Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky (, ; – 14 August 1939) was a Russian painter and draughtsman of

Jewish descent ''Zera Yisrael'' (), also known as ''Zera Kadosh'' (), is a legal category in ''Halakha'' that denotes the blood descendants of Jews who, for one reason or another, are not legally Jewish according to religious criteria. This is usually due to a ...

best known for his portrayals of

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

and other Soviet leaders, renowned as blueprint examples of the Socialist realist style.

Life and career

Brodsky was born in the village of Sofiyivka near

Berdyansk Berdiansk or Berdyansk (, ; , ) is a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine. It is on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov, which is connected to the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Berdiansk Raion. The ...

in modern day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

to Yisrael, a Jewish merchant. He studied at Odessa Art Academy and the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of th ...

in Saint Petersburg. For five years he studied at the Academy under

Ilya Repin Ilya Yefimovich Repin ( – 29 September 1930) was a Russian painter, born in what is today Ukraine. He became one of the most renowned artists in Russian Empire, Russia in the 19th century. His major works include ''Barge Haulers on the Volga' ...

. In 1916, he joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. When Brodsky asked

Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

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,

. He was an avid art collector who donated numerous first-class paintings to museums in his native Ukraine and elsewhere. His art collection included important works by Repin,

Vasily Surikov Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (; 24 January 1848 – 19 March 1916) was a Russian Realism (arts), realist history painter. Many of his works have become familiar to the general public through their use as illustrations. Biography He was born to an ...

Valentin Serov Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (; – 5 December 1911) was a Russian painter and one of the premier portrait artists of his era. Life and work Youth and education Serov was born in Saint Petersburg, son of the Russian composer and music crit ...

Isaak Levitan Isaac Ilyich Levitan (; – ) was a Russian landscape Painting, painter who advanced the genre of the "mood landscape". Life and work Youth Isaac Levitan was born in a ''shtetl'' of Kybartai, Kibarty, Augustów Governorate in Congress Polan ...

Mikhail Vrubel Mikhail Aleksandrovich Vrubel (; – ) was a Russian painter, draughtsman, and sculptor. A prolific and innovative master in various media such as painting, drawing, decorative sculpture, and theatrical art, Vrubel is generally character ...

, and

Boris Kustodiev Boris Mikhaylovich Kustodiev (; – 28 May 1927) was a Russian and later Soviet painter and stage designer. Early life Boris Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan into the family of a professor of philosophy, history of literature, and logic at t ...

. Brodsky was an Honoured Artist of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

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 (, ) 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 ...

. 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 (; 12 August 1912 – 25 December 1993) was a Soviet Russian painter, Honored Artist of Russian Federation, and a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists (before 1992 the Leningrad branch of Union of Artists of ...

, Alexander Laktionov,

Yuri Neprintsev Yuri Mikhailovich Neprintsev (; August 15, 1909 – October 20, 1996) was a Soviet and Russian painter, graphic artist, art teacher, professor of the Repin Institute of Arts, and a member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. He is regarded b ...

Piotr Belousov Piotr Petrovich Belousov (; 3 May 1912 – 31 March 1989) was a Soviet Ukrainian and Russian graphic artist, painter, art teacher, professor of the Ilya Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, People's Artist of the U ...

Piotr Vasiliev Piotr Konstantinovich Vasiliev (; 26 January 1909 – 9 June 1989) was a Russian Soviet realist painter, who lived and worked in Leningrad. He was a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists and regarded as one of representatives of the Leningrad ...

Mikhail Kozell Mikhail Georgievich Kozell (; 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 belonged to the Leningrad School of Painting, most famous fo ...

and others.

Legacy

He died in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

in 1939. His memoirs were published posthumously. 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.Webpage of the Isaak Brodsky Museum
. Odesa Fine Arts Museum bore Brodsky's name in 1938-1941. The Berdyansk Art Museum, founded by Brodsky in 1930, bears Brodsky's name, where the artist gave about 200 paintings by Russian artists from his collection.

Gallery

File:Ludmila Burluk by Isaak Brodsky (1906).jpg, Ludmila Burluk, 1906 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:Второй конгресс Коминтерна.jpg, Lenin during the 2nd Congress of the International, 1924 File:Lenin's funerals by I.Brodsky (1925).jpg, Lenin's Funeral, 1925 File:Isaak Brodsky stalin01.jpg, Joseph Stalin, 1928 File:Isaak Brodsky putilov.jpg, Lenin at Putilov factory at May 1917, 1929 File:Исаак Бродский - Портрет Климента Ворошилова в кабинете - 1929.jpg, Kliment Voroshilov, 1929 File:Mikhail Frunze by Isaak Brodsky (1929).jpg, Mikhail Frunze, 1929 File:Day of Constitution by Isaak Brodsky (1930).jpeg, Day of Constitution, 1930 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 File:Maxim Gorky by Isaak Brodsky (1937, GTG).jpeg, Maxim Gorky, 1937

References

Publications

* ** **

External links

*
Isaak Brodsky
at the

Russian Academy of Arts Russian Academy of Arts (RAA / rus. РАХ, Росси́йская акаде́мия худо́жеств) is the State scientific Institution of Russian Federation, eligible heir to the USSR Academy of Arts. A founder of RAA is the Governmen ...

' official website {{DEFAULTSORT:Brodsky, Isaak 1884 births 1939 deaths People from Zaporizhzhia Oblast People from Berdyansky Uyezd 20th-century 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 Burials at Volkovo Cemetery