Born in Kiev (Ukraine) 1878. Studied at signpainting from 1888; at N.I.Murashko's Kiev
Drawing School c. 1898; Kiev Art College 1900/01?-1904; Academy of Arts and A. Azbe's
school, Munich, 1904-08. Active in Muniche; Ekatorinoslav c. 1917; Moscow. Began
exhibiting 1906. Member of AKhRR from 1922. Exhibited with ITINERANTS 1922; AKhRR 1922-29.
Importants shows include "ANTI-IMPERIALIST EXHIBITION", Moscow 1931;
"ARTISTS OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION OVER FIFTEEN YEARS"; Moscow, 1933;
"Fifteen Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", Moscow 1933;
"Twenty Years of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army", Moscow, 1938. Taught at
polytechnic institute, Ekaterinoslav, c. 1917. Also a graphic artist. Died in Moscow 1950.
(
"Roses for Stalin", oil on canvas, 100,5 x 141 cm, 1949.
"This painting illustrates 'socialist realism' - a style that Stalin forced on Soviet artists. Socialist realism delivered positive messages about the USSR and its leaders. Because of propaganda like this and censorship, many Soviet citizens did not know the extent of Stalin's brutality."
(Gardner, Parsons, Zwicky: "Stories of the Century", Duval House Publishing, Toronto, Ontario 2003.)
This picture is also published in Funken, Koltrowitz: "Geschichte plus", Volk und Wissen Verlag, Berlin 2001 (ISBN 3-06-110924-2), as well as in "The Brain and The Arts" by Espen Dietrichs and Ragnar Stien, Koloritt Forlag, Oslo, Norway 2008 (ISBN 978-82-92395-64-6). It is the cover image of the CD by Overlord "In Soviet Russia, My Heart Breaks You", published in the US 2011.
"Miner" and "Female Worker", each of them 41 x 29 cm, oil on cardboard, 1929.
This painting was also used as cover-image of the magazine "Azerbaijan International", 13/4, Winter 2005:
"Our cover is based on the original painting 'Black Ravens' by Boris Vladimirsky (1878-1950, Collection Horvath, Austria), who often was commissioned to paint propagandistic scenes during Stalin's era. 'Black Ravens' shows another side of the soul of the Vladimirsky. It is still unknown how this work passed censorship.
'Black Ravens' were the cars used by the NKVD (KGB) to arrest civilians, often in the wee hours of the morning. They were notorious in creating an atmosphere of fear and distrust so prevalent in the 1930s and 1940s. Note the prison in the background."
"Lenin in Red Dawn", oil on cardboard, 32,5 x 49,5 cm.
