Geli Korzhev

Geli Korzhev (Core'-zhev) was born in Moscow in 1925. His father was an architect and a member of the Association of New Architects - the leading avant-garde group of the 1920s. Korzhev studied at the Moscow Intermediate Art School between 1939-1944. Later he studied at the Surikov Institute in Moscow from 1944-1950, graduating from the studio of Sergei Gerasimov. Soon after graduation Korzhev won acclaim with his painting "In the Days of War" (1954). However, it was in 1959 that Korzhev's personal voice really emerged in the creation of the painting "Lovers" - an image of a middle aged couple sitting together on the seashore, sunk in memory. It was the first appearance of the archetypal Korzhev protagonist, a middle-aged or elderly man who bears the burden of heavy, even traumatic experiences. The series of paintings entitled "Scorched by the Fire of War" which were executed in the mid-60's established Korzhev as the most powerful realist of his generation. Korzhev continues to work in Moscow.