Victor Ivanov

Since 1983, his self-portrait has been part of the collection of the Uffizi Gallery. He travelled the world, but it is the Russian countryside that remained his subject of predilection throughout his life. For Victor Ivanov (born 1924), a patriarch of Soviet and Russian painting, one of the founders of the legendary austere style, academician of the USSR Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of the USSR and winner of several State Prizes, the main source of inspiration was the Ryazan region, the birthland of his mother… The artist began to create the first works as part of his Ryazan Cycle in the late 1950s, constantly returning to Ryazan both in his life and art.

Haymaking near Ryazan (board, oil, 85 x 135), a work that most vividly represents the creative personality of Victor Ivanov, adorns one of the labels of Chateau La Grace Dieu des Prieurs, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru 2018 by Art Russe. The massive canvas with a laconic monumentality of figurative solutions and austere colour conveys the measured grandeur of the cycle of village life. The simplicity of daily peasant labour in Ivanov’s painting turns into a true symbol of the fusion of man and nature.

Victor Ivanov’s works are in the collections of the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum and many other museums and galleries in Russia and abroad. The artist’s fellow compatriots appreciate his work: in 2004, the Victor Ivanov and Ryazan Land gallery consolidating more than two hundred of the artist’s works was opened at the Ryazan Art Museum.