Isaac Brodsky

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer, teacher. Graduated from Berdyansk Municipal School (1896). Studied under Kyriakos Kostandi and Gennady Ladyzhensky at the Odessa School of Art (1896–1902) and under Jan Ciagli?skj and Ilya Repin at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1902–08). Married Lyubov Hoffmann (1908). Fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Germany, France, Spain and Italy (1909–11). Member of the Union of Russian Artists (from 1910) and the Arkhip Kuinji Society (from 1917; chairman). Painted portraits of Bolshevik leaders and events from the revolution and civil war (1917–30), paving the way for the development of Socialist Realism (1930s). Awarded a large apartment at 3 Arts Square in Leningrad, which was later turned into a memorial museum (1949). Taught at the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad (1932–39). Professor (from 1932) and director (from 1934) of the All-Russian Academy of Arts. Died in Leningrad and buried at the Volkovo Cemetery (1939). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1904). Contributed to the exhibitions of the New Society of Artists (1904, 1906), Imperial Academy of Arts (1904–16), Fellowship of South Russian Artists (1905–08, 1910–13), Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1907, 1908), Union of Russian Artists (1909–17), World of Art (1911), Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (1914, 1916), Jewish Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (1915–19), Arkhip Kuinji Society (1917, 1920, 1924, 1929, 1930), Community of Artists (1921, 1922), Group of Travelling Artists (1922), Sixteen (1922–24, 1927), Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1922–28), Ilya Repin Society of Artists (1927, 1928), international exhibitions in Munich (1909; 1913, gold medal) and Rome (1911), exhibition of Russian art in London (1910) and the Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris (1937). Awarded the Order of Lenin (1934), Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1938).