Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov (; – 12 May 1972) was a Russian Soviet painter.

Biography

Plastov was born into a family of

icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic Church, Catholic, and Lutheranism, Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, mother of ...

painters in the village Prislonikha in the Russian Governorate of Simbirsk. He attended the sculpture department of the

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (), also known by the acronym MUZHVZ, was one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow ...

beginning in 1914. In 1917, he returned to his native village, where he occupied himself with painting, drawing from nature. Starting in 1935, he steps introduces his category painting into the public. According to the strict political-artistic doctrine of the time at that time, which only permits the style of socialist realism in all art kinds, Plastov pictures the life in the Soviet Union, the pervasive building up of socialism. His work is characterized by his knowledge of the life in the villages of the Soviet Union, his love for his native land, strong, live pictures and his skills of painting. As the reaction to the events, which moved the population of the Soviet Union at that time, Plastov showed in his pictures, how the village life had changed by the

collectivization Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member- ...

. As models of the Protagonists of his works Plastov chose characters of his homeland village. The outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

inspired new motives for the work of Plastov. He depictured suffering of the Soviet people, work of the women, old people and children on the

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

fields during the war. After the war Plastov kept the motives of the village life. A characteristic for Plastov's works is the 1951 painting ''Spring'' (Весна). It shows a young naked woman dressing up a girl in front of a wood hut (a ''banya'', the Russian counterpart to the

Finnish sauna The Finnish sauna (, ) is a substantial part of Culture of Finland, Finnish and Culture of Estonia, Estonian culture. It was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists at the 17 December 2020 meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmen ...

). It snows, and in the background there are snow-covered pastures. ''Spring'' is considered as a turning point in the Soviet history of art. For the first time since the introduction of socialist realism a work of art showed an unpolitical everyday life scene in Soviet Union, without bringing any political message, as could be found in Plastov's earlier works that glorified the collectivization. During his artistic career Plastov was awarded two

Orders 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 ...

, he was laureate of the Stalin Prize, (1946),

Lenin Prize The Lenin Prize (, ) was one of the most prestigious awards of the Soviet Union for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was originally created on June 23, 1925, and awarded until 1934. During ...

(1966) and he also (in 1972, posthumously) was nominated for the State Prize of the RSFSR named Ilya Repin – for his painting ''Balefire in a Field'', ''Out of the Past'' and a series of portraits of his contemporaries.

Notable works

*1946:'' The First Snow'' *1947: ''

Haymaking Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

'' *1954: ''

Spring Spring(s) may refer to: Common uses * Spring (season), a season of the year * Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy * Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water * Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a he ...

Museum collections

Plastov's page
on the

State Tretyakov Gallery The State Tretyakov Gallery (; abbreviated ГТГ, ''GTG'') is an art gallery in Moscow, Russia, which is considered the foremost depository of Russian fine art in the world. The gallery's history starts in 1856 when the Muscovite merchant Pavel ...

portal.
Smolensk State Museum-Reserve
(Plastov' Guest from the Front Line 1944)
Plastov Solo Exhibition, 2013
State Russian Museum, St Petersburg
Tver Regional Art Gallery

Perm State Art Gallery

Chelyabinsk State Fine Art Museum

State Art Museum of Nizhny Novgorod

Samara Art Museum

Ulyanovsk Regional Art Museum

Volgograd Fine Art Museum
искусств
Saratov State Art Museum

Astrakhan State Art Gallery

Rostov-on-Don Regional Fine Art Museum

State Art Museum of Altai Krai, Barnaul
(Plastov' Portrait of the Artist Kiselyov 1961)

Primorye State Art Gallery (Plastov' Letter 1971; p. 3)
Primorye State Fine Art Gallery, Vladivostok

Irkutsk Art Museum
(Plastov' Tractor Drivers' Supper 1951, up stairs, to the right).

References

Bibliography

Brown, Matthew Cullerne; Taylor, Brandon (1993). Art of the Soviets: painting, sculpture, and architecture in a one-party state, 1917–1992
Manchester University Press ND. . pp. vi, 75, 77, 83, 84, 131, 137, 184, 226. * Christ, Thomas: Der Sozialistische Realismus. Betrachtungen zum Sozialistischen Realismus in der Sowjetzeit. Basel: Wiese Verlag 1999. * Сказка про мальчика, понимавшего язык земли : Аркадий Пластов / Е. В. Мурашова. — Москва : Белый город, 2001. — 10 с. : ил. — (Сказки о художниках). — (children's book, on Russian) * Борисовская, Н. А./ Гордон, Е. С. (Hrsg.): Русские художники от А до Я. Москва: Слово 2000. . S. 138 (on Russian).

Video links

Film by A. Ignashov, with Plastov's lifetime shooting, on Russian, 35 min.

Arkady Plastov
and Socialist realism, realistic Russian painting after

, on Russian 17 min.
Film depicted the celebration of 120-year Anniversary of A. Plastov and Jubilee Exhibition, Moscow, 2013 on Russian, 59 min.

External links

Two color illustrations for the Leo Tolstoy novel ''Cossacks'', 1952–1953, tempera. Leo Tolstoy Museum
Государственный музей Л.Н. Толстого
One of the potrtait paintings of Arkady Plastov an Lindsay Fine Art Auction

Музей современного изобразительного искусства имени А. А. Пластова
Fine Art Museum of Ulyanovsk named after A. Plastov.
Plastov Museum in the city of Ulyanovsk.

Музей-усадьба народного художника СССР А. Пластова
, Ульяновская область, Карсунский район, село Прислониха ( Prislonikha Art Museum in the native village of A. Plastov —near Ulyanovsk (former Simbirsk), Volga region). * 2013: The Artistic Award named after Plastov was established of Ulyanovsk Region administration, native place of Arkady Plastov
«Russia Today» news from January 2013, Video
ref>The world's richest art prize was launched in London by Russia to revitalise the out-of-favour style of figurative art
«Daily Mirror», Jan 23, 2013
/ref>
Page on letter P from the Encyclopaedia Dictionary of 1953 with the article «Plastov»

Biography and more than 20 painting-links
at «Soyuz Gallery» page.

РИА Новости (on Russian).
Plastov page on a RusArtist portal
biography, some paintings.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plastov, Arkady 1893 births 1972 deaths Soviet realist painters 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters Russian realist painters Socialist realist artists Russian watercolorists Full Members of the USSR Academy of Arts Recipients of the Stalin Prize Recipients of the Order of Lenin Recipients of the Lenin Prize People's Artists of the USSR (visual arts) People from Ulyanovsk Oblast Soviet Impressionist painters Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni