Vladimir Volkov

Painter, graphic artist, sculptor, interior designer. Born in the Buryat town of Verkhneudinsk (renamed Ulan-Ude in 1934) in the family of Pyotr Volkov (1923). Studied at the Penza School of Art (1938–42). Fought in the Second World War (1942–45), wounded at the Battle of Kursk (1943). Served in the Soviet army on Sakhalin (1945–48). Moved to Leningrad (1948), where he worked as a printer in the etching workshop of the Academy of Arts (1948–52) and studied under Alexei Pakhomov and Leonid Ovsyannikov at the Ilya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1952–58). Lived and worked in the village of Bor in Novgorod Region (from 1955). Member of the Union of Artists (1958). Met such members of the Moscow school as Vladimir Favorsky, Illarion Golitsyn and Dmitry Shakhovskoi (1958) and such representatives of the elder generation of Leningrad artists as Pavel Kondratiev, Vladimir Sterligov, Tatyana Glebova and Pavel Basmanov (1960–65), leading him to withdraw from official art life and address the principles of plastic space, Cubism and the traditions of the Russian avant-garde (from 1965). Took up wooden sculpture (1964) and drew Impressionist landscapes (late 1970s). Designed the interiors of buildings (1960s–80s). Lived in the town of Peterhof near Leningrad (1973–87). Died in Old Peterhof (1987). Contributed to exhibitions, including Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Collage in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2005–06), Times of Change: Art in the Soviet Union (1960–85) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006) and posthumous one-man shows in Leningrad/St Petersburg (1990, 1995, 2009).