Pyotr Stroyev

Painter, graphic artist, illustrator, teacher. Born in the family of a rural clerk called Feona Stroyev in Penza (1898). Grew up in Tobolsk (first half of 1900s) and moved with his family to Irkutsk (1907). Studied at Irkutsk Teachers’ Seminary (1915–18) and taught at a primary school in the village of Oyok to the north of Irkutsk (1919–22). Studied at the First Studio of Art in Irkutsk (1922–26) and the VKhUTEIN in Leningrad (1926–28). Returned to Irkutsk (1928), where he joined New Siberia (1928) and worked as a teacher (1928–29). Illustrated Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and painted genre compositions in Leningrad (1930s). Killed in the Siege of Leningrad (1941). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1927), including First Exhibition of Leningrad Artists at the Russian Museum in Leningrad (1935) and All Creatures Great and Small: Russian Animal Art (18th to 21st Centuries) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2004).