One of Russia’s most celebrated post war artists, Valentin Sidorov, has had a successful retrospective at the Russian Museum which closed in November.  Valentin Sidorov was a contemporary of the famous generation of post war artists which included Victor Popkov, Geli Korzhev, Tair Salakhov and Vladimir Stozharov.  His pastoral and lyrical landscapes never fitted within any of the movements such as the Severe Style and he developed his own unique path in Russian painting leaving behind an individual and accomplished body of work.

The Russian museum described the exhibition, “The exhibition presents the main steps of creative biography of Valentin Sidorov (born 1928) – the People’s artist of USSR, the People’s artist of Ukraine, full member of the Russian Academy of arts, head of management board of the Union of Artists of Russia and member of the Union of Writers of Russia. The exposition brings together about 90 works from 1950-2000’s – paintings and sketches from the artist’s studio and from the collection of the Russian Museum, Institute of Russian realistic art (Moscow) and private collections. Valentin Sidorov is an artist of a strongly marked national character. His art is devoted to his homeland, Russia, and deeply connected with its fate. Master of “inspired landscape”, Sidorov creates the vivid chronicle of nature’s life, speaks about its eternal life cycle and indissoluble links with the fate of the Russian village. The special place in the exhibition is given to the works from “My Homeland” and “Ways of Childhood” series (the former brought Sidorov the State Prize of USSR in 1984). These works of the master overcome the limits of rural theme and arise to the questions of great human significance.”

Valentin Sidorov, Near the Old Sheds, 1975, oil on canvas, Russian Museum

Valentin Sidorov, Swing, 1970, oil on canvas, Russian Museum.

Valentin Sidorov, Silence, 1971, oil on canvas, Russian Museum.

Valentin Sidorov, Summer Garden, oil on canvas, 1964.

Valentin Sidorov, On the Warm Land, oil on canvas, 1962.

Valentin Sidorov, May Rain, oil on canvas, 1960.

Valentin Sidorov, Horses on the Farm, oil on canvas, 1959.

Valentin Sidorov circa 1960

Valentin Sidorov at the exhibition talking about ‘May Rain.’