Isaak Brodsky

Isaak Brodsky
Portrait of Brodsky by Ilya Repin, 1913
Born	Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky 6 January 1884 [O.S. 25 December 1883] Sofiyivka, Taurida Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	14 August 1939(1939-08-14) (aged 55) Leningrad, RSFSR, USSR
Nationality	Soviet
Education	Odesa Art Academy
Known for	Painting
Movement	Socialist realism
Awards	Order of Lenin

Isaak Izrailevich Brodsky (Russian: Исаак Израилевич Бродский, Ukrainian: Іса́к Ізраїльович Бро́дський; 6 January 1884 [O.S. 25 December 1883] – 14 August 1939) was a Soviet painter whose work provided a blueprint for the art movement of socialist realism. He is known for his iconic portrayals of Lenin and idealized, carefully crafted paintings dedicated to the events of the Russian Civil War and Bolshevik Revolution.

Life and career

Brodsky was born in the village of Sofiyivka near Berdyansk in modern day Ukraine to Yisrael, a Jewish merchant. He studied at Odesa Art Academy and the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. In 1916, he joined the Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. When Brodsky asked Lenin to autograph his painting Lenin, he said: "I am signing to what I don't agree with for the first time".^[1]

Brodsky was on good terms with many leading Russian painters, including his mentor, Ilya Repin. 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, Valentin Serov, Isaak Levitan, Mikhail Vrubel, and Boris Kustodiev.

Brodsky was an Honoured Artist of the Russian SFSR and a member of the Union of Russian Artists. He was the first painter to be awarded the Order of Lenin.^[2] 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, Alexander Laktionov, Yuri Neprintsev, Piotr Belousov, Piotr Vasiliev, Mikhail Kozell and others.^[3] He died in Leningrad in 1939. His memoirs were published posthumously.^[4]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.^[5]

Gallery

• 
  Ludmila Burluk, 1906
• 
  Cavalry Officer, 1909
• 
  Fairy Tale, 1911
• 
  Alexander Kerensky, 1918
• 
  Lenin and soldiers of Red Army on the way to Poland, 1920
• 
  Lenin during the 2nd Congress of the International, 1924
• 
  Lenin's Funeral, 1925
• 
  Joseph Stalin, 1928
• 
  Lenin at Putilov factory at May 1917, 1929
• 
  Kliment Voroshilov, 1929
• 
  Mikhail Frunze, 1929
• 
  Day of Constitution, 1930
• 
  Alley in a Park, 1930
• 
  Lenin in Smolny, 1930
• 
  State Portrait of Stalin, 1933
• 
  Maxim Gorky, 1937

See also

• Fine Art of Leningrad

References

Sources

• Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School. Saint Petersburg: NP - Print, 2007. P. 450.

External links

• Media related to Isaak Brodsky at Wikimedia Commons