Fyodor Zakharovich Zakharov

Artist was born in 1919 in the village of Aleksandrovskoye, a small village in the Russian Empire. He is of Russian-Ukrainian origin.

He comes from a family of farmers. In 1935, he received a scholarship to study at the Kalinin Art Academy in Moscow, where he graduated with distinction in 1941. Health problems prevented Zakharov from being called up for military service. He continued his art studies at the Surikov Art Academy in Moscow. Zakharov was taught by Aristarkh V. Lentulov, one of the best known representatives of the Russian avant-garde, as an elite pupil.

Zakharov began his career as a freelance artist in 1950. It was the era of Soviet totalitarian art, during which artistic expression was entirely subordinated to the interests of the Communist Party. Zakharov never created the so-called thematic paintings, which typically idealized the supposedly happy existence of Soviet citizens. The young painter did not choose this path, which would have been in accordance with the dominant ideological system and would have guaranteed rapid recognition and material advantages. Zakharov's art was inspired by the magnificent achievements of Russian and Ukrainian landscape paintings of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which are characterized by the poetry of nature. Zakharov's landscapes and still lifes were much admired.

He died in 1994.