Andrei Pozdeyev

Painter, graphic artist. Born in the family of a postal worker called Gennady Pozdeyev and his wife Yevdokia in the village of Nizhny Ingash in Siberian (now Krasnoyarsk) Region (1926). Won a children’s drawing competition for a portrait of Alexander Pushkin (1937). Worked at the Krasnoyarsk Combine Harvester Factory following the Nazi invasion (1941). Sentenced to six months in prison for leaving work to visit his mother and grandmother in the village of Tyukhtet (1941–42). Studied at a crafts school in Yenisei (1942–43) and fought on the Far Eastern Front during the Second World War (1943–45). Served on the Kuril Islands (1945–47) and joined his parents in the town of Minusinsk (1948–50). Moved to Krasnoyarsk (1950), where he studied under Andrei Lekarenko at the Vasily Surikov School of Art (1950–52). Worked as a copy artist for the Art Foundation (from 1956). Member of the Krasnoyarsk Fellowship of Artists and the Union of Artists (1961). Painted views of Krasnoyarsk and Siberia (1960s–70s). Became a social recluse (early 1980s) and took up abstract painting (mid-1980s). Passed through a period of interest in religious and esoteric literature (late 1980s–1990s). Awarded a diploma and silver medal of the Russian Academy of Arts (1998). Died in his studio in Krasnoyarsk and buried at Badalyk Cemetery (1998). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1948), including Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Twosome at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2002–03), Times of Change: Art in the Soviet Union (1960–85) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2006) and one-man shows in Krasnoyarsk (1974), Tallinn (1984), Moscow (1993) and St Petersburg (1996).