"Red Square Moscow" Original Oil Painting by Mikhail Bogatyrev Circa 1953

Original oil painting by Mikhail Grigorevich Bogatyrev.

The piece measures 35.5" x 25.5" overall. 

Signed and dated on the back of the canvas. 

Closed corner, gilded frame handcrafted by Richard Tobey.

Fitted with eyes and wire and ready to hang in its new home.

Closed corner, gilded frame handcrafted by Richard Tobey.

This painting comes from our collection of original Soviet-era oil paintings. 

The history of Russian Impressionist painting is the tale of an extraordinary movement in the art of the twentieth century.  The concept of "Soviet Social Realism," a.k.a. Russian impressionism, emphasized the social role of art; it insisted on the superiority of content over form and required a wholesale return to traditional skills, regarding history and European art from the Renaissance as a living source of inspiration.

In the ensuing years, artists struggled between their duty to reflect the ideals of the State and developing their own stylistic repertoire as party leaders demanded that art should be "understood" by the average person. Somehow, Russian artists managed to perform a delicate balancing act between the requirements of "accepted" working class art by painting poetic scenes in which the worker, farmer, or monumental Russian industry are the primary subjects.

With the death of Stalin in 1953, the darker academic pallet began to lighten and the need to conform to rigid subjects eased. This was the beginning of what is known as the "Severe Style" of Social Realism. The fall of the Soviet Empire took with it the last of the social realist art form. By 1990, all that was left of Russian Impressionism was a body of work created in the five previous decades by a few masters and their progeny.

About Mikhail Grigorevich Bogatyrev:

Born in Niskuchai, Tver, Russia in 1924, Bogatyrev went on to study at the Moscow Municipal Studio for Invalids of the Great Patriotic War from 1946-1951. This was an institution created by the government for soldiers injured during the Great Patriotic War. The "Great Patriotic War" is a term used to describe the conflict fought along many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany. He stayed active in Moscow and began exhibiting in 1955. Unfortunately, there is not much more information know about the artist. Bogatyrev passed away in 1999. This oil painting comes in the hand-made, closed corner, gilded frame in which it is photographed. The painting has been fitted with eyes and wire for optimal hanging. Signed and dated on the back of the canvas. Don't miss the opportunity to own one of these masterpieces.