Natalya Jakovlevna
DAN’KO-ALEXEYENKO
Born 1892,
Tiflis (Georgia) - died 1942, on her way to evacuation from the
beseiged Leningrad.
Sculptor, porcelain artist.
The Red Sailor.
1918.
Painted porcelain, height 19
cm.
International. 1919.
Worker
standing on Top Half the Terrestrial Globe.
Painted porcelain,
height 17 cm.
Newspaper Boy. 1919. He
is selling an edition of the "Krasnaya Gazeta" (Red
Gazette).
Painted porcelain,
height 9.5 cm.
Partisan on the
March. 1919.
Painted porcelain, height 20
cm.
A Young Peasant Woman with
a Child. The woman in patched clothes holds in her right hand a fish
and another, wrapped in the newspaper "Pravda" in left.
The child is gnawing at a third fish.
Painted porcelain.
Porcelain work Biography Top of Page
Woman Sewing a Banner. 1920.
Painted porcelain,
height 14 cm.
Inkpot "V.I.Lenin".
1920s.
Painted porcelain,
height 15.2 cm. The Russian Museum.
A Sailor with a Red Banner.
1921.
Painted porcelain,
height 19 cm.
Famine. 1921.
As
a result of the Civil War and disastrous harvest in 1920 was
the severe famine in the lower Volga region.
Painted porcelain
figurine. Height 18 cm.
Turkish Girl Reading
Newspaper. 1921. With silhouette of Zinoviev's head in the centre of
page (in 1919 Zinoviev presided over the Congress of the East in
Baku).
Painted porcelain,
height 11.5 cm.
Porcelain work Biography Top of Page
"Tea" Mug .
1920s.
Painted porcelain,
height 7.8 cm. The Russian Museum.
A Lute Player Wearing a Turban.
1921.
Painted porcelain,
height 12.5 cm. The Russian Museum.
At Work. Self-portrait.
Mid-1920s.
Painted porcelain,
height 7.8 cm. The Museum of The Lomonossov State Porcelain Factory.
The Reds and the Whites.
Chess set. 1922-1923.
Painted porcelain.
Height: Red King 11cm, Quinn 10.7 cm, Knight 7.4 cm, Pawn 5.9 cm; White
King 10.8 cm, Quinn 10.1, Knight 7.9 cm, Pawn 5.9 cm. The Museum of The
Lomonossov State Porcelain Factory.
Worker Woman Making a
Speech. 1923. In her
hand is the magazine "Rabotnitza" (Worker woman).
Painted porcelain.
Height 18 cm. Riazan District Art Museum.
Porcelain work Biography Top of Page
The Great Russian Poet
Anna Akhmatova. 1924. (This
figurine made together with Elena Dan'ko, sister of the artist)
Painted
porcelain figurine, height 21.8 cm.
Students of Rabfak (faculty for
the working youth). 1930.
Painted porcelain,
16x9.8x7 cm. The Russian Museum.
The Garmoshka Player. The
Dancing Woman. 1930.
Painted porcelain.
14.7x4.8x5 cm; 20.5x7.8x6.7 cm. The Russian Museum.
Sportswoman. Early 1930s.
Painted porcelain.
Height17.6 cm. The Russian Museum.
Porcelain work Biography Top of Page
Inkpot with Sportswomen. 1933.
Painted porcelain,
21.3x17.8x12.3 cm. The Russian Museum.
Kolkhoz Calves. 1936.
Painted porcelain,
23.7x20x11 cm. The Russian Museum.
Discussion about a Project
of the Soviet Constitution. 1936-1937.
Painted porcelain,
18.4x41.3x20.9 cm. The Russian Museum.
A Clock-Case with a Figure of
an Uzbek Woman. 1937.
Painted porcelain,
23x20.5x12 cm. The Russian Museum.
Porcelain work Biography Top of Page
Natalya Dan'ko has studied at the Stroganov Artistic Industrial Institute, Moscow (1900-1902), the Vilnius State Art School, the studio of Yalmar Yanson (1906-1908), the workshop of Maria Dillon and the studio of the sculptor Leonid Shervud, St Petersburg (1906-1908).
From 1909 the artist had worked in the workshop of the sculptor Vassily Kuznetzov.
She has taken part in the creation of reliefs and sculptures for buildings in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kiev and for the Russian pavilions at exhibitions in Turin and Rome (1910-1911).
In 1914, she has become Kuznetzov’s assistant in Imperial Ceramics Factory. The artist was appointed head sculptor at the State Ceramics Factory, renamed into Leningrad Ceramics Factory (1919-1941). She has created 311 different items including hundreds of figurines of contemporary genre characters, portraits and satirical statuettes. She has also made beautiful pipes, brooches and scent bottles.
In 1936-1937 Dan’ko has produced ceramics for architectural applications, such as the bas-reliefs in the Metro-station Ploshchad Sverdlova (Sverdlov Square) and the River-boat station at Khimki in Moscow.
From 1919 she participated in group exhibitions in Leningrad. Dan’ko's work was also shown at the Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs, Paris (1925), the International Exhibition of Art in Industry and Decorative Art, Monza (1927), and the World Exhibition, Paris (1937), and awarded gold medals at all three.
Her personal shows were held in Leningrad in 1929 and 1946.