Ivan Leonidov

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Model of Lenin Institute, 1927

Ivan Ilich Léonidov (born February 9, 1902, Tver Oblast -1959 November 6, Moscow) was a Russian constructivist architect, urban planner, painter and teacher.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Works (Selected)
4 See also
5 External links
6 Reference

[edit] Early life

Ivan Léonidov was raised on a isolated farmstead in the province of Tver Oblast. The son of a farmer and woodsman, he went to work as a casual labourer at the docks in Petrograd. When an icon painter noticed Léonidov's drawing skills, he became his apprentice.

[edit] Career

In 1919 Léonidov attended the Svomas free art studios in Tver. From 1921-27 he studied at the VKhUTEMAS in Moscow under the tutilage of Alexander Vesnin at which point his attention switched from painting to architecture. His unexecuted diploma project in 1927 for the Lenin Institute and Library, Moscow, brought him international recognition. The scheme was prominently displayed at the Exhibition of Contemporary Architecture, Moscow, and was published in the Constructivists’ architectural journal Sovremennaya arkhitektura. He then went on to teach at the VKhUTEMAS between 1928-30. From 1931-33 he worked in the Giprogor and Mossovet and from 1934-41 he joined the studio of Moisei Ginzburg at the People's Commissariat for heavy industry.

[edit] Works (Selected)

Commisariat for Heavy Industry in Red Square, 1934

1926 - Design for Izvestia printworks in Moscow (VKhUTEMAS studio with Alexander Vesnin)
1927 - Thesis (diploma) Lenin Institute and Library in Moscow (unexecuted)
1928 - Competition entry for the building of the Centrosojuz in Moscow
1928 - Club of the New Social Type.Variant B [1]
1929 - Design for the Kolumbus monument in Santo Domingo
1929–-1930 - Competition entry for the House of Industry in Moscow
1930 - Competition entry for the culture palace of the proletarian district in Moscow
1930 - Competition entry for the socialist city Magnitogorsk (director/conductor of a group of students of the VChUTEIN)
1934 - Competition entry for the Narkomtiazhprom building (The People's Commissariat for heavy industry in Moscow), Red Square, Moscow.
1937–-1938 - Outside staircase in the Ordzonikidze sanatorium in Kislovodsk
1937–-1941 - Pioneer palace in Kalinin (Tver)
1950s - Sketch drafts for the "sun city" and the seat of the United Nations