Evening Light
Gritsai, Aleksei Mikhailovich
1914 - 1998
Evening Light
Oil on Canvas
50 x 110cm
1997
Signed
PROVENANCE:
Collection of the artist and by descent
Aleksei Mikhailovich Gritsai (Russian: Алексей Михайлович Грицай; 1914–1998) was a Russian artist. From 1924 to 1931 he studied in Leningrad in the studios of S.M. Zaidenberg and from 1932 to 1939 at the Academy of Arts under P.S. Naumov,Vasili Yakovlev, and Isaak Brodsky.
Gritsai became best known as a landscape painter with a deep appreciation for the power of nature to provide inspiration for humanity. He believed that since humans are a part of nature they can find joy and consolation through positive interaction with it. Due to the reduced mobility brought by sickness at the end of his life, he was unable to work directly in nature and had to rely on his memory. Because of this, much of his final work is imbued with the poignancy of reminiscence.
Gritsai was a People's Artist of the USSR (Russian: Народный Художник СССР; 1974), an academician of the USSR Academy of Arts (1964), the laureate of twoStalin Prizes (1951 and 1952) and one USSR State Prize (1978)
