Nina in a Fur Coat (Ilya Glazunov, 1954)
Ilya Glazunov (1930- ) is the grand old man of contemporary Russian Realism. He was born in Leningrad (now, St Petersburg), and his parents died of starvation in the Nazi siege of the city. He was evacuated, and began his art studies at a young age. His works are often spiritual in nature, and he started work on such art well before the collapse of the Soviet Union, as the following paintings indicate.
This is a charcoal étude of his wife Nina, who predeceased him, and whom he loved dearly. She was a granddaughter of Aleksandr Benois, one of the leading lights in the Mir Isskutsva (World of Art) movement at the turn of the 20th century. She was also an artist.
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