Gleb Aleksander Ilyin ( ; 1889–1968) was a Russian-American painter known for his portraiture and landscape paintings. Who Was Who… 1999

Early life

Ilyin was born on June 1, 1889, into an aristocratic family in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

. His father was a judge, while his mother Eudoxie Kriganovsky, took care of the household. Gleb was encouraged in his art studies at an early age. He graduated in 1911 with highest honors from the Kazan Art School after four years of training under Nicolai Fechin (Russian: Николай Иванович Фешин; 1881–1955). Hailey 1936

Russia

He completed his formal art studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts in

St. Petersburg 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, ...

(1911–1917) under Ilya Yefimovich Repin (Russian: Илья́ Ефи́мович Ре́пин, 1844–1930) and Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky (Russian: Константин Егорович Маковский, 1839–1915). Known outside of the academy for the quality of his work, Ilyin received invitations to do portraits of the imperial family (portrait of Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich) and Saint Petersburg’s high society (portrait of

Feodor Chaliapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

). His work displayed at the Fall Exhibit of the Imperial Academy of Art in 1916 won a major prize. Gleb left Saint Petersburg in 1917 after the outbreak of the

October Revolution The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

and moved to

for a short period until the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

captured the city. Hafen 1948 He escaped over the

Ural Mountains The Ural Mountains ( ),; , ; , or simply the Urals, are a mountain range in Eurasia that runs north–south mostly through Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the river Ural (river), Ural and northwestern Kazakhstan.

Omsk Omsk (; , ) is the administrative center and largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia and has a population of over one million. Omsk is the third List of cities and tow ...

, along with other family members. On their way East, Ilyin met Natalie Melnikoff. After a short courtship they married in Chita, a city north of

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

. The artist supported himself by painting portraits of Japanese officers stationed in Chita. After receiving letters of introduction and recommendations to prominent figures in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Ilyin joined other White Russian refugees on their way to Japan in 1918.

Japan

In Tokyo, the artist received commissions for portraits of government officials and members of the imperial court. After a series of successful and profitable exhibits, Ilyin moved to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

with other family members in 1923.

United States

His first exhibit in 1924 gained him a reputation as one of the most popular portrait painters in California. His aristocratic background opened doors to American high society and the homes of wealthy families. The artist commanded the highest prices for his work, frequently asking twice the average annual salary in California in the 1920s, for his commissioned pieces. In 1928, The San Francisco Chronicle called him one of the city’s most skilled painters. In January 1930, the artist was invited to

The White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800 whe ...

to paint the portrait of

Lou Henry Hoover Lou Henry Hoover (March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and the first lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in community organizations and v ...

, the wife of the U.S. president, her first portrait as the First Lady. The Berkeley Gazette of November 16, 1933, in its assessment of Gleb Ilyin' s exhibit held at the Mills College Art Gallery wrote: "Ilyin's fusion of the academic and the modern in his work is indicated by his emphasis on the beauty of line, and his feeling for form, as well as by his use of color. While some of his portraits are in the modern style, others resemble the old masters. He is said to have been unusually successful in catching the spirit and manner of such great classic painters as Lawrence,

Van Dyck Sir Anthony van Dyck (; ; 22 March 1599 – 9 December 1641) was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England after success in the Spanish Netherlands and Italy. The seventh child of Frans van Dyck, a wealt ...

, and

Velasquez Velázquez, also Velazquez, Velásquez or Velasquez (, ), is a surname from Spain. It is a patronymic name, meaning "son of Velasco". References to "Velazquez" without a first name are often to the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez. Notable peo ...

”. In 1936, a

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

journalist reviewing Ilyin's exhibit at the Stendhal Gallery described a most unusual incident when Ilyin walked into the Gallery and saw there his first art teacher from Kazan, Nicolai Fechin who had moved to Hollywood as one of the best established artists in the Western United States.

Later life

Gleb Ilyin shared his studio with his older brother Peter Ilyin at 2977 Clay Street in San Francisco’s Pacific Heights district. Both frequently displayed their works in the same galleries and museums. In the mid-1940s, he was briefly a resident of Colorado. The artist spent his later years in Northern California on the Russian River where he died in Sebastopol on October 14, 1968.

Artistic associations

San Francisco Bohemian Club, Carmel Art Association, Beaux Art Club of San Francisco, Russian Club of San Francisco (President).

Major exhibits

Imperial Academy of Art, St. Petersburg (1916–1917), Imperial Art Exhibition (Tokyo), 1921–1922; City of Paris -San Francisco, 1924; San Francisco Art Association, 1924–1968; Bohemian Club, 1927–1968; California State Fairs, 1927–1956; De Young Museum; Oakland Art Gallery; Crocker Museum; Society of Western Artists, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Santa Barbara Museum of Art.

Works of art on permanent display

Denver Art Museum The Denver Art Museum (DAM) is an art museum located in the Civic Center of Denver, Colorado. With an encyclopedic collection of more than 70,000 diverse works from across the centuries and world, the DAM is one of the largest art museums betwe ...

Oakland Museum of California Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, California, Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major We ...

* San Francisco War Memorial

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ilyin, Gleb 1889 births 1968 deaths Painters from the Russian Empire 20th-century American painters American male painters 20th-century American male artists White Russian emigrants to the United States