Odesa Art School

Odesa Art School (Одеське художнє училище ім. М. Б. Грекова; Odeske khudozhnie uchylyshche im. M.B. Hrekova). An art school, until 1992 under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Culture of the Ukrainian SSR. It was founded in 1865 as the Drawing School of the Odesa Society for the Advancement of the Fine Arts. In 1885 it became an official secondary school, and in 1899 an art school under the supervision of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts. Under Soviet rule it became a postsecondary school and then a state artistic handicrafts workshop, an academy of arts (1921), a polytechnic (1922–8), and an art institute (1928–34) before reverting to its present name. Its art education, sculpture, and ceramics departments prepare professional artists and art instructors for secondary schools.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]