Leonid Akishin

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer. Born in the family of Ilya Akishin in the village of Kornevaya in Ryazan Province (1893). Studied under Nicholas Roerich and Arkady Rylov at the School of Drawing of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St Petersburg (1906–13). Married an actress and teacher called Maria (c. 1895–1980) and had a son called Yury (1918?–1944). Member of Sorabis (from 1921). Worked on important state commissions in Leningrad (1930s). Arrested after drinking to excess and loudly complaining about a portrait of Joseph Stalin, which he had painted for the Polytechnic Institute and wanted to “hang” differently (1937). Exiled to Kazakhstan (1937–41) and Yelabuga in Tatarstan (1941–60). Rehabilitated (1959) and returned to Leningrad (1960). Died in Leningrad (1966). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1913). Contributed to Portraiture in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Neue Sachlichkeit: Nikolaus Sagrekow and Russian Artists at the Natalia Kournikova Gallery in Moscow (2007) and a one-man show in Yelabuga (1955).