Ivan Leonidov
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n constructivist
Constructivist architecture
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the movement produced...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, urban planner
Urban planner
An urban planner or city planner is a professional who works in the field of urban planning/land use planning for the purpose of optimizing the effectiveness of a community's land use and infrastructure. They formulate plans for the development and management of urban and suburban areas, typically...
, painter
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
.
Early life
Ivan Léonidov was raised on an isolated farmstead in the province of Tver OblastTver Oblast
Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...
. The son of a farmer and woodsman, he went to work as a casual labourer at the docks in Petrograd. When an icon painter noticed Léonidov's drawing skills, he became his apprentice.
Career
In 1919 Léonidov attended the SvomasSvomas
Svomas or SVOMAS , an abbreviation for Svobodnye gosudarstvennye khudozhestvennye masterskiye , was the name of a series of art schools founded in several Russian cities after the October Revolution....
free art studios in Tver
Tver
Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...
. From 1921-27 he studied at the VKhUTEMAS
VKhUTEMAS
Vkhutemas ) was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas. The workshops were established by a decree from Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet government, "to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications for...
in Moscow under the tutelage of Alexander Vesnin
Alexander Vesnin
Alexander Aleksandrovic Vesnin , together with his brothers Leonid Aleksandrovic Vesnin and Viktor Aleksandrovic Vesnin he was a leading light of Constructivist architecture...
at which point his attention switched from painting to architecture. His unexecuted diploma project in 1927 for the Lenin Institute and Library, Moscow, brought him international recognition. The scheme was prominently displayed at the Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture, Moscow, and was published in the OSA Group
OSA Group
The OSA Group was an architectural association in the Soviet Union, which was active from 1925 to 1930 and considered the first group of constructivist architects...
journal Sovremennaya arkhitektura. He then went on to teach at the VKhUTEMAS
VKhUTEMAS
Vkhutemas ) was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas. The workshops were established by a decree from Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet government, "to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications for...
between 1928-30. From 1931-33 he worked in the Giprogor and Mossovet and from 1934-41 he joined the studio of Moisei Ginzburg
Moisei Ginzburg
Moisei Yakovlevich Ginzburg was a Soviet constructivist architect, best known for his 1929 Narkomfin Building in Moscow.-Education:Ginzburg was born in Minsk in a Jewish real estate developer's family. He graduated from Milano Academy and Riga polytechnic institute . During Russian Civil War he...
at the People's Commissariat for heavy industry.
Leonidov's only materialized design was the 1938 staircase in Kislovodsk
Kislovodsk
Kislovodsk is a city in Stavropol Krai, Russia, which lies in the North Caucasian region of the country, between the Black and Caspian Seas. The closest airport is located in the city of Mineralnye Vody. Population:...
(1940 photographs: overview, theater stairs, terrace stairs).
Works (Selected)
- 1926 - Design for IzvestiaIzvestiaIzvestia is a long-running high-circulation daily newspaper in Russia. The word "izvestiya" in Russian means "delivered messages", derived from the verb izveshchat . In the context of newspapers it is usually translated as "news" or "reports".-Origin:The newspaper began as the News of the...
printworks in Moscow (VKhUTEMASVKhUTEMASVkhutemas ) was the Russian state art and technical school founded in 1920 in Moscow, replacing the Moscow Svomas. The workshops were established by a decree from Vladimir Lenin with the intentions, in the words of the Soviet government, "to prepare master artists of the highest qualifications for...
studio with Alexander VesninAlexander VesninAlexander Aleksandrovic Vesnin , together with his brothers Leonid Aleksandrovic Vesnin and Viktor Aleksandrovic Vesnin he was a leading light of Constructivist architecture...
) - 1927 - Thesis (diploma) Lenin Institute and Library in Moscow (unexecuted)
- 1928 - Competition entry for the building of the Centrosojuz in Moscow
- 1928 - Club of the New Social Type. Variant B http://www.utopia.ru/english/item.phtml?id=244&type=graphics&sortby=view&start=0
- 1929 - Design for the ColumbusChristopher ColumbusChristopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
monument in Santo DomingoSanto DomingoSanto Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River... - 1929–-1930 - Competition entry for the House of Industry in Moscow
- 1930 - Competition entry for the culture palace of the proletarian district in Moscow
- 1930 - Competition entry for the socialist city Magnitogorsk (director/conductor of a group of students of the VChUTEIN)
- 1934 - Competition entry for the NarkomtiazhpromNarkomtiazhpromThe Narkomtiazhprom was a 1934 architectural contest for the People's Commissariat of Construction of Heavy Industry, to be constructed in Red Square, Moscow...
building (The People's Commissariat for heavy industry in Moscow), Red Square, Moscow. - 1937–-1938 - Outside staircase in the Ordzonikidze sanatorium in Kislovodsk
- 1937–-1941 - Pioneer palace in Kalinin (Tver)
- 1950s - Sketch drafts for the "sun city" and the seat of the United Nations