Mal’tsev, Peter Tarasovich

Petr Tarasovich Mal'tsev was born in what is today Mariupol, Ukraine. From 1921 to 1924, he studied at the Alexandrovskaia Professional Art School. In 1924, Mal'tsev continued artistic training in Moscow at VKhUTEMAS (Higher Art and Technical Studios) in the department of monumental art. He graduated from there in 1930. Mal'tsev began to exhibit works professionally in 1928, the same year he contributed to the decoration of the VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN Club in Moscow. Mal'tsev became a member of the USSR Union of Artists in 1932.

While the artist designed propaganda posters during World War II such as, Krasnoarmeets, bud’ geroem velnikoi otechestvennoi voiny! (Komsomol members, Be A Hero Of The Great Patriotic War!) he was mostly noted for his dioramas and battle paintings. In 1941, he reportedly designed his first battle painting, "After the Retreat of the White Finns".

Mal'tsev was one of the participating artists involved with the restoration of the Franz Rubo panorama Borodinskaia bitva [Battle of Borodino], a mural housed in the Borodino Battle Museum at Moscow. In 1952, the artist worked on the diorama “A.V. Suvorov's Alpine Trek” with A. Intezarovii and F. Usypenko. In 1959, he joined artists G. Marchenko and N. Prisekin on the monumental diorama “Assault on Sapun Mountain.” Mal'tsev’s other dioramas include: “Exercises of the Black Sea Float” (1967); “War Paratroopers” (1942); “Under Vyazma” (1970) with artist N. Prisekinii, and “The Crushing Defeat of the German Fascists in the Battle of Stalingrad” (1982) created with the Mitrofan B. Grekov Studio. Mal'tsev joined the studio in 1949.

During World War II, Mal'tsev served in the Red Army of the Far East from 1939 to 1940, and he served as a commander during the 1940 Soviet-Finnish Winter War. Petr Tarasovich Mal'tsev was bestowed the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR in 1958 and the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR in 1968.