Aleksandr Deyneka


Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Deyneka 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 has been described as exemplifying the socialist realist style.

Life and career

Deyneka was born in Kursk and studied at Kharkov Art College 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 depict genre scenes as well as labour and often sports. Deyneka later began painting monumental works, such as The Defense of Petrograd in 1928, which remains his most iconic painting, and The Battle of Sevastopol in 1942, The Outskirts of Moscow. November 1941 and The Shot-Down Ace. His mosaics 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 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, and as a result, less interesting.

Honours and awards

Selected works

Three Women's Figures, 1920sThe Cabaret, 1921Перед спуском в шахту, 1924Football, 1924After the Rain. Kursk, 1925Springtime, 1925The Skiers, 1926Tennis, 1926На стройке новых цехов, 1926
  • , 1927The Ode to the Spring, 1927
  • , 1928, Central Museum of the Defense Forces of the USSR, MoscowМеханизируем Донбасс!, 1930Китай на пути освобождения от империализма, 1930Надо стать самим специалистами, 1930Book Cover, 1931The Interventionists' Mercenary, 1931
  • , 1931Crosscountry Race, 1931A Girl at the Window. Winter, 1931Mother, 1932
  • , 1932
  • , 1932Noon, 1932The Football Player, 1932
  • , 1932In the Airs, 1932The Night Landscape with Horses and Dry Grasses, 1933Girls Swimming, 1933Dry Leaves, 1933Resting Children, 1933Communists at Interrogation, 1933Физкультурница / Работать, строить и не ныть!, 1933Without Work in Berlin, 1933The Pier, 1933The Race, 1933
  • , 1934Skiers, 1934Landscape with a Herd, 1934
  • , 1934
  • , 1934Crimean Pioneers, 1934A Parachuter above the Sea, 1934Quirinal Place, Rome, 1934Spanish Stairways, 1934
  • , 1935An Italian motif, 1935The Park, 1935The Portrait of S.I.L. with the Straw Hat, 1935Tuileries, 1935Quai de la Seine, 1935
  • , 1935
  • , 1935Негритянский концерт, 1935The Boredom, 1935
  • , 1935
  • , 1935A Lunch Break in Donbass, 1935Первая пятилетка, 1936The Model, 1936
  • , 1937The Stakhanovites, 1937Woman in Red, 1939The LilacsNikitka – The First Russian Pilot, 1940The Left March, 1941The Outskirts of Moscow. November 1941Sverdlov Place in December 1941Evening. The Patriarch Ponds, 1941A Burned down Village, 1942Эвакуация колхозного скотаКолхозницы роют противотанковые рвы на подступах к МосквеРемонт танков на прифронтовом заводеТанки идут на фронтНаступление началосьThe Defense of Sebastopol, 1942The Knocked down Ace, 1943Nude Woman Sitting, 1943Under Occupation, 1944Expanse, 1944Above the Devastated Berlin, 1944Berlin. The Day of the Declaration, 1945A Stadium in Berlin, 1945Near Kursk. Tuskor' River, 1945Relay Race, 1945A Boxer, 1947100-meter Race, 1947Relay Race on the Garden Ring, 1947
  • , 1947The Studio Window, 1947In Sebastopol, 1947Self-portrait, 1948The Space of Building Sites under Moscow, 1949The Skiers ], 1950Football Players, 1950Перед забегом, 1951A Nude Girl, 1951Дачный поселок Кратово, 1951In Sebastopol, 1947On the Skating Rink in Kratovo, 1951The Snow Maiden, 1954The Laying Woman with a Ball, 1954Still Life. Strawberries, 1955A Nude Model, 1955Football players, 1955The Tractor Driver, 1956In Sebastopol, 1956
  • , 1956–1957Putting the Shot, 1957Голова парашютиста, 1957A Nice Morning ], 1959–1960Hockey Players ], 1959–1960October Slogans of Peace by the Narvsky Gate, 1960A Milker, 1962The Red Guardsman, 1962A Villa in Rome, 1965The Young Designer, 1966In the South, 1966Летнее привольеRunning Sportswoman
  • ''The Cat and the Cook''