Mikhail
Mikhailovich Radonezhsky (20.03.1894 - 24.11.1972)

He was born in 1894. Until 1918 he studied at the Penza art College. In July 1937, during the formation of the Ulyanovsk branch of the Kuibyshev Union of Soviet artists was elected its first Chairman. He lived and worked and Ulyanovsk.
Participant of exhibitions since 1932.
In 1946 in Ulyanovsk held a personal exhibition of works of the artist. It was opened in November 1946 in the Ulyanovsk Regional art Museum. The exhibition estoniano 35 works. (Bibl.: Ulyanovsk Pravda, 1946, November 19.)

Mikhail Radonezh – one of the original masters of the landscape genre and still life. Many of his works devoted to the Simbirsk – Ulyanovsk. He was born 12 Mar 1894 in old Volga town of Vasilsursk Nizhny Novgorod province in the family veterinarian. Here he first saw and fell in love with the beauty of the Volga expanses, down to the Volga quiet provincial streets and alleys. Here the origins of his life and career. It is no coincidence vasilsurskaya landscapes occupy the same important place in his works, as written in our city. At the end of the real school M. M. Radonezh came first in the Kazan art school and then moved to Penza, where he graduated from art school (1914 – 1918) in the class of academician N. F. Petrov. From 1918 to 1921, he worked as a decorator and head of the art studios in the red Army. In 1921 – 1926 the artist lived in the Volga city: Kozmodemyansk, Vasilsursk, Astrakhan, taught in schools and colleges, worked as a decorator in the theater, much time was given to artistic creativity. In 1925 became a member of AHRR. From 1928 to 1931 he taught drawing in the cities of the Volga region (Mariinskiy Posad, Kinel–Cherkassk) and Siberia (Novosibirsk, Bogotol). He was a member of the society "New Siberia".
In 1931, at the invitation of the City Department of education the artist moved to Ulyanovsk. From that time on he always lived here, taught in schools, colleges, academies, worked as a senior researcher Museum of Art (1940 – 1947), led the art Studio at the Museum (1944 – 1946). For more than forty year period of creative activity in Ulyanovsk Radonezhskiy has created a unique in its poetic images of old Simbirsk. He rewrote almost all the streets of the Central part of the city, the old Crown, the walls of the former Spassky monastery, the architectural details of old buildings: "the Old crown", "Ulitsa Goncharova", "Karl Marx Street". Lenin and other monuments of Ulyanovsk were also the main themes of the architectural landscape of the artist: "House – Museum of VI Lenin", "the Gymnasium, where he studied Lenin", "the house of the poet Yazykov, Pushkin spruce in Jazykove", "Old poplar in Turgenevka". With great enthusiasm he wrote and buildings. In the infinity loop "New Ulyanovsk" sounds the eternal theme of renewal of life. Together with the artist we go through new avenues, streets, peering into new architectural designs. "In construction", "New home construction", "Zasviyazhie", "Moscow highway", admiring the silhouettes of the houses on the background of evening sky: "in the Evening in Zasviyazhie". Many of the landscapes the artist painted not so much from nature how to assemble by memory, by imagination. The Volga with its changeable beauty was a constant source of creative inspiration. He wrote the Volga in a cold windy day with a lead floating above waves of clouds (Fresh wind), conveyed the beauty of the Volga open spaces in a quiet, fading sunset ("Boats"). The movement, in whatever form it is manifest, has always attracted the artist, was close to his creative temperament. It is painted and gold autumn leaves, and spring awakening of nature and the impulses of a squally wind. In one of the best landscape "Winter in New Crown" depicts a well-known motive: the alley with mighty trunks of trees, fancy pattern woven of twigs, picturesque shadows on the melting snow. The artist creates an image of early spring, when nature is joyful buoyant mood, which distinguishes all his work. From time to time, the artist turned to still life: "the Harvest" with apples and sunflower, "still life with samovar", "Antique porcelain". Color, as always Radonezhsky, is heard in full force. It is no coincidence that his favorite technique was tempera painting, giving a rich, pure color chords.
As a member of the Union of artists, M. Radonezh constantly participated in exhibitions of local artists and other Volga towns. He was a member of the all-Union exhibition "the Life of the peoples of the USSR" (1926), all-Union art exhibition of 1947, the exhibition "V. I. Lenin in the fine arts (1960) and zonal exhibition "Big Volga" (1964). His works are in museums of Vasilsursk, Penza, art and history museums of Ulyanovsk. He entered the history of art as a wonderful teacher who has brought up not one generation of artists, and a wonderful artist, who dedicated his work to the people. The motto was: "to live means to create, to bring joy to people". This motto he has followed throughout life.

I. A. Voronov, researcher at the Ulyanovsk regional art Museum, art historian