Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deyneka (; May 20, 1899 – June 12, 1969) was a Soviet painter, graphic artist and sculptor, regarded as one of the most important Russian modernist figurative painters of the first half of the 20th century. His ''Collective Farmer on a Bicycle'' (1935) has been described as exemplifying the socialist realist style.Left out in the cold
by Alastair Smart in ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

'' 8 November 2013. Retrieved 10 November 2013.

Life and career

Deyneka was born in

Kursk Kursk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur (Kursk Oblast), Kur, Tuskar, and Seym (river), Seym rivers. It has a population of Kursk ...

and studied at Kharkov Art College (apprentice of

Alexander Lubimov Alexander Mikhailovich Lyubimov (, ; February 25, 1879 – December 19, 1955) was a Russian and later Soviet realist painter, graphic artist, illustrator, and art teacher, professor of Repin Institute of Arts and Vera Mukhina Higher School ...

) and at VKhUTEMAS. He was a founding member of groups such as ''OST'' and ''Oktyabr'', and his work gained wide exposure in major exhibitions. His paintings and drawings (the earliest are often

monochrome A monochrome or monochromatic image, object or palette is composed of one color (or values of one color). Images using only shades of grey are called grayscale (typically digital) or black-and-white (typically analog). In physics, mon ...

due to the shortage of art supplies) depict genre scenes as well as labour and often sports. Deyneka later began painting monumental works, such as ''The Defense of

Petrograd Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

'' in 1928, which remains his most iconic painting, and ''The

Battle of Sevastopol A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

'' in 1942, ''The Outskirts of Moscow. November 1941'' and ''The Shot-Down Ace''. His

mosaic A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...

s are a feature of Mayakovskaya metro station in Moscow. He is in the highest category "1A - a world famous artist" in " United Art Rating". Deyneka is buried in the

Novodevichy Cemetery Novodevichy Cemetery () is a cemetery in Moscow. It lies next to the southern wall of the 16th-century Novodevichy Convent, which is the city's third most popular tourist site. History The cemetery was designed by Ivan Mashkov and inaugurated ...

in Moscow.

Legacy

The title from one of Deyneka's works, "Work, Build and Don't Whine", was used as the title for a 2016 exhibition of Socialist Realist art at London's Gallery for Russian Arts and Design. One modern critic, however, suggested that Deyneka's posters are less radical than his fore-bearers like

Alexander Rodchenko Aleksander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (; – 3 December 1956) was a Russian and Soviet artist, sculptor, photographer, and graphic designer. He was one of the founders of constructivism and Russian design; he was married to the artist Varvara Stepa ...

, and as a result, less interesting.

Honours and awards

Hero of Socialist Labour The Hero of Socialist Labour () was an Title of honor, honorific title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries from 1938 to 1991. It represented the highest degree of distinction in the USSR and was awarded for exceptional achievem ...

(1969) * People's Painter of the USSR (1963) *

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

Selected works

* ''Three Women's Figures'', 1920s * ''The Cabaret'', 1921 * ''Перед спуском в шахту'', 1924 * ''Football'', 1924 * ''After the Rain. Kursk'', 1925 * ''Springtime'', 1925 * ''The Skiers'', 1926 * ''Tennis'', 1926 * ''На стройке новых цехов'', 1926
''Textile Workers''
, 1927 * ''The Ode to the Spring'', 1927
''The Defense of Petrograd''
1928, Central Museum of the Defense Forces of the USSR, Moscow * ''Механизируем Донбасс!'' (poster), 1930 * ''Китай на пути освобождения от империализма'' (poster), 1930 * ''Надо стать самим специалистами'' (poster), 1930 * ''Book Cover'', 1931 * ''The Interventionists' Mercenary'', 1931
''On the Balcony''
1931 * ''Crosscountry Race'', 1931 * ''A Girl at the Window. Winter'', 1931 * ''Mother'', 1932
''Soccer Game''
1932
''The Sleeping Boy With Cornflowers''
1932 * ''Noon'', 1932 * ''The Football Player'', 1932
''Кто кого?''
1932 * ''In the Airs'', 1932 * ''The Night Landscape with Horses and Dry Grasses'', 1933 * ''Girls Swimming'', 1933 * ''Dry Leaves'', 1933 * ''Resting Children'', 1933 * ''Communists at Interrogation'', 1933 * ''Физкультурница'' / ''Работать, строить и не ныть!'' (poster), 1933 * ''Without Work in Berlin'', 1933 * ''The Pier'', 1933 * ''The Race'', 1933
''Runners''
1934 * ''Skiers'', 1934 * ''Landscape with a Herd'', 1934
''Goalkeeper''
1934
''A Pioneer. Kursk''
1934 * ''Crimean Pioneers'', 1934 * ''A Parachuter above the Sea'', 1934 * ''Quirinal Place, Rome'', 1934 * ''Spanish Stairways'', 1934
''A Street in Rome''

''Monks''
1935 * ''An Italian motif'', 1935 * ''The Park'', 1935 * ''The Portrait of S.I.L. with the Straw Hat'', 1935 * ''Tuileries'', 1935 * ''Quai de la Seine'', 1935
''Paris. In a Café''
1935
''Une parisienne''
, 1935 * ''Негритянский концерт'', 1935 * ''The Boredom'', 1935
''The Road to Mount-Vernon''
, 1935 * , 1935 * ''A Lunch Break in Donbass'', 1935 * ''Первая пятилетка'', 1936 * ''The Model'', 1936
''The Future Pilots''
1937 * ''The Stakhanovites'', 1937 * ''Woman in Red'', 1939 * ''The Lilacs'' * ''Nikitka – The First Russian Pilot'', 1940 * ''The Left March'', 1941 * ''The Outskirts of Moscow. November 1941'' * ''Sverdlov Place in December 1941'' * ''Evening. The Patriarch Ponds, 1941'' * ''A Burned down Village'', 1942 * ''Эвакуация колхозного скота'' * ''Колхозницы роют противотанковые рвы на подступах к Москве'' * ''Ремонт танков на прифронтовом заводе'' * ''Танки идут на фронт'' * ''Наступление началось'' * ''The Defense of Sebastopol'', 1942 * ''The Knocked down Ace'', 1943 * ''Nude Woman Sitting'', 1943 * ''Under Occupation'', 1944 * '' Expanse'', 1944 * ''Above the Devastated Berlin'', 1944 * ''Berlin. The Day of the Declaration'', 1945 * ''A Stadium in Berlin'', 1945 * ''Near Kursk. Tuskor' River'', 1945 * ''Relay Race'' (sculpture), 1945 * ''A Boxer'' (sculpture), 1947 * ''100-meter Race'' (sculpture), 1947 * ''

Relay Race on the Garden Ring ''Relay race on the Garden Ring'Дейнека. Живопись'' 'Deineka. Painting''(in Russian). М.: Издательская программа «Интерроса». 2010. p. 125. .''Государственная Третьяков ...

'', 1947
''Donbass''
1947 * ''The Studio Window'', 1947 * ''In Sebastopol'', 1947 * ''Self-portrait'', 1948 * ''The Space of Building Sites under Moscow'', 1949 * ''The Skiers'' (mosaic)], 1950 * ''Football Players'' (sculpture), 1950 * ''Перед забегом'' (sculpture), 1951 * ''A Nude Girl'', 1951 * ''Дачный поселок Кратово'', 1951 * ''In Sebastopol'', 1947 * ''On the Skating Rink in Kratovo'', 1951 * ''The Snow Maiden'', 1954 * ''The Laying Woman with a Ball'', 1954 * ''Still Life. Strawberries'', 1955 * ''A Nude Model'', 1955 * ''Football players'' (sculpture), 1955 * ''The Tractor Driver'', 1956 * ''In Sebastopol'', 1956
''Near the Sea''
1956–1957 * ''Putting the Shot'' (sculpture), 1957 * ''Голова парашютиста'' (mosaic), 1957 * ''A Nice Morning'' (mosaic)], 1959–1960 * ''Hockey Players'' (mosaic)], 1959–1960 * ''October Slogans of Peace by the Narvsky Gate'', 1960 * ''A Milker'' (mosaic), 1962 * ''The Red Guardsman'' (mosaic), 1962 * ''A Villa in Rome'', 1965 * ''The Young Designer'', 1966 * ''In the South'' (detail), 1966
''Владимир Маяковский в РОСТА''
* ''Летнее приволье'' * ''Running Sportswoman'' (sculpture) * ''The Cat and the Cook''

References

External links