Iakov Romas
Romas, Iakov Dorofeevich
Born Jan. 29 (Feb. 11), 1902, in Sokolka, present-day Sokółka, Białystok Province, Polish People’s Republic; died May 18, 1969, in Astrakhan. Soviet painter and interior decorator. People’s Artist of the USSR (1965); member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958). Became a member of the CPSU in 1929.
From 1924 to 1930, Romas attended the Moscow Vkhute-mas-Vkhutein (State Higher Arts and Technical Studios-Higher Art and Technical Institute). He took part in the festive decoration of Moscow’s central squares from 1924 to 1937. Romas was also one of the designers of the V. I. Lenin Central Museum (1935–36) and the Soviet pavilion at the New York World’s Fair of 1939. Between 1950 and 1954, Romas was the chief artist of the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.
Romas’ easel paintings included landscape and landscape-genre compositions. The artist most often depicted vast expanses of seas or rivers (On the Raft, 1947, Tret’iakov Gallery; State Prize of the USSR, 1948).
Romas was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War Second Class and various medals.