Yevgeny Mikhnov-Voitenko

Painter, graphic artist, theatrical designer. Born in Kherson (1932). Lived with his grandparents in Voronezh after his parents divorced (1935–39). Moved with his mother to Leningrad (1939–41). Evacuated to Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan (1941–44). Graduated from secondary school in Minsk (1951). Attended the Scandinavian department of the First Leningrad Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages (1951–54). Studied stage design under Nikolai Akimov at the Alexander Ostrovsky Theatrical Institute in Leningrad and trained under Georgy Tovstonogov at the Bolshoi Theatre of Drama (1954–58). Contributed to Nikolai Akimov’s production of Yevgeny Schwartz’s play An Ordinary Miracle at the Leningrad Theatre of Comedy (1958). Influenced by Jackson Pollock and the Arefiev circle. Took up Abstract Expressionism (1956) and invented a new style of painting called “tubic” (1956–58). Worked for the Leningrad Art Foundation (1959–88). Represented Russia at the Venice Biennale (1977). Died of cancer in Leningrad and buried at the Southern Cemetery (1988). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1956). Contributed to exhibitions at the Palace of Culture in Leningrad (1958), Konstantin Kuzminsky’s apartment in Leningrad (1974), Sergo Ordzhonikidze House of Culture in Leningrad (1975), American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies in St Louis (1976), Arts Club of Washington in Washington DC (1977), Venice Biennale (1977), Cornell University in Ithaca (1978), Noyes Gallery at Antioch College in Yellow Springs (1978), Pratt Manhattan Gallery in New York (1978), Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken (1978), Turin Biennale (1978), Tokyo Metropolitan Museum (1978), St Mary’s College of Maryland in St Mary’s City (1978), Dickinson College in Carlisle (1979), Montgomery Hall Fine Arts Center at St Mary’s College of Maryland in St Mary’s City (1979–80), Museum of Soviet Unofficial Art in Jersey City (1980, 1981), Centre des Arts et Loisirs in Vésinet (1980), Centro Fieristico in Rimini (1980), Musée d’Art russe contemporain in Montgeron (1981–82, 1988), American Center for Russian Art in New York (1982), Cannon House Office and Russell Senate Office at Capitol Hill in Washington DC (1983), Firebird Gallery in Alexandria (1984), Basmadjan Collection of Russian Art from France at the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad and the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1988), House of the Journalist in Leningrad (1988), Vernissage Group at Cheremushki in Moscow (1988), Norton and Nancy Dodge Collection of Soviet Nonconformist Art in New Jersey (1995), Exhibition of New Acquisitions at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (1998), Abstraction in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02), Avant-Garde on the Neva at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (2002), Dialogue avec le monde at the Salle d’Exposition du Quai Antoine Ier in Monaco (2005), Adventures of the Black Square at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2007), Point of View at the MonaCo Art Hall in St Petersburg (2008) and one-man shows at the Palace of Arts in Leningrad (1958), Feliks Dzier?y?ski Palace of Culture in Leningrad (1978), Akademgorodok Housing and Construction Cooperative in Moscow (1982), Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in Exile in New Jersey (1988), Galleria Hagelstam in Helsinki (1989), Regional Centre of Culture in Leningrad (1990), Tabakman Museum of Contemporary Russian Art in New York (1997), Museum of Theatrical and Musical Art in St Petersburg (1998), Art-Collegia Gallery in St Petersburg (1999), Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2000), Vladimir Vysotsky Museum in Moscow (2003) and the Lion Bridge Gallery in St Petersburg (2006).