Dmitry Ivanovich Maevsky (; 17 May 1917, in Petrograd, Russian Empire – 23 July 1992, in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Soviet Russian painter, lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists, regarded as one of the representatives of the Leningrad school of painting,The Leningrad School of Painting. Essays on the History. St Petersburg, ARKA Gallery Publishing, 2019. pp. 349. most famous for his lyrical landscapes.

Biography

Dmitry Ivanovich Maevsky was born on 17 May 1917 in city Petrograd (former Saint Petersburg), Russian Empire. His childhood and youth passed in the ancient Russian city of Rzhev. Here in 1930, Dmitry Majewski graduated from the seven years school. Passion for drawing led him to the studio of the artist Shvedov, where Dmitry Maevsky got his first experience of drawing and painting.

In 1933 Maevsky came to Leningrad to continue his education. In 1933–1935 years he studied in industrial college, simultaneously preparing to enter the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1935 Maevsky passed the entrance exams at the Department of Painting of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but was not enrolled because of lack of vacancies due to the reorganization of the institute.Иванов С.В. Маевский Дмитрий Иванович // Страницы памяти. Справочно-биографический сборник. 1941—1945. Художники Санкт-Петербургского (Ленинградского) Союза художников — ветераны Великой Отечественной войны. СПб., Петрополис, 2014. Кн.2. С.6.

In years 1937–1939 Maevsky studied in Art Studio head by Isaak Brodsky in Leningrad.The Leningrad School of Painting. Essays on the History. St Petersburg, ARKA Gallery Publishing, 2019. p. 349. Since 1939, he has participated in Art Exhibitions. In 1938 he married Valentina Chistyakova. In 1939 they had a daughter Ludmila.

In 1939 Maevsky was drafted into the Red Army. He took part in the Winter War, and in the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet people against Nazi Germany and its allies. Maevsky was awarded the medal "For Victory over Germany".

Creativity

After demobilization in 1946 Dmitry Maevsky gradually restoring skills. In 1946–1953 he continued his studies in the private art studios of known Leningrad artist Piotr Buchkin, then of Alexander Kharshak.Иванов С.В. Маевский Дмитрий Иванович // Страницы памяти. Справочно-биографический сборник. 1941—1945. Художники Санкт-Петербургского (Ленинградского) Союза художников — ветераны Великой Отечественной войны. СПб., Петрополис, 2014. Кн.2. С.7. Since the mid 1950s he was constantly involved in art exhibitions of Leningrad artists. Most known as a master of portraits and lyrical landscape. In 1955 Dmitry Maevsky was admitted to the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists.

1950s

Paintings of 1950s, including showing at art exhibitions of this period, give an idea about his picturesque style. It is distinguished by adherence to the traditions of tonal painting, restrained mild coloring with a predominance of green, blue and ocher tones, mastery of plein air, a few generalized pattern. The painting «The Ukrainian homestead» (1954) is one of the most known examples of the Maevsky's art works of this period.Paintings of 1950-1980s by the Leningrad School's artists. Exhibition catalogue. St Petersburg: St Petersburg Union of Artists, 1994. P.4.Иванов С.В. Маевский Дмитрий Иванович // Страницы памяти. Справочно-биографический сборник. 1941—1945. Художники Санкт-Петербургского (Ленинградского) Союза художников — ветераны Великой Отечественной войны. СПб., Петрополис, 2014. Кн.2. С.7.Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School. St Petersburg: NP-Print, 2007. pp. 285, 345, 350.

Others examples of the creativity of Maevsky of middle and second half of 1950s and beginning of 1960s can serve the works «Thawed patchs»Spring Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1955. Catalogue. Leningrad: Leningrad Union of Artists, 1956. P.12. (1955), «Barns»The Fall Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1956. Catalogue. Leningrad: Leningrad artist, 1958. P.16. (1956), «The New School», «A Suda River»1917 - 1957. Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists. Catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1958. P.20. (both 1957), «Blast furnace», «Factory Yard», «Nizhniy Tagil City»The Fall Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1958. Catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1959. P.17. (all 1958), «Izhora Plant»Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1960. Exhibition catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1961. P.26. (1959), «Steel-maker»Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1960. Exhibition catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1963. P.13. (1960), «A Breath of Spring», «Portrait of Gorunov»Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1961. Exhibition catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1964. P.25. (1961), «Blue Shadows»Russian Winter. Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1940-1990s. Catalogue. St Petersburg: Nikolai Nekrasov Memorial museum, 1995. P.4. (1962), «At the Reading», «Frosty Day»,Spring Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1965. Exhibition Catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1970. P.20. «The Weather recovered»Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School. St Petersburg: NP-Print, 2007. P.320. (all 1963), «A Portrait of an Old Bolshevik Andreev»,The Leningrad Fine Arts Exhibition. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1964. p. 32. «Zoya - a Komsomol Member of Dzerzhinsky Sovkhoz» The Soviet Russia the Second Republic Exhibition of 1965. Exhibition catalogue. - Moscow: Soviet Artist, 1965. P.26. (both 1964), and others.

Academic Dacha

Maevsky's "creative" period extends from the late 1950s until the mid-1970s. Since the mid-1960s, Maevsky lived and worked in the village of Podol, Tver Province, near the Academic Dacha, where he created most of the works of this period. The artist continued to work on portraits of war veterans, the advanced workers and farmers. Although he achieved considerable success in his genre and work to orders, he was looking for an opportunity to engage in real creativity, which he believed he could do in the landscape of Central Russia. Nature, in his paintings, would be inspired by a high sky and the vast expanses of fields, the horizon distances of the forest, the village outskirts, the March sun and the colors of autumn. In his paintings, he focused on the understated beauty and dignity of the delicate wilderness, which allowed him to create his images.

This dichotomy, which became a sign of the times, and typical for many artists, who will accompany the creation of Maevsky until 1980, finding reflection in his paintings «April» (1968), «Summer Day in Podol village»Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School. St Petersburg: NP-Print, 2007. p. 194. (1970), «Portrait of Kukin, a veteran of Great Patriotic war»Our Contemporary. Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1971. Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1972. p. 14. (1971), «Portrait of farmer Nosov»Across the Motherland Exhibition of Leningrad artists. Catalogue. Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1974. p. 17. (1972), «Portrait of Grinev, the сollective farm worker»Our Contemporary. Third exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1973. Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1974. p. 9. (1973), «Fields and Copses»,Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of October Revolution. Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1982. P.16. «Portrait of tractor-driver Filyaev»,Our Contemporary. Regional exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1975. Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1980. p. 19. «Portrait of Vera Dieva, collective farm brigadier» (1975 ), «Cool May»Autumn Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1978. Exhibition Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1983. p. 11. (1976), «Portrait of a Tractor Driver Khrustalev»,Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists dedicated to the 60th Anniversary of October Revolution. Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1982. p. 16. «A March Sun»Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School.- St Petersburg: NP-Print, 2007. – p. 118. (both 1977), «Sunny May»Autumn Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1978. Exhibition Catalogue. - Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1983. p. 11. (1978), «The village of Podol» (1980), and others.

Late artist's creativity are still bound to the land of Tver, and here he spent most of his time. The works of this period differed more restrained palette, changing their mood. They often reflect shades of sadness. His painting acquired greater generality, the drawing became more laconic. Composition of painting acquired more rigorous form and expressing the author's intent.

Dmitry Maevsky accomplished this through landscape painting. He painted the soft, understated beauty of Russian nature in a way that few other artists have. He focused particularly on the time around spring awakening: the first spring sun, the first heat, the first green, the last snow.

In 1970–1980 the works of Maevsky were represented at the exhibitions of contemporary Soviet art in Japan in the Gikosso gallery,Exhibition of modern Soviet Painting. 1976. Gekkoso Gallery. Catalogue. — Tokyo, 1976. - р.100–101,163.Exhibition of modern Soviet Painting. 1977. Gekkoso Gallery. Catalogue. — Tokyo, 1977. - pр. 20, 90. later in the 1990s at art fairs and auctions of Russian art in France, USA, Italy, England, where his art has become its admirers.

Maevsky died on 23 July 1992 in Saint Petersburg at the age of 75. His paintings reside in Art museums and private collections in Russia,Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School.- Saint Petersburg: NP-Print Edition, 2007. - pp. 6–7. in the U.S., England, Japan,Exhibition of modern Soviet Painting. 1977. Gekkoso Gallery. Catalogue. — Tokyo, 1977. - рp. 20, 90. France,Peinture Russe. Catalogue. - Paris: Drouot Richelieu, 26 Avril, 1991. - pp. 7, 19–21. and throughout the world.

See also Leningrad School of Painting List of Russian artists List of 20th century Russian painters List of painters of Saint Petersburg Union of Artists List of the Russian Landscape painters Saint Petersburg Union of Artists Academicheskaya Dacha

References

Principal exhibitions

1956 (Leningrad): The Fall Exhibition of works by Leningrad artists of 1956, with Piotr Alberti, Taisia Afonina, Vsevolod Bazhenov, Irina Baldina, Nikolai Baskakov, Yuri Belov, Piotr Belousov, Piotr Buchkin, Sergei Frolov, Nikolai Galakhov, Vladimir Gorb, Abram Grushko, Alexei Eriomin, Mikhail Kaneev, Marina Kozlovskaya, Tatiana Kopnina, Maya Kopitseva, Boris Korneev, Alexander Koroviakov, Elena Kostenko, Nikolai Kostrov, Anna Kostrova, Gevork Kotiantz, Yaroslav Krestovsky, Ivan Lavsky, Oleg Lomakin, Dmitry Maevsky, Gavriil Malish, Alexei Mozhaev, Nikolai Mukho, Samuil Nevelshtein, Sergei Osipov, Vladimir Ovchinnikov, Lev Russov, Ivan Savenko, Gleb Savinov, Vladimir Seleznev, Alexander Semionov, Arseny Semionov, Yuri Shablikin, Boris Shamanov, Alexander Shmidt, Nadezhda Shteinmiller, Victor Teterin, Nikolai Timkov, Mikhail Tkachev, Mikhail Trufanov, Yuri Tulin, Piotr Vasiliev, Igor Veselkin, Rostislav Vovkushevsky, Vecheslav Zagonek, Ruben Zakharian, Sergei Zakharov, and other important Leningrad artists.