Pyotr Kotov

Painter, graphic artist, teacher. Husband of artist Zinaida Kozhevnikova (1894–1961), father of musician Irina Kotova (born 1928), father-in-law of musician Ivan Mozgovenko (born 1924). Born in the sloboda of Vladimirovka (now the town of Akhtubinsk) in Astrakhan Province in the family of an hereditary icon-painter called Ivan Kotov (1889). Attended village school (1901–03). Studied under Nicolai Fechin at the Kazan School of Art (1903–09) and under Hugo Salemann, Vasily Savinsky, Jan Ciagli?skj, Franz Roubaud and Nikolai Samokish at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1909–16). Painted studies on the Eastern and Caucasian Fronts and Black Sea during the First World War (1915). Awarded the title of artist and a foreign fellowship (1916). Returned to Vladimirovka (1916) and moved to Astrakhan (1917), where he opened a studio with Pavel Vlasov (1917) and was elected chairman of the regional trade union of artists (1918). Taught at the State Free Art Studios in Astrakhan (1919–22). Moved to Petrograd (1922), where he decorated the Naval College (1922–23). Married artist Zinaida Kozhevnikova (1922) and had a daughter called Irina (1928). Member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (1922–28) and the Union of Artists (1929–32). Invited to work at the First All-Russian Exhibition of Agriculture, Handicrafts and Industry in Moscow (1923). Visited Central Asia (1925) and the construction sites of the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station, Novokuznetsk Iron and Steel Plant, Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, Red Sormovo Shipyard and the Donbass (1928–38). Taught at the Kiev Institute of Art (1937–41), professor (1940). Evacuated with his family to Penza (1941), where he headed the local poster department of TASS (1941–42). Returned to Moscow (1942), where he was commissioned to paint portraits of Soviet military doctors (1943–45). Taught at the All-Union Institute of Cinematography in Moscow (1944–48), Kharkiv Institute of Art (1949) and Vasily Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow (1949–51). Travelled to Germany to paint portraits of marshals Georgy Zhukov (1945) and Konstantin Rokossovsky (1946). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1946), winner of the Stalin Prize (1948), full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1949). Died in Moscow and buried at the former German Cemetery in Lefortovo (1953). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1909). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1912), Exhibition of Pictures of Petrograd Artists of All Directions at the Academy of Arts in Petrograd (1923), Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia in Moscow (1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928), Leningrad (1926) and Cologne (1929), Art Exhibition in Astrakhan (1924), Exhibition of Art Works on the Tenth Jubilee of the October Revolution in Moscow (1928), Exhibition of Acquisitions of the State Commission for Acquisitions of Works of Fine Arts for 1927–28 in Moscow (1928), Exhibition of Acquisitions of the State Commission for Acquisitions of Works of Fine Arts for 1928–29 in the Feliks Dzier?y?ski Club of Workers of the National Economy at 5 Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow (1930), Second Travelling Exhibition: Painting, Graphic Art and Modern Social Themes in Nizhny Novgorod, Kazan, Sverdlovsk, Perm, Ufa, Samara, Saratov and Penza (1930), First Exhibition of the Union of Soviet Artists in the Khudozhnik Exhibition Hall at 11 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1931), Socialist Construction in Fine Art at the USSR Museum of the Revolution in Moscow (1931), On the October Days of 1931 in Vsekokhudozhnik at 11 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1931), Third Travelling Exhibition Organised by the Arts Sector of Narkompros RSFSR in Sverdlovsk, Magnitogorsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Kuzbass, Semipalatinsk, Almaty, Tashkent, Samarkand, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Grozny, Novorossiisk and Smolensk (1931), Travelling Exhibition of Works of Painting, Drawing and Graphic Art by Moscow Artists in Kharkiv (1932), Artists of the RSFSR Over Fifteen Years (1917–32) at the Russian Museum in Leningrad (1932–33) and the History Museum in Moscow (1933–34), Fifteen Years of the Red Army at Gorky Park in Moscow (1933), Russian Museum in Leningrad (1933–34), Taras Shevchenko All-Ukrainian Museum in Kiev (1934–35) and the All-Ukrainian Picture Gallery in Kharkiv (1935), Exhibition of Works by Artists Dispatched by Sovnarkom RSFSR, Narkompros, Vsekokhudozhnik and the Moscow Branch of the Union of Artists Across the USSR in 1933 in Vsekokhudozhnik at 11 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1934), Spring Exhibition of Moscow Painters at the State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1935), Urals-Kuzbass at the House of the Red Army in Ufa (1935), Moscow Artists to the Affiliated Gorky Automobile Plant at GAZ in Gorky (1935), Urals-Kuzbass in Painting at the Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant Club in Chelyabinsk (1936), Exhibition of Pictures by Moscow Artists in Yalta (1936), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Artists in Aid of the Public Fund for Assistance to the Children and Women of Heroic Spain in Vsekokhudozhnik at 11 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1936), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Artists at the Plenipotentiary of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in Sochi (1938), Art Exhibition of Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture by Moscow Artists in Kislovodsk (1938), Twenty Years of the Red Army and Navy in the Political Poster and Mass Picture at the Maxim Gorky House of Culture of the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions in Leningrad (1938), Twenty Years of the Red Army and Navy at the Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels Institute in Moscow (1938), Central House of the Red Army in Moscow (1938–39) and the Russian Museum in Leningrad (1939), Industry of Socialism at 79 Frunze Embankment in Moscow (1939), Sixth Exhibition of the Union of Moscow Artists at the Vsekokhudozhnik Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1939), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Moscow and Leningrad Artists Along the Volga Towns in Moscow, Gorky, Kazan, Kuibyshev, Saratov, Stalingrad and Astrakhan (1940), Exhibition of Moscow Painters and Graphic Artists in Kalinin (1940), Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art at the Kalinin Regional Picture Gallery in Kalinin (1940), Exhibition of Works by Artists of Moscow and Leningrad at the Museum of Industrial Art in Lviv (1940), Exhibition of the Best Works of Soviet Artists at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1941), Best Works of Soviet Art (From the Reserves of the Tretyakov Gallery) in Novosibirsk (1942), Red Army in the Struggle with the German-Fascist Invaders at the Mikhail Frunze Central House of the Red Army in Moscow (1943), Heroic Front and Rear at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1943–44), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Artists of the Elder Generation in Kursk (1944), Exhibition of Painting by Moscow and Leningrad Artists at the Regional Party Committee Conference Room in Stalingrad (1945), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art at the House of the Navy in Polyarny (1945), Art Salon at the Moscow Art Foundation in Moscow (1945), Exhibition of Works by Artists of Moscow and Leningrad at the Yakov Sverdlov Club and the House of the Teacher in Molotov (1946), Travelling Exhibition of Works of Soviet Art in Novosibirsk, Tashkent, Kemerovo and Almaty (1946), Travelling Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art by Soviet Artists in Tbilisi (1946), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1947 at the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1947), Exhibition of Works of Painting and Graphic Art by Soviet Artists in Cities of the RSFSR in Moscow, Vologda and Kalinin (1947), Travelling Exhibition of Painting and Graphic Art by Soviet Artists in Komsomolsk, Kokhma and Ivanovo (1947), Thirty Years of the Soviet Armed Forces (1918–48) at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and Moscow Fellowship of Artists in Moscow (1948), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Artists of Moscow and Leningrad in Kharkiv, Yasynuvata, Horlivka and Donbass (1948), Travelling Exhibition of Works of Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture by Soviet Artists at the Yelets School of Art in Yelets (1948), Exhibition of Works of Fine Art Dedicated to the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Komsomol and the Thirty-First Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution at the Mikhail Gabyshev Republican Museum of Fine Arts in Yakutsk (1948), Moscow Artists to the Navy in Rosta, Polyarny, Sebastopole, Nikolaev, Batumi and Poti (1949), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1949 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1949), Exhibition of New Works Received and Acquired in 1945–48 at the Irkutsk Regional Museum of Art in Irkutsk (1949), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Artists in Moscow (1949), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Artists in Gorky, Saransk, Saratov and Kuibyshev (1950), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Artists at the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic Museum in Kazan, Udmurt Theatre in Izhevsk, Sarapul, Molotov Art Gallery in Molotov, Maxim Gorky Regional Museum of Art in Kirov, Barnaul Mélange Combine Club in Barnaul, House of Officers in Tomsk, Regional Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk and the Regional Museum of Local Studies in Kurgan (1950), Third Regional Exhibition of Works by Artists of Zaporizhia Dedicated to the Seventh Anniversary of the Liberation of Zaporizhia from the German-Fascist Invaders in Zaporizhia (1950), All-Union Art Exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1950–51), Maxim Gorky in Works by Soviet Artists at the Museum of Literature in Moscow (1951), Travelling Exhibition of Pictures by Moscow Artists in Chelyabinsk, Molotov, Berezniki and Zlatoust (1951), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1951 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1951–52), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Palace of Culture of Colliers in Karaganda, Akmolinsk, Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Tagil, New Path Collective Farm Club in Nizhny Tagil, Vladimir Lenin Club in Molotov (now Perm) and Sverdlovsk Picture Gallery in Sverdlovsk (1952), Exhibition of Works by Members of the Academy of Arts of the USSR at the Academy of Arts of the USSR in Moscow (1952), Portraits of Figures of Russian Art (18th–20th Centuries) at the Central House of Workers of the Arts in Moscow (1954), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Regional Museum of Local Studies in Tyumen, Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Tagil, Molotov Art Gallery in Molotov and Maxim Gorky Regional Museum of Art in Kirov (1954), Travelling Exhibition of Painting by Soviet Artists at the Chelyabinsk Regional Picture Gallery in Chelyabinsk and Municipal Museum of Local Studies in Zlatoust (1954), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Boris Kustodiev Regional Picture Gallery in Astrakhan (1955), Dagestani Philharmonic Hall in Makhachkala (1955), Vladimir Lenin Palace of Culture in Grozny (1955), Kosta Khetagkati Park of Culture in Ordzhonikidze (1955), Museum of Local Studies in Nalchik (1955), Vasily Blinov Club in Stavropole (1955) and Theatre of Musical Comedy in Pyatigorsk (1955–56), Fifty Years of the First Russian Revolution at the USSR Museum of the Revolution in Moscow (1955–56), Exhibition of Works of Russian Pre-Revolutionary and Soviet Art from the Reserves of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Dnepropetrovsk (1955), Sumy (1955), Uzhhorod (1956), Petrozavodsk (1956) and Kalinin (1956), Travelling Exhibition of Russian Pre-Revolutionary and Soviet Art from the Reserves of the State Tretyakov Gallery at the Museum of Local Studies in Krasnoyarsk, Pacific Fleet House of Naval Officers in Vladivostok and the Far Eastern Museum of Art in Khabarovsk (1957), Exhibition of Sketches, Studies, Drawings and Graphic Art Dedicated to Historical-Revolutionary Themes on the Occasion of the Fortieth Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution in the Union of Artists at 17 Yermolai Lane in Moscow (1957), Exhibition of Works by Astrakhan Artists and Artists Studying or Working in Astrakhan Dedicated to the 400th Anniversary of the City in Astrakhan (1958), Portraiture in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), St Petersburg: A Portrait of the City and its Citizens at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2003), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Art in Harbin (1926), Tokyo (1926–27) and Aomori (1927), Ten Years of the USSR in Ankara, Istanbul and Tehran (1927–28), Exhibition of Soviet Art in Königsberg (1932), Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne in Paris (1937), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art in Helsinki (1950), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists in Warsaw (1951), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art in Delhi, Calcutta and Bombay (1952), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art in the Czechoslovak Republic in Prague, Bratislava and Brno (1954), Exhibition of Works from the Reserves of the State Tretyakov Gallery in the German Democratic Republic at Das Zentrale Kulturhaus der Gesellschaft für Deutsch-Sowjetische Freundschaft in East Berlin (1958), joint exhibition with Zinaida Kozhevnikova at 20 First Tver-Coachman Street in Moscow (2008), one-man show in Vsekokhudozhnik at 11 Kuznetsky Most in Moscow (1937) and posthumous exhibitions at the Pavel Dogadin Picture Gallery in Astrakhan (2009) and the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow (2009, 2011).