Valentin Bystrenin

Graphic artist, painter, theatrical designer, teacher. Born in the family of Ivan Bystrenin in the town of Bolkhov in Oryol Province (1872). Studied at the Nikolai Murashko School of Drawing in Kiev, under Ivan Tvorozhnikov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1892–95) and under Johann Wilhelm Mathé as an extern student of etching, lithography and monotype (1898–1902). Awarded the title of artist (1902). Founding member of the Union of Youth (1909). Collaborated with various magazines. Lived in St Petersburg (until 1913). Taught at the Bogorodskoe School of Wooden Fretwork (1915–37) and the Moscow Textile Institute (1935–41). Died in Zagorsk (1944). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1895). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Imperial Society of Russian Watercolourists, Moscow Society of Lovers of Arts and the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia.