Vasili Volkov

Known for his large format landscapes as well as his street scenes with a genre element featuring people moving about Volkov was, because of his versatile range of abilities, equally comfortable with miniature watercolors, which were actively collected.

Vasili Volkov was born in the Rzhev region of Russia. As a young student he was observed as having great natural artistic talent and as a result was personally guided by Nikolai Borisov a master of landscape painting and a leading student of the Ilya Repin – one of the giants of Russian art history.

Through Borisov’s tutelage Volkov found his style and became skilled in a variety of techniques and different formats. Before the start of World War II, in 1939, when only 18 years old he undertook a monumental commission work painted for Moscow.

But the war came all too soon. Vasili served with distinction and still painted many commissioned works for the State. In 1946, Volkov was recognized as an Honored Artist of the Soviet Union and embarked upon a series of exhibitions, monumental commission works, and awards that continued through the 1980’s.

His commissioned works still hang throughout Russia. Other works are included in the collection of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg and the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow.