Ponomarev, Nikolai

Born Feb. 4 (17), 1918, in Aleksandrovsk-Grushevskii, now the city of Shakhty, Rostov Oblast. Soviet graphic artist. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1968). Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1973).

From 1940 to 1950, Ponomarev studied at the V. I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute under A. A. Osmerkin and P. Ia. Pav-linov. He began teaching there in 1949, becoming a professor in 1963. He became first secretary of the Artists’ Union in 1971 and has served as chairman since 1973.

Characteristic of Ponomarev’s work as a graphic artist is poetic perception of nature and the everyday life of working people. He is also known for his sensitive use of color and the decorative expressiveness of large color planes. His works include the series Miners of the Donbas (gouache, charcoal, and pencil, 1949–50; State Prize of the USSR, 1951), North Vietnam (gouache and pastel, 1957; lithograph and monotype, 1958), and Traveling Around India (gouache, 1961). These works are in the Tret’iakov Gallery and the Leningrad Russian Museum. Later works include A Fisherman’s Wife: Morning (from the series About the People of Soviet Russia, tempera and gouache, 1964, belongs to the Ministry of Culture of the USSR) and Sails Near Moscow (monotype, 1969). Ponomarev has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and a medal.