Sofia Zaklikovskaya

Painter, graphic artist, applied artist. Wife of Innokenty Suvorov, mother of Kira Suvorova. Born in St Petersburg (1899) in the family of Ludwig Zaklikovsky (captain of the 146th Tsaritsyn Infantry Regiment) and Alexandra Vishnevskaya (owner of a private school). Baptised at the Church of the Intercession in Kolomna (1899) and lived at 60 Sadovaya Street in Admiralty District in St Petersburg (1899–1900). Moved with her family to Pskov (1900), where she attended the Mariinskaya Grammar School for Girls at 19 Gogol Street (1910s) and was later mentioned in Veniamin Kaverin’s memoirs Lighted Windows (1970–75). Studied at Pskov School of Art (1919–21), under Alexei Karev, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Mikhail Matiushin at the VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN in Petrograd/Leningrad (1922–26) and in Pavel Filonov’s studio (from 1925). Member of the Masters of Analytical Art (1927–32). Contributed one illumination and one illustration to the Kalevala (1931–33). Joined the Union of Artists (1932) and rejected the experiments of the Pavel Filonov school in favour of metaphysical figurative painting (1930s). Gave birth to daughters Kira (1931) and Irina (1936). Painted portraits for an art combine (from 1938) and landscapes in Marienburg near Gatchina (late 1930s). Evacuated during the Second World War to Selische in Yaroslavl Region (1942), Yemurtla in Omsk (now Tyumen) Region (1942–44) and Komsomolsk-on-Amur in the Far East  (1944–45). Painted the ceiling of the auditorium in the House of Culture (1944) and plafonds for the House of Soviets in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (1945). Returned to Leningrad (1945), where she officially registered her marriage to Innokenty Suvorov (1945). Worked for the October Artel at 9 Duma Street (1946–48), Lengoroformlenie Trust (1948) and the Painterly-Sculptural Combine at 64/5 Bolshoi Prospekt on Vasilyevsky Island (1949–64). Lived and worked in Beryozovo near Priozersk (from 1965), where she painted interiors of her dacha (1966–67) and still-lifes (late 1960s–early 1970s). Died in Leningrad and buried at the St Seraphim Cemetery (1975). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1927). Contributed to Exhibition of Masters of Analytical Art in the House of Printing (former Shuvalov Palace) at 21 River Fontanka Embankment in Leningrad (1927), Exhibition of Paintings and Sculptures: Modern Leningrad Art Groupings in the Moscow-Narva District House of Culture at 4 Stachek Square in Leningrad (1928–29), First Municipal Exhibition of Fine Arts at the Academy of Arts in Leningrad (1930), Portraiture in Russia: XX Century at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2001–02) and A Time to Gather... Russian Art from Foreign Private Collections at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg and Tsaritsyno Museum of History, Architecture, Art and Landscape in Moscow (2008).