Oscar Rabin

Painter, graphic artist. Husband of Valentina Kropivnitskaya, son-in-law of Yevgeny Kropivnitsky and Olga Potapova, brother-in-law of Lev Kropivnitsky, father of Alexander Rabin. Born in Moscow in the family of Yakov Rabin (1928). Adopted and influenced by Yevgeny Kropivnitsky (1932) and visited his studio (1942). Studied at the Latvian Academy of Arts in Riga (1946–48), Vasily Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow (1948–49, expelled for Formalism) and under Yevgeny Kropivnitsky (from 1949). Worked for the Combine of Decorative Art of the RSFSR Art Foundation (from 1958). Lived in the town of Lianozovo outside Moscow (until 1964) where the Lianozovo group of Moscow underground artists formed around him. Leader of the nonconformist movement and curator of underground exhibitions. Initiator and participant of many scandalous exhibitions of unofficial art (1960s–70s), including the shows at the Exiled to France (1978). Stripped of his Soviet citizenship, later restored (1990). Won the Innovation Prize for his “creative contributions to the development of modern art” (2006). Lives in Paris. Contributed to exhibitions (from 1957), including the World Festival of Youth and Students (1957), Institute of World Economics and International Relations (1969), “bulldozer exhibition” (1974), Izmailovo Park (1974), House of Culture in the Exhibition of Economic Achievements (1975) and a one-man show at the Grosvenor Gallery in London (1965).