Toidze Moisei (Mose) Ivanovich

Moisei (Mose) Ivanovich Toidze was a Soviet painter, People's Artist of the USSR (1953), full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1947), and Hero of Labor (1932). He studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1896–1899). From 1899, he lived in Tbilisi, where he founded the People's Art Studio in 1922 and taught at the Tbilisi Academy of Arts (1930–1953). His work, shaped by democratic ideals, includes vivid genre scenes (Mtskhetoba, 1899–1901), psychological portraits, and canvases dedicated to socialist construction and the Great Patriotic War (Letter from the Front, 1942; Song of Victory, 1948). He was awarded the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Badge of Honor.