Anatoly Yar-Kravchenko

[Almedingen]

Anatoly Yar-Kravchenko was the painter of watercolors of the rooms in the Alexander Palace that are contained in the "At Home with the last Tsar" guidebook.

Does anyone know anything about him?  -- who he was and why he was allowed to paint watercolors of the interior.

[Mike]

Anatoly Yar-Kravchenko (1911-1983) was a pillar of the Soviet official "social realism" art. His paintings and graphic works often featured Stalin and other Soviet leaders and heroes (like polar pilots). See e.g. this masterpiece.

Yar-Kravchenko also was one of a few painters whose portrait works were reproduced on post stamps. Apparently his privileged status obtained him, together with Yuri Neprintsev, an access to the Tsarskoye Selo palaces.