Fedorov-Davydov, Aleksei

Born Mar. 5 (18), 1900, in Moscow; died July 6, 1969, in the village of Vidnoe, Moscow Oblast. Soviet art scholar. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1960); corresponding member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958). Member of the CPSU from 1946.

From 1919 to 1923, Fedorov-Davydov studied at the University of Kazan. Between 1929 and 1934 he headed the department of modern Russian art at the Tret’iakov Gallery. He taught at Moscow University from 1927 to 1931 and again from 1944 until his death; he was made head of the subdepartment of Russian and Soviet art in 1948. Between 1934 and 1944, Fedorov-Davydov taught at the Textile Institute, receiving a professorship there in 1935. He headed the research sector of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography from 1934 to 1937 and was a professor at the institute in 1943 and 1944. Between 1948 and 1956 he headed a subdepartment at the Academy of Social Sciences attached to to the Central Committee of the CPSU.

Fedorov-Davydov’s principal field was the history of Russian art and architecture of the 18th through early 20th centuries. He elucidated the fundamental problems in the development of Russian culture as that culture related to the life of society. He was known for his incisive stylistic analysis of works of art and for his penetrating analysis of the distinctive features and social nature of artistic systems. His work also included articles devoted to current questions of Soviet culture.

Fedorov-Davydov was awarded two orders and a number of medals.