Igor Grabar

Self-Portrait. 1934, oil on canvas. The Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Igor Emmanuilovich Grabar (Russian: Игорь Эммануилович �"рабарь, March 25, 1871, Budapest �" May 16, 1960, Moscow) was a Russian painter and a representative mainly of socialist realism. After being graduated from the department of law at Petersburg University he turned to art. Studied in the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1894 �" 1896 and in Munich. In his early years Grabar was influenced by the jugendstil and later by impressionism, but his paintings "The Chrysanthema" and "The Uncleared Table" are closer to neoimpressionism. In 1913 - 1925 he was the head of the Tretyakov Gallery. Grabar was recognized as a People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1956 for his work in the areas of portrait painting and historical revolutionary themes. He also was a full member of Soviet Academy of Sciences (since 1943) and got a Stalin Prize (1941).

February Azure

Lenin at the Direct Line

Notable paintings

* "A Lady with Dog" (1899)
* "September Snow" (1903)
* "February Azure" (1904)
* "A White Winter. The Nests of Rooks" (1904)
* "The Bright Autumnal Evening" (1923)
* "The Winter Sunny Day" (1941)

Image:Grabar Still Life.jpg|Still life

"Lenin at the Direct Line"

The picture (Russian: "Ленин у прямого провода") was painted in 1933. However a Soviet military commander Alexander Yegorov, known as an enthusiastic collector of the battle-pieces, described this painting when it was named "Stalin at the South Front". When the cult of personality was debunked, Grabar repainted the picture and transferred the scene from the Front Stuff to Kremlin while the characters on the painting have been regrouped. However "Lenin at the Direct Line" was recognized as a rather perfect in the sense of painting but the figure of Stalin can still be seen in X-rays in the lower layer.

Trivia

Many of Grabar's contemporaries called him the conformist and he was even nicknamed "Угорь Обмануилович" (Ugor Obmanuilovich - a Russian allusion to the eel and lie, similar to Grabar's original name and patronymic).