Ely Bielutin

Who is Ely Bielutin?

Ely Bielutin – was a Russian visual artist and art theoretician, the founder of The New Reality artistic academy.

Bielutin graduated from the Surikov Moscow Art Institute where he studied under representatives of the Russian avant-garde such as Aristarch Lentulov and Pavel Kuznetsov. In 1948 Bielutin founded “The New Reality” artistic academy. In 1964 he relocated the academy to Abramtsevo, in the outskirts of Moscow. In 1962, a comprehensive exhibition to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Moscow Union of Artists was held at the Central Exhibition Hall. The works of Bielutin’s disciples constituted a large part of the exhibition. The General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union Nikita Khrushchev severely criticized the exhibition and as a result it was dismantled. This event marked the end of the period of liberal reforms ranging from agriculture to foreign policy collectively known as ottepel.

In 1991, a large retrospective of the artists-members of the New Reality School took place in Manez with a comprehensive catalogue published on the occasion of the exhibition.