![Self-portrait by Isaak Brodsky](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3d/Self-portrait_by_Isaak_Brodsky.jpg)
Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky (russian: Исаак Израилевич Бродский; uk, Іса́к Ізраїльович Бро́дський, – 14 August 1939) was a
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
painter whose work provided a blueprint for the art movement of
socialist realism
Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
. He is known for his iconic portrayals of
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
and idealized, carefully crafted paintings dedicated to the events of the
Russian Civil War
, date = October Revolution, 7 November 1917 – Yakut revolt, 16 June 1923{{Efn, The main phase ended on 25 October 1922. Revolt against the Bolsheviks continued Basmachi movement, in Central Asia and Tungus Republic, the Far East th ...
and
Bolshevik Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolsheviks, Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was ...
.
Life and career
Brodsky was born in the village of
Sofiyivka near
Berdyansk
Berdiansk or Berdyansk ( uk, Бердя́нськ, translit=Berdiansk, ; russian: Бердя́нск, translit=Berdyansk ) is a port city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast (province) in south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea o ...
in what is now
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
to Yisrael, a Jewish merchant. He studied at
Odessa Art Academy and the
Imperial Academy of Arts
The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thre ...
in Saint Petersburg. In 1916, he joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. When Brodsky asked
Lenin
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov. ( 1870 – 21 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin,. was a Russian revolutionary, politician, and political theorist. He served as the first and founding head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 to 19 ...
to autograph his painting ''Lenin'', he said: "I am signing to what I don't agree with for the first time".
Brodsky was on good terms with many leading Russian painters, including his mentor,
Ilya Repin
Ilya Yefimovich Repin (russian: Илья Ефимович Репин, translit=Il'ya Yefimovich Repin, p=ˈrʲepʲɪn); fi, Ilja Jefimovitš Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is now Ukraine. He became one of the ...
. He was an avid art collector who donated numerous first-class paintings to museums in his native Ukraine and elsewhere. His superb art collection included important works by Repin,
Vasily Surikov
Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (Russian: Василий Иванович Суриков; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illus ...
,
Valentin Serov
Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (russian: Валенти́н Алекса́ндрович Серо́в; 19 January 1865 – 5 December 1911) was a Russian painter and one of the premier portrait artists of his era.
Life and work
Youth and edu ...
,
Isaak Levitan
Isaac Ilyich Levitan (russian: Исаа́к Ильи́ч Левита́н; – ) was a classical Russian landscape Painting, painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape".
Life and work
Youth
Isaac Levitan was born in a shtetl o ...
,
Mikhail Vrubel
Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (russian: Михаил Александрович Врубель; March 17, 1856 – April 14, 1910, all New Style, n.s.) was a Russian Painting, painter, Drawing, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and inno ...
, and
Boris Kustodiev
Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (russian: Бори́с Миха́йлович Кусто́диев; – 28 May 1927) was a Russian and Soviet painter and stage designer.
Early life
Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a profe ...
. After his death Brodsky's apartment on Arts Square in St. Petersburg was declared a national museum. His art collection is still on exhibit there.
Brodsky was an Honoured Artist of the
Russian SFSR
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
and a member of the Union of Russian Artists. He was the first painter to be awarded the
Order of Lenin
The Order of Lenin (russian: Орден Ленина, Orden Lenina, ), named after the leader of the Russian October Revolution, was established by the Central Executive Committee on April 6, 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration b ...
. In 1934, he was appointed Director of the
All-Russian Academy of Arts. From 1934 to 1939 he was also a head of personal Art workshop in institute, where his pupils included the well-known Soviet painters
Nikolai Timkov
Nikolai Efimovich Timkov (russian: Тимко́в Никола́й Ефи́мович; August 12, 1912 – December 25, 1993) was a Soviet Russian painter, Honored Artist of Russian Federation, and a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artis ...
,
Alexander Laktionov,
Yuri Neprintsev
Yuri Mikhailovich Neprintsev (russian: Ю́рий Миха́йлович Непри́нцев; August 15, 1909 – October 20, 1996) was a Soviet Union, Soviet, later Russians, Russian, painter, graphic artist, art teacher, professor of the Re ...
,
Piotr Belousov
Piotr Petrovich Belousov (russian: Пётр Петро́вич Белоу́сов; May 3, 1912 – March 31, 1989) was a Ukrainian and Russian graphic artist, painter, art teacher, professor of the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, ...
,
Piotr Vasiliev
Piotr Konstantinovich Vasiliev (russian: Пё́тр Константи́нович Васи́льев; January 26, 1909 – June 9, 1989) was a Russian Soviet realist painter, who lived and worked in Leningrad. He was a member of the Leningrad ...
,
Mikhail Kozell
Mikhail Georgievich Kozell (russian: Михаи́л Гео́ргиевич Ко́зелл; October 20, 1911 – July 26, 1993) was a Soviet Russian painter and Art teacher, who lived and worked in Leningrad (now Saint-Petersburg), and who ...
and others. He died in
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
in 1939. His memoirs were published posthumously.
Gallery
File:Cavalry officer by Isaak Brodsky (1909).jpg, Cavalry Officer, 1909
File:Isaak Brodsky skazka.jpg, Fairy Tale, 1911
File:AleksandrKerenskiPorIsaacBrodsky1918.jpeg, Alexander Kerensky, 1918
File:Lenin and soldiers of Red Army on the way to Poland by Isaak Brodsky.jpg, Lenin and soldiers of Red Army on the way to Poland, 1920
File:Day of Constitution by Isaak Brodsky (1930).jpeg, Day of Constitution, 1930
File:Lenin's funerals by I.Brodsky (1925).jpg, Lenin's Funeral, 1925
File:Isaak Brodsky putilov.jpg, Lenin at Putilov factory at May 1917, 1929
File:Brodsky-Alley-of-park-1930b.jpg, Alley in a Park, 1930
File:Brodski lenin.jpg, Lenin in Smolny, 1930
File:State portrait of Stalin.jpg, State Portrait of Stalin, 1933
See also
*
Fine Art of Leningrad
The fine art of Leningrad is an important component of Russian Soviet art—in the opinion of the art historians Vladimir Gusev and Vladimir Leniashin, "one of its most powerful currents". This widely used term embraces the creative lives and th ...
References
Sources
* Sergei V. Ivanov. ''Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School''. Saint Petersburg: NP - Print, 2007. P. 450.
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brodsky, Isaak
1884 births
1939 deaths
People from Zaporizhzhia Oblast
People from Berdyansky Uyezd
Ukrainian Jews
Soviet painters
Socialist realist artists
20th-century Russian painters
Russian male painters
Ukrainian male painters
Leningrad School artists
Jewish painters
Ukrainian art collectors
20th-century Ukrainian painters
20th-century Ukrainian male artists
Jewish art collectors
Jewish socialists
Recipients of the Order of Lenin