soviet Union, Visiting Tankmen[37] (1938) by Aleksandr Laktionov, Shock Workers (1935) by Pavel Filonov, and the urban landscapes of Vladimir Grinberg, Nikolai Lapshin and Alexander Vedernikov.

Among the school's alumni in the pre-war years were the future distinguished Leningrad artists and sculptors Alexei Eriomin, Vecheslav Zagonek, Mikhail Anikushin, Nikolai Kochukov, Iya Venkova, Evgenia Antipova, Anatoli Levitin, Yuri Tulin, Dmitry Buchkin, Vladimir Chekalov, Marina Kozlovskaya, Elena Kostenko, Abram Grushko, Oleg Lomakin, Vera Lubimova and many others.

The successes of Leningrad artists in the field of book and easel graphic art were due to the works of George Vereysky, Nikolau Radlov, Pavel Basmanov, Vladimir Konashevich, Nikolai Tyrsa, Alexander Samokhvalov, Eugene Kibryck, Alexei Pakhomov, Vladimir Lebedev, Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Pavel Shillingovsky, Yuri Vasnetsov, Eugene Charushin, Кonstantin Rudakov, Gennady Epifanov, Sergei Mochalov, Ivan Bilibin and others.

The exceptional character of the military and human drama that the city experienced had its effect on the work of Leningrad artists, who were destined to write a special chapter in the post-war history of fine art.

They were Mikhail Anikushin, Nukolai Andretsov, Taisia Afonina, Evgenia Baykova, Konstantin Belokurov, Piotr Belousov, Olga Bogaevskaya, Anatoli Vasiliev, Nina Veselova, Igor Veselkin, Rostislav Vovkushevsky, Ivan Godlevsky, Мeta Drayfild, Alexander Dashkevich, Yuri Neprintsev, Gleb Savinov, Nikolai Timkov, Vasily Sokolov, Sergei Osipov, Mikhail Natarevich, Evsey Moiseenko, Andrei Mylnikov, Genrikh Pavlovsky, Lia Ostrova, Мikhail Zheleznov, Lev Orekhov, Alexei Eriomin, Elena Skuin, Yuri Podlasky, Tatiana Kopnina, Nikita Medovikov, Victor Teterin, Nikolai Mukho, Alexander Pushnin, Evgenia Antipova, Alexei Mozhaev, Nadezhda Shteinmiller, Arseny Semionov, Alexander Koroviakov, Valery Pimenov, Maria Rudnitskaya, Yuri Tulin, Nikolai Brandt, Semion Rotnitsky, and many others.

Orientation on the Itinerants was increasingly supplemented by an interest in such figures as Konstantin Korovin, Valentin Serov and the members of the Union of Russian Artists with their culture of plein-air painting and studies from life.

Among them were In Memory of the Heroes of the Baltic Fleet (1946) by Andrei Mylnikov, The Girls of the Donbass (1946) by Taisia Afonina, The Road of Life (1946) by Alexei Kuznetsov, German Prisoners (1946) by Piotr Puko, The Victors (1947) by Franz Zaborovsky, A Wounded Commander (1947) by Alexander Koroviakov, General Dovator (1947) by Evsey Moiseenko, Landing Force (1947) by Elena Tabakova and Liberated Kishinev (1947) by Stepan Privedentsev.

In Zagorsk in 1947, Aleksandr Laktionov, a graduate of Isaak Brodsky's studio, completed the painting Letter from the Front (Tretyakov Gallery, Stalin Prize 1st class for 1948) that has gone down in the history of the nation's art as an astonishingly bright image of the Victory, so desired and close.

The theme of post-war reconstruction found reflection in the paintings In the Peaceful Fields (1950, Russian Museum, Stalin Prize 3rd class for 1951) by Andrei Mylnikov, Rebirth (1950) by Mikhail Natarevich, Portrait of the Composer Solovyev-Sedoi (1950) by Joseph Serebriany, Leningrad to the Builders of Communism.

In the Hydro-Turbine Shop of the Stalin Works (1951) by Nina Veselova, Vecheslav Zagonek, Alexander Pushnin, Yefim Rubin and Yuri Tulin, Here the Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Power Station Will Be (1951) by Nikolai Galakhov, Two Great Building Projects.

A Meeting of the Scientific and Technical Board of the Elektrosila Works (1951) by Leonid Tkachenko, An Exchange of Stakhanovite Experience (1951) by Anatoli Levitin, and Collective Farm Spring (1951) by Boris Ugarov.

For example, of the 177 works by Leningrad painters presented at the All-Union Art Exhibition marking the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution (Moscow, 1957) only ten were devoted to the Lenin theme (5.5%).

They giftedly embody the image of contemporaries in the era of Khrushchev's "thaw" with its conceptions about the revolution, the past and present, with the tremendous scale of construction projects and the achievements of Soviet science and technology.

As a result, such talented painters as Evgenia Antipova, Vladimir Tokarev, Lev Russov, Oleg Lomakin, Mikhail Trufanov, Boris Korneev, Arseny Semionov, Victor Teterin, Elena Skuin, Gevork Kotiantz, and Maya Kopitseva were able to realize themselves in those genres.

[60] Among the leading figures in this field critics name Yuri Muntian, Maria Vertuzaeva, Leyda Yurgen, Lidia Smirnova, Eduard Krimer, Ekaterina Yanovskaya and Helle Pild.

The works of Victor Teterin, Yaroslav Krestovsky, German Yegoshin, Evgenia Antipova, Vasily Golubev, Vitaly Tulenev, Leonid Tkachenko, Valery Vatenin and Zaven Arshakuny reflected the spirit of search and change in its Leningrad dimension.

Among the best known works from this period are the paintings «Leningrad Woman (In 1941)» (1961) by Boris Ugarov, Morning (1961), «The Storm Has Passed» (1961) and «The Bird-Cherry Is in Blossom» (1964) by Vecheslav Zagonek, «Parting» (1975) and the «Spain triptych» (1979) by Andrei Mylnikov, «The Reds Have Arrived» (1961), «Mothers, Sisters» (1967), «Sweet Cherries» (1969) and «Victory» (1972) by Evsey Moiseenko, «About Tomorrow» (1961), «Trains Are Taking the Lads Away» (1965) and «Thoughts» (1970) by Leonid Kabachek, «Maternal Thoughts» (1969) by Alexei Eriomin, «Black Gold» (1969) by Engels Kozlov, «Victory Day» (1975) and «The First Tractor» (1980) by Gleb Savinov, «Watchmakers» (1968) by Yaroslav Krestovsky, «Portrait of Shostakovich» (1964) and «Sviatoslav Richter» (1972) by Joseph Serebriany, «Childhood Street» (1972) by Vitaly Tulenev, «Happy Woman» (1969) by Andrey Yakovlev, «Portrait of Boris Piotrovsky» (1971) by Victor Oreshnikov, «Self-Portrait» (1974) by Larisa Kirillova, «Russian Winter.

In this period significant works were produced by the porcelain artists Vladimir Gorodetsky, Nina Slavina, Alexei Vorobievsky and Anna Leporskaya, the ceramists Vladimir Vasilkovsky, Natalia Savinova, Alexander Zadorin, Inna Olevskaya and Мikhail Kopilkov, the glass artists Boris Smirnov, Leyda Yurgen, Alexandra Ostroumova, Helle Pild, Ekaterina Yanovskaya and Serafima Bogdanova and the fabric designers Sarah Buntsus, Nika Moiseeva, Inna Rakhimova, Rose Krestovskaya and Tatiana Prozorova.

In the 1980s, informal associations of artists appeared: Yan Antonyshev, Yevgeny Ukhnalyov / Stary gorod (1981), Timur Novikov, Georgy Guryanov, Sergei Bugaev / Novyye Khudozhniki (1982), Dmitry Shagin, Alexander Florensky, Olga Florenskaya, Vladimir Shinkarev, Viktor Tikhomirov / Mitki (1984), Alexey Parygin / Nevsky-25 (1987), Sergey Kovalsky, Evgeny Orlov / Pushkinskaya-10 (1989), and others.