R. Nicolay & Sohn

Labas, Aleksandr A., Moscow

*1900      +1983
Ëàáàñ Àëåêñàäð Àðêàäüåâè÷
Painter, graphic artist and stage designer. Master of landscape, portrait and genre painting. From 1912-1916 he studied at the Moscow Stroganov School under F.F.Fyodorovsky. From 1915-1916 he attended private lessons with F.I.Roerberg and I.I.Mashkov in Moscow. In 1917 he studied at the GSÍM under P.P.Konchalovsky. From 1922-1924 he continued his education at the All-Russia Art and Technology Workshops studying under D.P.Shterenberg. A founding member of the Society of Easel Painters (1925). Between 1920-1921 he taught at the Ekaterinburg Art Institute and at the All-Russia Art and Technology Workshops in Moscow. A.A.Labas’ creative work represents lyrical romantic lines in the Soviet art of the 1920s-1930s. During the 1920s-1930s he worked on the theme of the industrialisation in the country, where he was fascinated by images associated with aviation. He searched for a harmonious relationship between man’s natural perception of nature and the material and technological environment being created in front of him. The concrete impressions of real life in his art, turned into a dream of a wonderful future. Unlike many of the artists from the Society of Easel Painters, who swung towards the graphic style, Labas perceived colour as the main expressive means of creating space in a painting. He is characterised by his uninhibited, fragmentary style of painting. Labas’ point of view was best expressed in his landscape painting.