Chekalov, Vladimir Fedorovich

Vladimir F. Chekalov
was one of the greatest Master Portrait Artists to emerge from the Soviet Era.  He captured body language and expression, stopping moments in time.   At first glance, viewer connects with subject in various settings:   Fishing on the banks of a river; farmers harvesting fields of hay;  student and teacher painting en Plein Air; soldiers, and villagers going about their daily activities.

Vladimir Chekalov of the 3rd Ukrainian Front created battle scenes, portraits and landscapes that have made their way into art museums and private collections in Russia, United States, England and throughout the world.  He is published in various books and catalogues.

Chekalov was born July 6, 1922 in the Kostroma Region, in Soviet Russia.  The chief rivers of the region are the Volga and the Kostroma.  It is a heavily forested area, making it one of the principle timber producing regions in Europe. Also, the textile industries have been active there since the early 18th Century.

In 1952 Chekalov graduated from the Ilya Repin Institute, where, after completing his second-year course, he was assigned to a master workshop under Professor B. Ioganson.  This prestigious institute was established first as the Academy of Three Noblest Arts, in 1757.  It is now the Russian Academy of Arts, in Saint Petersburg.  When Chekalov attended the institute, education of future painters was already based on an exhaustive study of drawing, composition, painting, and art history.  Requirements for applicants were very strict.

Chekalov was a pupil of Alexander Zaytsev, Boris Fogel, Genrikh Pavlovsky, Lija Ostrova, Semion Abugov, Mikhail Platunov, and Josef Serebriany.  He became a member of the LCRAU in 1953.

World War II suddenly interrupted academy life, and Chekalov became a field engineer when he volunteered for the Red Army.  Fascist Germany attacked Leningrad on June 22, 1941, and many artists found themselves fighting for their lives, their country, and their hope to return to the academy.

Despite the tragic chaos of the first days of the siege, city and national governments provided the evacuation of a million artworks from the collections of Leningrad museums as quickly as possible.  On September 8, 1941 the city was cut off by the first enemy blockade, and over a hundred Leningrad artists perished.  In February, 1942 the Academy of Arts and its Secondary Art School were evacuated through the lifeline across the Ladoga Lake eventually arriving in Samarkand.  Students and teachers continued their work under very difficult conditions until their return to Leningrad in 1944.

Thematic artworks were integral to the Leningrad school of painting.  The cathartic process of painting motifs such as wartime battle scenes, soldiers receiving letters from the home front, and the rebuilding of cities and villages is reflected in many artists’ works during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  Chekalov too, painted these historic themes, at times in monumental works.

Chekalov lived to see the drastic political and economic changes that took place during the 1980’s and 1990’s.  The Soviet Union collapsed.  In 1991 Independence of the Russian Federation was declared.  Leningrad regained its initial name of Saint Petersburg, and it is there that Chekalov died in 1992.

Some details taken from Unknown Socialist Realism, The Leningrad School, by Sergei V. Ivanov.

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