Yuri Petrovich Kugach (1917-2013) was a People's Artist of the USSR, a multiple Stalin Prize and State Prize laureate, an Academician, and the revered patriarch of a great Russian artistic dynasty. His artistic education began at the 1905 Moscow Art School and continued under the master Nikolai Petrovich Krymov before he entered the Moscow Art Institute (the pre-1948 name for the Surikov Institute) in 1936, graduating in 1942. A foundational figure in the post-war school of Russian Realism, he later taught at the Surikov Institute from 1948 to 1951.
Kugach dedicated his art to the sincere and lyrical depiction of Russian village life, a theme he pursued with unmatched authenticity and skill. The works in the Lazare Gallery collection are prime examples of his focus. In his painting "In the Village," he masterfully captures the atmosphere and character of the Russian countryside, a subject he knew intimately. In another piece, "Russian Stove," he finds a deep poetry in a simple domestic interior, celebrating the warmth and tradition at the heart of the rural home. His work is celebrated for its strong composition, rich color, and empathetic understanding of his subjects.
The legacy of Yuri Kugach is immense, confirmed by his numerous top-tier state awards, including the Gold Medal of the USSR Academy of Arts. His work achieved major international acclaim with a solo exhibition in Japan (1977) and major museum exhibitions in the United States and London. His paintings are held in the State Tretyakov Gallery and museums worldwide. For the collector, owning a painting by Yuri Kugach is to acquire a work by a foundational master of Soviet art, an artist whose vision of Russian life has become iconic and whose artistic dynasty continues to this day.
Collections An entire hall dedicated to his work at the New Tretyakov Gallery Museums in Gorky, Rostov, Irkutsk, Kharkov, Kiev, Taganrog & Lvov Nizhni-Novgorod Art Museum Overland Gallery of Fine Art RSFSR Ministry of Culture, Moscow Regional Art Gallery, Tver Russia Artists' Union Russian Museum, St. Petersburg State Art Museum of the Altai Region, Barnaul State Museum of Art of the Uzbek SSR Sumi Art Museum Tretyakov Gallery Tver Picture Gallery
1997, Communication of Times; Dynasty of Artists, published by the Association of Artists
Books
The Connection of Times, Covering the works of Yuri, Olga, Mikhail, Ivan, and Ekaterina Kugach
Pages of Memoirs, Covering the works of Yuri and Mikhail Kugach also the work of Vlaymir Filipov and Boris Petrenko
Russia - Motherland, Covering the works of Yuri and Mikhail Kugach, Published in 2006 by Istoki Publishing House
1983, Yuri Petrovich Kugach, published by the Artists' RSFSR
1998, Socialist Realist Painting, by Matthew Cullerne Bown, pp.424,448,&449
"Before the Holiday, On Saturday, In the Family (First Steps)"
