Leonid Steele
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 ." Biography. Leonid Steele was born in Lebedyn, a town in the Sumy Region of the Ukrainian SSR. As a child he lived through the famine of 1933 in the Ukraine. He started painting when he was four and in 1939 took part in the World Art Exhibition in New York. He served in the Red Army during World War II (the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union) and suffered a severe concussion from an air bomb during the siege of Kharkiv in 1941. After recovery, he continued serving in Siberia. During recovery and service in Siberia he began studying  plein air painting with Evgeny Kudriavtsev – then director of the important State Tretyakov Gallery and student of legendary turn-of-the-century landscape painter Isaak Levitan. In 1947 Steele entered the Leningrad Repin Institute of Arts of the Soviet Union Art Academy (Russian Imperial Academy of Arts) where he studied first with Professor Platunov and later in the class of Professor Rudolph Frentz. In 1953, a fresh graduate of the painting department, Leonid received his first professional recognition with his diploma painting exhibited in Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery and in Leningrad's Kazan Cathedral on the occasion of the  Fourth Conference of Peace Activists. This painting, entitled Defend the Peace, was reproduced in many editions in the USSR and abroad. In 1958 he became a Member of the Union of Artists of the USSR with union ID 508. Some of his best known multi–figure paintings are Komsomoltsy, The Land, The Family (Cossacks Kind Will Never Die), Mothers of the World, and Remembrance. He has participated in 80 exhibitions, including 11 All–Union Exhibitions, the most prestigious of all being in the USSR, including Central Exhibition Hall, Manezh, Moscow Manege. In addition, his paintings and his story were featured  in numerous top Soviet mass media publications - such as Ogoniok, Rabotnitsa, Pravda, Izvestia, Sovetskaya Kultura, Smena, and Ukraina - as well as a variety of regional and local newspapers, radio programs and TV shows. In 1968, Steele travelled around the world with his works, visiting 22 countries. The artist became a friend of many Soviet celebrities over the years, including Leonid Utyosov, Dmitri Shostakovich, David Oistrakh, Yuri Gagarin, Pavel Popovich and Alexander Vertinsky. He was also an early supporter of a prominent and widely influential protest songwriter of the 1960s, Bulat Okudzhava, whose public appearances were restricted by Soviet authorities at  the time. Steele did two live portraits of Bulat, hosted his early underground concerts and made home recordings. Leonid's style evolved through the years. Never settling for any one achievement, he pressed on in a continual pursuit of new directions. Almost every decade was marked by a distinctive stylistic shift reflecting a new stage of his artistic development. Once he established his reputation with a painterly "impressionist" style, Steele shifted direction and became one of the early pioneers of what later became known as "severe style." His most distinctive periods were The Academic Period of 1947–1953, The Early Kiev  Period of 1953–1965, The Kiev Period of 1965–1975 and Moscow Period of 1975–1990. Dr. Vern Swanson referenced Leonid Steele in his book on Soviet Impressionism. Steele's recounting of his life and experiences as a Soviet artist was widely quoted and referred to in two important books on the period by Dr. Vern Swanson - "Soviet Impressionism" and "Soviet Impressionist Painting". Steele is featured alongside such important painters of the period as Aleksandr Gerasimov, Aleksandr Deyneka, Isaak Brodsky, Aleksei Gritsai, Akhmed Kitaev, Gely Korzhev, Yuri Kugach, Aleksandr Laktionov, Oleg Lomakin, Konstantin Maksimov, Petr Maltsev, Dmitri Nalbandyan, Georgy Nissky, Yuri Neprintsev, Vasili  Nechitailo, Yuri Pimenov, Arkadi Plastov, Yuri Podlyaski, Vladimir Serov, Boris Shcherbakov, Dementi Shmarinov, Valentin Sidorov, Pavel Sokolov-Skalya, Vladimir Stozharov, Nikolai Timkov, the Tkachev brothers, Andrei Tutunov, Boris Ugarov, Edvard Vyrzhikovski, Tatiyana Yablonskaya and Dmitri Zhulinski. Later life. Leonid Mikhailovich Steele continued to paint in the United States - in California - exhibiting the same passion and energy he has shown since his youth. He was a Lifetime Signature Member of the California Art Club and remains a living legacy of the Art of the Soviet Union. Leonid Steele was the father of Alexey Steele, a Russian Realist School painter residing in  Los Angeles, California. Leonid died on October 4, 2014, in Los Angeles, California.