Ivan Ilyich Leonidov (; 9 February 1902 – 6 November 1959) was a Soviet constructivist

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, tow ...

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

and

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Early life

Leonidov was raised on an isolated farmstead in the province of

Tver Oblast Tver Oblast (, ) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was known as Kalinin Oblast (). Population: Tver Oblast is a region of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno. Much o ...

. The son of a farmer and woodsman, he went to work as a casual labourer at the docks in

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, ...

. When an icon painter noticed Leonidov's drawing skills, he became his apprentice.

Career

In 1919 Leonidov attended the Svomas free art studios in

Tver Tver (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative centre of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa rivers. Tver is located northwest of Moscow. Population: The city is ...

. From 1921 to 1927 he studied at the VKhUTEMAS in Moscow under the tutelage of Alexander Vesnin at which point his attention switched from painting to architecture. His unexecuted diploma project in 1927 for the Lenin Institute and Library, Moscow, brought him international recognition. The scheme was prominently displayed at the Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture, Moscow, and was published in the OSA Group journal Sovremennaya arkhitektura. He then went on to teach at the VKhUTEMAS between 1928 and 1930. From 1931 to 1933 he worked in the Giprogor Russian Institute of Urban and Investment Development and Mossoviet and from 1934–41 he joined the studio of Moisei Ginzburg at the People's Commissariat for heavy industry. Leonidov's only materialized design was the 1938 staircase in Kislovodsk.

Selected works

*1926 – Design for

Izvestia ''Izvestia'' ( rus, Известия, r=Izvestiya, p=ɪzˈvʲesʲtʲɪjə, "The News") is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Russia. Founded in February 1917, ''Izvestia'', which covered foreign relations, was the organ of the Supreme Soviet of th ...

printworks in Moscow ( VKhUTEMAS studio with Alexander Vesnin) *1927 – Thesis (diploma) Lenin Institute and Library in Moscow (unexecuted) *1928 – Competition entry for the building of the Centrosojuz in Moscow *1928 – Club of the New Social Type. Variant BLeonidov I.
utopia.ru *1929 – Design for the Columbus monument in

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

*1929–-1930 – Competition entry for the House of Industry in Moscow *1930 – Competition entry for the culture palace of the proletarian district in Moscow *1930 – Competition entry for the socialist city Magnitogorsk (director/conductor of a group of students of the VChUTEIN) *1934 – Competition entry for the Narkomtiazhprom building (The People's Commissariat for heavy industry in Moscow), Red Square, Moscow. *1937–-1938 – Outside staircase in the Ordzonikidze sanatorium in Kislovodsk *1937–-1941 – Pioneer palace in Kalinin (Tver) *1950s – Sketch drafts for the "sun city" and the seat of the United Nations

References

Sources

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External links