Budapest
1871-1960 Moscow
After
he graduated from the department of law at Petersburg University in
18993, Igor Grabar turned to art, studying at the Petersburg Academy of
Arts (1894-1896), at I.E. Repin's studio, and at Anton Azbe's school
(1896-1898) in Munich, where he eventually taught. A highly esteemed
artist, Grabar became a member of several distinguished societies,
including World of Art (1902), the Union of Russian Artists (1903-1910),
a life member of the Salon d'AuComne in Paris (1906), the Academy of
Arts (1913), and in 1947, an active member of the Academy of Arts of the
USSR.
In
addition to participating in the exhibitions of the Moscow Society of
Art Lovers (1898-1899), the Society of Moscow Painters in 1925, and the
Society of Moscow Artists three years later, Grabar taught at Moscow
University from 1920 to 1946 and at the Moscow Art Infinite from 1937
to 1943, where he also served as its director. He headed as well the All
Russian Academy of Arts (1942-1947). For seven years he acted as
director at the Tretjakov Gallery (1918-1925) and later, from 1944 until
his death in 1960, as director of the Institute of Art History of the
Academy of Science of the USSR.
Grabar
was recognized as a People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1956 for his
work in the areas of landscape, still life, and portrait painting and
for his images of historical revolutionary themes. An art historian,
Grabar was also a prominent specialist in the restoration and
preservation of works of art and antiquity His style was based on his
creative mastery or the principles of Impressionism.
