Vladimir Elchaninov

Holder of the honorary title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Elchaninov was born in 1932 in Gzhatsk (now Gagarin), Smolensk Oblast, and graduated from the Moscow College of Visual and Graphic Arts and the School of Visual and Graphic Arts of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute. The artist lived and worked in Smolensk and died at the age of 83 on 9 April 2015.

Elchaninov’s oeuvre was inseparable from the Smolensk region. He entered the Russian art scene as a serious and original thinker and true master of a narrative painting. Profound philosophical insights into the beauty of Russian land and people that distinguished Vladimir Elchaninov’s art brought him well-deserved success and recognition among his contemporaries.