Iurii Ivanovich Pimenov

(also Georgii Ivanovich Pimenov). Born Nov. 13 (26), 1903, in Moscow. Soviet painter and graphic artist. People’s Artist of the USSR (1970). Became a member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR in 1962.

Pimenov studied with S. V. Maliutin, B. A. Favorskii, and V. D. Falileev at the Moscow Vkhutemas (State Higher Arts and Technical Studios) from 1920 to 1925. Between 1945 and 1972 he taught at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow, where he was made a professor in 1947. Pimenov’s early work, as a founding member of the Society of Easel Painters, is marked by monumental composition filled with stormy movement and by a restrained palette.

Beginning in the 1930’s, Pimenov, painting mostly genre pictures, landscapes, and still lifes, developed a distinctive technique, applying his pigments with small semitransparent strokes that made the canvas seem to vibrate. The artist depicts man at work and tending to his daily affairs, thereby revealing the poetic nature of everyday Soviet life. Many of his works depict Soviet women, bringing out with moving lyricism their spiritual and physical beauty. Pimenov’s graphic works (including posters) and his set designs, which are based on pictorial principles, are similar in style to his easel paintings.

Pimenov’s works in the Tret’iakov Gallery include We Do Create Heavy Industry! (1927), Portrait of L. A. Eremina (1935), The New Moscow (1937), Tire Marks (1944), and Marusia, Dinner Is Ready! (watercolor, 1951-56). Other works include the series Everyday Things (still lifes, 1959) and New Sections (1963-67; Lenin Prize, 1967). Pimenov designed sets for the plays To Those in the Sea! by Lavrenev (1946, Malyi Theater, Moscow; State Prize of the USSR, 1947) and The Wide Steppe by Vinnikov (1949, Central Theater of the Soviet Army; State Prize of the USSR, 1950).

Pimenov has been awarded the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and various medals.