Krylatov Valeriy Mikhaylovich (born April 10, 1960, in the settlement of Krasnye Polyany, Kirov Region) — a Nizhny Novgorod painter, member of the Union of Artists of Russia since 1993, and since 1998 a teacher at the Nizhny Novgorod Art School; his works are held in the Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum and in the Boldino Picture Gallery.[1][2][3]
College and Academy
Krylatov's father was also an artist: after college he was sent to Kirov Region, where he taught technical drawing and art. His mother, a native of Leningrad, graduated from a cultural institute in her home city.[3]
From 1975 to 1979 he studied at the Gorky Art College, and from 1986 to 1992 at the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the Academy of Arts. He defended his diploma with distinction with a large painting about the victims of Stalinist repression and could have remained in Leningrad, but returned to Nizhny Novgorod because of the illness of his mother and his wife's mother.[2][3][5]
Shortly after his return, he made his first trip to France, and in 1993 Krylatov joined the Union of Artists of Russia.[2][3]
I drew from childhood, and no one made me do it. When the time came to decide, I faced a dilemma: either enroll in an art college or a theatre school, because I had loved the stage since childhood too.[3]
Exhibitions
A regular participant in regional, zonal, all-Russian, and international exhibitions since 1979; he showed work at the zonal exhibitions "Bolshaya Volga" and at the international exhibition in Bodman, Germany, in 1990.[2][5] His name appears in the index of Nizhny Novgorod artists maintained by a university project on Nizhny Novgorod art of the 20th century.[4]
Solo exhibitions were held in cities across France in 2002, 2003, and 2004, and in 2006 at the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum.[1] Sales in France supported his family through the difficult 1990s, when many artists were abandoning art institutions.[3]
For his fiftieth birthday, from November 5 to December 5, 2010, the Nizhny Novgorod State Exhibition Complex presented the retrospective "The Beginning" — more than one hundred paintings.[5] For his sixtieth birthday, from March 4 to April 18, 2021, the art museum on Minin and Pozharsky Square mounted the exhibition "Revelation" — around one hundred works in five halls of the western wing of the second floor.[2]
| Years | Exhibition |
|---|---|
| 1990 | international exhibition in Bodman, Germany |
| 2002, 2003, 2004 | solo exhibitions in cities across France |
| 2006 | solo exhibition at the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum |
| November 5 — December 5, 2010 | "The Beginning," Nizhny Novgorod State Exhibition Complex, more than one hundred paintings |
| March 4 — April 18, 2021 | "Revelation," Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum, around one hundred works |
Portraits of Nizhny Novgorod residents
Krylatov is a committed adherent of classical Russian easel painting, working in traditional genres: portraiture, landscape, still life, and easel composition. He developed his own style, grounded in romantic realism, at an early stage.[1][2]
The "Revelation" exhibition brought together a gallery of portraits spanning a wide expressive range — formal, intimate, lyrical, and psychological. Among the subjects were the writer and publicist Shamshurin Valeriy Anatolevich, the priest Mikhail Storonkin, the television journalist Sergey Chuyanov, and the artist Dmitriy Ganin.[2] Alongside them were rural landscapes, studies from trips around the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and large-format still lifes.[2]
The portrait of the writer Lipa Gruzman, who has lived in Israel for more than twenty years, came about by chance: he stopped by the college to ask for directions to the director's office, and Krylatov persuaded him to pose for the students. In 2013 the portrait was shown alongside the presentation of the third volume of the "Jewish Notebooks."[3]
There must be truthful beauty, not a counterfeit. Often in portraits you see only a person who looks like themselves. But you have to be able to see a person's inner world.[3]
Teacher
Krylatov was invited to teach by the deputy director of the art college, Tamara Shamshurina: there is a tradition at the college — if a son or daughter is enrolled, one of the parents who is an artist takes classes. His son had by that time enrolled in the same college.[3]
In his early years Krylatov taught painting, drawing, and composition; by 2021 he had worked at the college for more than twenty years and for a long time taught only the senior courses. To students asking about the future, he replies that there are two paths in art — the difficult one and the commercial one, and a happy medium is exceedingly rare.[3][5]
The artist's works are held in the Nizhny Novgorod Art Museum, in the Boldino Picture Gallery in Bolshoe Boldino, and in private collections in Russia, France, Denmark, Germany, the United States, and Australia.[2]
Sources
- yumpu.com — Who's Who in Nizhny Novgorod Region — Issue 5. Nizhny Novgorod, 2009. Krylatov Valeriy Mikhaylovich, p. 103 (archive)
- artmuseumnn.ru — Nizhny Novgorod State Art Museum — "Revelation." Solo painting exhibition by Valeriy Krylatov, March 4 — April 18, 2021
- dengoroda-nn.ru — Den Goroda. Nizhny Novgorod — Valeriy Krylatov: "I Always Drew," no. 024 (1646), March 31, 2021 (archive)
- nosh.unn.ru — Nizhny Novgorod Art of the 20th Century — Artists of Nizhny Novgorod: index of names (archive)
- web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod State Exhibition Complex — "The Beginning." Anniversary exhibition of Valeriy Krylatov, November 5 — December 5, 2010 (archive)