Plastov, Arkady Alexandrovich, 1893–1972

[SIGNED] Ul’ianovskii khudozhnik Arkadii Aleksandrovich Plastov [Arkadii Aleksandrovich Plastov, the artist from Ul'yanovsk]

Kazan: Central Museum of the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic, 1929. Item #893

At head of title: Materialy k slovariu khudozhnikov Povolzh’ia. Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at Central Museum of the Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic (Kazan, Russia), March-April 1929. 16 pages, 3 unnumbered leaves of plates: illustrations, portrait; 15 cm. Text in Russian. One of 350 copies. The publication was carried out under the supervision of P. M. Dulsky. A good copy with light spotting and foxing, signed by the artist Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov. As of April 2024, OCLC has located two copies of this book in the United States.

Arkady Alexandrovich Plastov (1893–1972), born into a lineage of icon painters in Prislonikha, Simbirsk, began his artistic training in sculpture at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture in 1914. Returning to his village in 1917, Plastov dedicated himself to painting, drawing inspiration from nature. With the advent of socialist realism as the mandated artistic style in the Soviet Union, his work from 1935 onwards vividly depicted rural Soviet life, reflecting the changes brought by collectivization and the resilience of its people during World War II. Plastov’s art, particularly noted for its depiction of unpolitical, everyday life scenes, marked a significant turn in Soviet art history. His 1951 masterpiece, "Spring," showcases this shift with its serene portrayal of a woman and a girl in a snow-covered landscape, free from political messages. Recognized for his contributions to art, Plastov received two Orders of Lenin, the Stalin Prize in 1946, the Lenin Prize in 1966, and was posthumously nominated for the Ilya Repin State Prize in 1972. Arkady Plastov remains a seminal figure in Russian socialist realist painting, celebrated for his authentic depictions of village life and the human spirit.

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