Bozhii, Mikhail Mikhailovich

Born Sept. 7 (20), 1911, in Nikolaev. Soviet painter; People’s Artist of the USSR (1963); member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1962).

Bozhii graduated from the Fine Arts Technicum in Nikolaev (1933). He is primarily a portraitist who tries to reveal the ethical beauty and inner worth of Soviet man. His works include Portrait of R. Kushlianskii, Hero of the Soviet Union, 1945; Honor Student Svetlana Shipunova (1950); A Trained Nurse (1955); Thoughts, O My Thoughts ... (1959–60); V. I. Lenin (1959–61); and The Twentieth Century (1964–67). All of these paintings are in the Museum of Ukrainian Fine Arts of the Ukrainian SSR in Kiev. Bozhii also painted A New Age (1969). He was a delegate to the sixth and seventh convocations of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Bozhii has been awarded the Badge of Honor and various medals.