Leo Romanovich Britanishsky (passport patronymic Ruvimovich, actual Ruvelevich; July 22 (August 4) 1897, Kronstadt - May 8, 1971, Leningrad) - Soviet artist, painter and graphic artist, ceramist.
He studied in St. Petersburg (Petrograd) in the studio of M.D. Bernshtein, in the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts (early 1910s), took advice from P.P. Chistyakov (1913 - 1914), attended the Studio of S.M. Seydenberg ( 1915). He studied at the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron A. L. Stieglitz (1915 - 1918), Petrograd State Free Artistic Training Workshops - Vhutemase (1918 - 1923) with K. S. Petrov-Vodkin. He took porcelain painting lessons from S.V. Chekhonin (1920 - 1921).
He lived in Petrograd (Leningrad). He worked as a guide in the Russian Museum (1926 - 1928). He painted landscapes, genre and allegorical compositions. In 1930 - the 50s was engaged in creativity sporadically; returned to active artistic activity in the late 1950s. The author of scenic series of landscapes: «Summer Garden» (1924), «Crimea» (1936), «Carpathians» (1959 - 1960); graphic series: «Dneprostroy» (1930 - 1931; charcoal, watercolor, ink), «Don Quixote» based on the novel by Cervantes (1963–1964; lithography), «Nose» according to the novel by N. V. Gogol (1965, lithography).
In 1941, he participated in the preparation of the Hermitage funds for evacuation to Sverdlovsk. In 1942 he left the blockade in Sverdlovsk. He participated in the painting of railway stations in Sverdlovsk and Nizhny Tagil (1943 - 1954). In 1945 he returned to Leningrad.
Since 1924 - participant of exhibitions (exhibition of young artists in Leningrad). Founding member and exhibitor of the Circle of Artists association (1927, 1928, 1929 - London); member of the society «October» (1928 - 1930), Leningrad Regional Union of Soviet Artists (since 1932). He was exhibited at the exhibitions: «Modern Leningrad Art Groups» (1928 - 1929), the 1st city exhibition of fine arts (1930), «Artists of the RSFSR for XV years» (1932), «Woman in Socialist Construction» (1934), works of Leningrad artists (1936, 1940, 1952, 1957, 1958, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1964) in Leningrad; reporting works of artists seconded to the areas of industrial and collective farm construction (1931) in Moscow; an exhibition of paintings, sculptures and drawings by artists of the Omsk Region, dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Omsk (1943); works of Sverdlovsk artists in Sverdlovsk (1945).
He taught at the art studios of the Leningrad Region (1930 - 1941), the Sverdlovsk Art College (1943-1944). Memorial exhibitions were held in Leningrad (1983, 1997), Pushkin (1991). Father of the poet V. L. Britanishsky.
