USSR Union of Artists
Leonid Mikhailovich Steele (1921 - October 2014) was one of the leading artists of the Russian Realist School - the Soviet period in Russian Art known as "socialist realism" or "socrealizm." A member of the USSR Union of Artists since 1958, he is known for his large multi-figure works, as well as figure, genre and landscape works - especially his portrayals of peasant life in the Ukraine and nature scenes of the Moscow region. In addition to his reputation for having a painterly "impressionist" style, Steele became one of the early pioneers of what eventually became known as "severe style."