Gelii Korzhev

Korzhev, Gelii Mikhailovich 

(also G. M. KorzhevChuvelev). Born July 7, 1925, in Moscow. Soviet painter. People’s Artist of the RSFSR (1972). Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1970).

Korzhev studied under S. V. GerasimoV at the V. I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute from 1944 to 1950. A teacher at the Moscow Higher Industrial Arts School (1951-58 and from 1964), he received a professorship there in 1966. In 1968, Korzhev became the chairman of the administrative board of the Artists’ Union of the RSFSR.

Korzhev’s works are marked by clear composition, restrained colors, a large-scaled plan, and carefully modeled figures. He focuses on important civic themes and depicts Soviet people in dramatic and heroic situations. His paintings in the Russian Museum in Leningrad include the triptych The Communists (1957-60; I. E. Repin State Prize of the RSFSR, 1966), People in Love (1959), and The Send-off (1967; from the series Singed by the Fire of War, 1962-67). Korzhev’s painting The Artist (1960-61) is in the Tretiakov Gallery.

REFERENCES

Lapshin, V. P. G. M. Korzhev. Leningrad, 1962.