Tatiana Leonova

Tatiana Leonova was born in Vasilkov, Kiev Oblast, in 1949. After studying at the School of Architecture of the Kharkov Civil Engineering Institute, she graduated from the Commercial Art Department of the Vera Mukhina Leningrad Higher School of Design and Applied Arts. Upon graduation, the artist moved to Sosnovy Bor where she got a job at the municipal painting and decorating studio. Since 1988, she has been teaching visual arts at the Art Carousel community centre and managing the Creative Workshop arts and crafts group in Sosnovy Bor.

Tatiana’s true source of inspiration is classical antiquity. Enthralled by it, the artist invariably views the outside world through the prism of myths, legends, and tales of yore. That is why the artist’s mythological series is such an important part of her overall oeuvre. Leonova enthusiastically investigates human nature in every detail by producing close-up depictions of the classical gods and goddesses, bacchantes, muses, satyrs, and centaurs. Her visual language is extremely succinct, characterised by generalised forms and an expressive drawing manner. Her drawings are impressive in their simple clarity, dominated as they are by the line that remains not only the principal means of artistic expression, but the key element in the dramatic plot.