Dejneka Alexander Alexandrovich
(1899-1969)

Paintings AA Deineki like embody the pathos of Soviet history 1920-30-ies., Its visual slogans and appeals. The joy of the celebration of industrialization and technological progress, the belief in a healthy mind in a healthy body - it's a sense of peace was reflected in his painting and drawing with absolute completeness and reliability.

Prior to becoming a student of Higher Art (1920-25), Dejneka studied at the Kharkov Art School (1915-17), worked as a photographer for the criminal investigation (1918), designed the campaign train and made posters for Kursk "Window GROWTH."

Life experience and belonging to the new generation seems to be dictated it to a radical artistic position. At the same time, becoming a member of the OST (1925), referred to as "the left-most among right-wing groups," Dejneka was among the defenders of easel paintings and, therefore, the enemy of avant-garde of the "industrial arts." However, cultivated "ostovtsami" picture was supposed to be on a completely new language and themes and is not related to old traditions. First of all, Dejneka was not bound pictorial tradition as such. He studied graphic arts department at the Higher Art B. A. Tabor and I. Nivinsky , worked in the poster and magazine graphics (in the magazines "Godless at the bench", "At the machine," "Spotlight"), and in his painting brought a purely graphical understanding of the form.

His paintings are not colorful - the dynamic expression of compositions based on the fine-tuned linear rhythm, finds in the finest works of signs and a poster at the same time monumental brevity ("On the construction of new plants", 1926, "The Defense of Petrograd", 1928, "Skiers", "Running" , both of 1934). The dynamic rhythm accented by objectivity and love of dramatic camera angles become a kind of "calling card" of the artist - for these characters correctly recognized not only his book illustrations ("Topsy-Turvy" Aseyev, 1930), posters in different years, the monumental work (mosaic Moscow stations Metro "Mayakovsky", 1939, "Novokuznetsk", 1943), but later painting ("Outskirts of Moscow", 1941 "Defense of Sevastopol" 1942, "By the Sea", 1956-57), it would seem already far from the laws ostovskoy aesthetics.

In the work Deineki fully embodied the ideas and principles of art, the master remains - "tehnitsistov", inspired by the new life, especially its industrial and sporting aspects, and stylistically gravitating to German Expressionism. Even after the collapse of the association (in 1931), the artist remains largely faithful to its orientation, is that the theme of sports clearly comes to the fore, gaining quite allegorical sound: the sport as the embodiment of strength, health and happiness, physical character, and thus the spiritual the harmony of the new man. But his painting itself becomes less structurally rigid conventionality of tracks closer now to the drawing does not, but rather to fresco.

However, in parallel develops over the years, becoming more and more important, a different area of ​​his work - intimate portraits, full-scale landscapes. These "small" genres are not bound to give a task capacious time Dejneka suddenly finds lyricism, they offer fine talent of the painter, for the time being, as it were hidden.