aleksei mikhailovich gritsai was a renowned soviet and russian artist, born on march 7, 1914, in petrograd (now saint petersburg), russia. he studied in leningrad from 1924 to 1931 in the studios of s.m. zaidenberg and later at the academy of arts under p.s. naumov, vasily yakovlev, and isaak brodsky from 1932 to 1939. artistic career gritsai became best known as a landscape painter, with a deep appreciation for the power of nature to…