Aleksandr Deineka (1899-1969) : an avant-garde for the proletariat
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June. Deineka participates in two major Soviet exhibitions: the Moscow version of 15 Years of Art- ists of the RSFSR (opens June 27) and 15 Years of 1 2
4 Fundación Juan March the RKKA (Workers and Peasants Red Army) (opens June 30), with extensive discussion of his work in the press.
Poster Department of the Polygraphic Institute. Fall. While on an off icially commissioned trip to visit collective farms, Deineka creates a series of five atypically melancholy paintings known as the Dry Leaves cycle [cat. 213]. They are possibly connected to the death of his father at that time.
38).
21 March. The Council of People’s Commissars (Sovnarkom) approves the project for the Moscow Metro.
Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine). October. Ivan Bunin becomes the first Russian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. The article “Formalism in Painting” by Osip Beskin is published in the third issue of the newspaper Iskusstv. A booklet of the same name is also pub- lished later in the year. Shevchenko, Shterenberg, Istomin, Fonvizin, Drevin, Udal’tsova, Goncharov, Tyshler, Labas, Punin, Filonov, Malevich, Kliun and other artists are identified as formalists.
Sovetskoe iskusstvo features a letter written by Henri Matisse recount- ing his impressions of photographs of works by Soviet artists sent to him by VOKS: “I believe Deine- ka is the most talented of them all and the most advanced in his artistic development.”
a number of paintings by Deineka. On May 17, the Italian Ministry of Education purchases Deineka’s painting Female Race priced at 8,000 lire for a gallery in Rome. June 14. He is appointed chair of Monumental Painting at the Polygraphic Institute, a position he holds until 1936.
Lycheva (1906–1992), his partner of many years. August 1. He is awarded an off icial commission to visit the Soviet navy fleet in Sevastopol, where he gathers material for forthcoming state exhibitions. Together with his friend, the artist Fedor Bogorod- skii, he sees navy ships and goes on training flights, drawing pencil sketches in the cockpit. In a letter to Serafima Lycheva, he writes: “I never leave Sev- astopol . . . I wake up at six or seven in the morning and go for a swim. On my way there I usually buy fruit at a market. I paint a sketch with watercolors and redo it at home using oil painting. After lunch I take my sketchbook and spend some time at Dinamo [an ocean swimming pool]. Before the sun sets in the evening, I finish the work of the day—I polish it . . . I have a stack of sketches: the sea, Sevastopol, several hydroplanes, sports and, once again, the sea. If I could hang them in your room, the sun of Sevastopol would brighten your winter” (catalogue of the exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery, [Moscow, 2010], 210). The painting Future Pilots (1938) [cat. 233] would be the last of a series of works he completed from his sketches in Sevastopol.
exhibition committee for the show The Art of So- viet Russia scheduled to take place in Philadelphia, organized by VOKS, the Pennsylvania Museum of Art and the American-Russian Institute of Philadel- phia (ARI). He serves on the jury to select works for the exhibition, and is chosen to travel to Phila- delphia as an off icial Soviet representative of the exhibition. In preparation for his trip to the United States, he begins to study English in the fall. On October 22, he receives passport number 122769, 1. Aleksandr Deineka. We will
Build the Powerful Soviet Dirigible “Klim Voroshilov”, 1930. Collection Merrill C. Berman [cat. 205] 2. Red Army Field-Marshals Voroshilov and Budionny, 1921. Fundación José María Castañé
We Demand Universal Compulsory Education, 1930. Poster. Lithography 4. Aleksandr Deineka, ca. 1930 5. Aleksandr Deineka in Crimea, early 1930s 6. Famine in the Volga region, ca. 1932–33. Fundación José María Castañé
Dinamo.
Sevastopol, 1934. Watercolor on paper, 44.2 x 59.8 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
his friend, the artist Fedor Bogorodskii during their off icial commission to visit the Soviet navy fleet in Sevastopol, 1934 9. Maxim Gorky and Stalin. Illustration in the book Stalin, 1939. Fundación José María Castañé [cat. 236] 10. Aleksandr Deineka. Sevastopol. Night, 1934. Tempera, watercolor and white lead on paper. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 5 6 8 9 7 10 Fundación Juan March 18 April 12. Deineka arrives in Italy and stays at the Hotel di Londra & Cargill, located near Villa Borghese in Rome. He writes an enthusiastic let- ter to Serafima Lycheva on Roman architecture. In regards to modern architecture, the Mussolini Stadium grasps his attention for its “amplitude and planimetry.” Three-day sojourn in Florence.
of the Arts in Moscow, he states that America and American art are far more interesting than France and French art; he discusses the Regionalists and the John Reed Club artists, and especially praises the work of Thomas Hart Benton. June 8. The USSR attaché in Washington, Aleksei Neiman, notifies Deineka the drawings exhibited at Studio House will be returned except for three that were sold, two of which were purchased by Mrs. Ellis Longworth, President Theodore Roosevelt’s daughter. July. Deineka travels to the Donbass region on an off icial commission to collect material for paint- ings, resulting in such works as Lunch Break in the Donbass and Collective Farm Woman on a Bicycle [cat. 225] .
USSR—featuring over one hundred works— opens at the All-Russian Union of Cooperative Partner- ships of Visual Art Workers (Vsekokhudozhnik). The exhibition is widely and positively reviewed. On December 26, the State Art Acquisition Commis- sion purchases nine works on view at the show. Deineka illustrates Ogon’ (The Fire) [cat. 92], Russian translation of the novel Le Feu by the French writer Henri Barbusse.
the Gorky Central Park of Culture and Leisure, the first line of the Moscow Metro under the general design of Lazar Kaganovich, is inaugurated. May 15. Kazimir Malevich dies in Leningrad. American commission—where I will sketch some drawings for an upscale magazine . . .” (catalogue of the exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery, [Moscow, 2010], 212).
following an invitation by Vanity Fair magazine to sketch a series of drawings. March 4. Deineka attends the opening of the con- tinuation of the exhibition The Art of Soviet Russia at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland, accom- panied by Ambassador Troianovskii and his wife.
honor at the Soviet Embassy, where a small show of his works also takes place.
New York: “I will say goodbye to America in three days and then head to Europe . . . I will be an ocean closer to Moscow… I have returned from Washing- ton tonight where an exhibition of my works was held at the Embassy . . . The following day, I had to attend a fancy reception. I begged Troianovskii not to make me wear white tie, and in the end we both decided on a tuxedo. Look at what a dandy I’ve become, ha ha!” (catalogue of the exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery, [Moscow, 2010], 210). In total, three solo exhibitions of Deineka’s works on paper—of which he sells twelve—take place in the United States, at the Art Alliance in Philadelphia and at the Soviet Embassy and Studio House gal- lery in Washington, DC. He returns with numerous sketches of American people, cities, and high- ways—material he uses in compositions for paint- ings later that year.
arrives in France on March 21. In Paris, he goes to the Louvre on six diff erent occasions and meets the artists Kliment Red’ko and Mikhail Larionov. An exhibition of his work is held at a gallery in Paris. issued and signed by G. Iagoda, the person in charge of the VTSIK Presidium. The passport in- cludes the following description: “Average height. Grey eyes. Ordinary nose. Brown hair” (the artist’s family name is spelled Deineko). October 18. The 33rd Carnegie International exhi- bition opens at the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh; Deineka is awarded an Honorable Mention for his painting On the Balcony (1931) [cat. 212]. Salvador Dalí was also among those who received a prize for his painting Eléments énigmatiques dans un paysage.
Vecher-
niaia Moskva states that Deineka left for the United States the day before and would be staying there for three months. He arrives in New York on De- cember 22. The Art of Soviet Russia opens at the Pennsylvania Museum on December 15, and travels to seventeen cities in the United States and Cana- da over the two following years. Deineka works on a series of monumental panels depicting “The Revolution in the Village” for the assembly hall at the Commissariat of Agriculture (Narkomzem) in Moscow. He produces four oil sketches: Conversation of the Kolkoz Brigade [cat. 223] , Two Classes, Peasant’s Revolt and The Har- vest (the location of the latter two is unknown). The commission falls through and the panels are never completed. As part of his work on this project, he is sent on an off icial commission to visit collective farms.
Moscow.
March 9. The first Russian cosmonaut Iurii Gagarin is born in Klushino, near Moscow. August 17. During the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Writers, Maxim Gorky declares socialist real- ism the off icial style of the Soviet Union, “realist in form, socialist in content.” September 18. The Soviet Union joins the League of Nations. November 24. The composer Alfred Schnittke is born in Engels (Saratov Region). December 1. The assassination of Politburo mem- ber Sergei Kirov in Leningrad inaugurates a pe- riod of political oppression and purges that lasts through 1938. Isaak Brodskii is appointed director of the Russian Academy of Arts. 1935 January 2–22. Deineka travels from New York to Philadelphia, where he participates in receptions and lunches associated with the exhibition The Art
of Soviet Russia and meetings with local artists and patrons. January 22 – February 7. He stays in New York, making sketches and meeting artists. February 7. He returns to Philadelphia to prepare for a solo exhibition of his watercolors at the Art Alliance, which opens on February 11. He shows forty-five works, both Russian watercolors that he had brought with him and recent works featuring American themes. February 14. He writes to Serafima Lycheva from Philadelphia: “I must confess I dream of a holiday in some town near Moscow or Crimea. You can’t imagine how hard I’ve had to work! I haven’t writ- ten in so long because I was getting ready for the show. Even here that’s fairly complicated, and then Troianovskii [the Soviet ambassador] came to the show . . . the opening went well. For two and a half hours I stood and shook hands with high and mid- dle class ladies and gentlemen, pretty tiring, and then dinner, also standing around with a plate . . . This week I will stay in Philadelphia until the 20th. Then I will go to a small sports facility—an
Roman Plaza, 1935. Watercolor and gouache on paper, 37.8 x 53.5 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow 2. Drawing of Paris executed during Deineka’s trip in 1935. Illustration from Aleksandr Deineka’s book, On My Working Practice, 1969 [cat. 248] 3. Drawings of Roman priests executed during Deineka’s trip in 1935. Illustration from Aleksandr Deineka’s book,
On My Working Practice, 1969 [cat. 248] 4. Catalogue of the A.
Deineka Exhibition, Vsekokhudozhnik, Moscow, 1935; Academy of Fine Arts of Leningrad, 1936
metro line in Moscow, Lazar Kaganovich, ca. 1940. Fundación José María Castañé
Theater in Moscow, 1936 (Soyuzfoto). Fundación José María Castañé 7. Extraordinary 8th Congress of Soviets, 1936 (Soyuzfoto). Fundación José María Castañé 1 Fundación Juan March August 31. Aleksei Stakhanov, a miner from the Donbass, mines 102 tons of coal in 5 hours and 45 minutes (14 times his quota), founding what be- came known as the Stakhanovite movement: the drive for workers to exceed production targets to boost the success of the Five-Year Plans. Stakhano- vites were rewarded with public accolades and rare consumer goods. November. Moscow Regional Union of Soviet Artists conference “On the Problem of the Soviet Portrait.” In their lectures, David Shterenberg, Aleksandr Deineka and Il’ia Erenburg condemn MOSSKh’s authority and the political concessions and privileges given to a small and select group of artists.
Vanity Fair features a draw- ing by Deineka, credited as: “Cover design: Skiing
at Lake Placid by Deyneka.” February 12. Deineka’s solo exhibition from Vsekokhudozhnik opens at the Academy of Arts in Leningrad.
sue of the magazine Pod znamenem marksizma features an article by Polikarp Lebedev entitled “Against Formalism in Art,” in which the author states: “The influence of formalism in Soviet paint- ing sometimes reaches artists whose artwork is not formalist by definition. See, for example, the work of S. Gerasimov or A. Deineka . . . Signs of formalism in Soviet art are the remnants of capital- ism, which is particularly hostile to the socialist cause.” A number of unsigned editorial notes are published in Pravda, including “Chaos Instead of Music” (January 28), against the composer Dmitrii Shostakovich, “Falseness in Ballet” (February 8), “Cacophony in Architecture” (February 20) and “On Scribbling Artists” (March 1). The last in the series, “The Formalist Condition of Painting,” was signed by Vladimir Kemenov. Summer. Deineka travels to Sevastopol with the painters Georgii Nisskii and Fedor Bogorodskii and draws sketches during his stay.
nized by the Tretyakov Gallery to address the prob- lem of Soviet exhibitions. “In foreign countries, in New York for example . . . very competent people purchase works of art after conducting a rigorous selection process. But once paintings are hung in a museum, it is not with the concern that eventu- ally they will be removed because an artist may be a genius today but a nobody tomorrow. This idea does not exist. The piece will undoubtedly become part of the history of art in two or three years. So why should I care about what is written about me or the Defense of Petrograd for example? It can be hung or removed, but it has already fulfilled its his- torical purpose. It may be called formalist, rational- ist or heroic-realism, but no matter, it has entered history” (RGALI, Russian State Archive of Literature and Art, F. 990, op. 2, d. 10, 23–24).
Soviet section of the Paris International Exhibition ( Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne) planned for 1937 to produce designs for two monumental panels for the Soviet Pavilion, on “National Festivities” and “Leading Figures.” Also in 1936, Deineka is appointed director of the Monumental Painting Workshop at the Moscow Institute of Fine Arts, a position he holds until 1946.
March 21. Composer Aleksandr Glazunov dies in Neuilly-sur-Seine, near Paris. June 18. Russian novelist and playwright Maxim Gorky dies in his country villa near Moscow. November. Shostakovich composes the music score for the play Hail Spain!, written by former Proletkul’t Theater literary manager and director, Aleksandr Afinogenov. It is a drama centered on the figure of Dolores Ibárruri, better known as “La Pasionaria.” In August, the USSR had decided to intervene in the Spanish Civil War in support of the socialist Republicans.
Stalin Constitution, is adopted at the 8th Extraordi- nary Soviet Congress. Beginning of the Great Purge (Ezhovshchina or Great Terror), a campaign of repression and politi- cal persecution carried out in the USSR between 1936 and 1938. Members and ex-members of the Communist Party were arrested and tried in Mos- cow, accused of conspiring with Western countries to betray the Soviet Union and assassinate Stalin as well as other Soviet leaders. The purge also extended to peasants (the largest single group of those arrested and killed), Red Army off icers, the intelligentsia, minority groups and others. Histori- ans disagree on the exact numbers, but about 45% of those arrested were executed, while most others were sentenced to hard labor camps; estimates of total deaths range from approximately 950,000 to 1.2 million.
Soviet section of the Paris International Exhibition to produce an enormous panel on the theme of “National Festivities.” In a letter addressed to Serafi- ma Lycheva, he writes: “I’m going to have to paint a 7 x 12 meter panel here. Not in Paris, nuh-uh . . .” He later wrote “[It] had to be ‘visible’ from all rooms, as determined by the architect, and should also conclude the exhibition . . . I never saw the entire work, not when painting it in the given conditions 2
3 5 6 7 Fundación Juan March 20 of light and perspective [Deineka had to paint it in cramped quarters under artificial light], nor when it was installed in Paris. Only some photographs from Paris have given me a vague impression of what it looked like” (A. Deineka, On My Working Practice [Moscow, 1961], 36–37). Entitled Stakhanovites, it was exhibited in the final room of the Soviet Pavil- ion, which was famously topped by Vera Mukhina’s monumental sculpture The Worker and Collective Farm Woman. Guernica by Pablo Picasso was on display at the Spanish Pavilion. On June 15, 1938, Deineka’s mural is awarded the gold medal in the painting category.
A. Deineka, a monograph on the artist by Boris Nikiforov, is published with a print run of 4,000 copies. July 8. Deineka signs an agreement with the orga- nizing committee of the exhibition 20 Years of the Workers and Peasants Red Army (RKKA) and the Navy to produce the works Lenin on an Outing with Children and Future Pilots [cat. 233], for which he receives 10,000 rubles. He begins the mural paintings Running through the Field and The Sports Parade for the Red Army House in Minsk. He receives the commission to produce mosaics for the Maiakovskaia metro station.
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