Nikolai Galakhov

Nikolai Nikolaevich Galakhov (Russian: Никола́й Никола́евич Гала́хов; May 29, 1928 in Kazan, USSR) is a Russian artist. He is an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation, a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists (before 1992 the Leningrad branch of Union of Artists of Russian Federation). Living and working in Saint Petersburg, he is regarded as one of the representatives of the Leningrad school of painting, and is most famous for his landscape paintings.

Nikolai Galakhov was born May 29, 1928, in Kazan city, Tatar Republic, USSR, on the Volga River. In 1942 he entered in Kazan Art School, and graduated in 1947. In the same year he moved to Leningrad and was admitted to the first course of Department of Painting of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after Ilya Repin. He studied of Leonid Ovsannikov, Joseph Serebriany, Piotr Belousov, Yuri Neprintsev.

On the Volga River. 1993

In 1953 Nikolai Galakhov graduated from the Repin Institute of Arts in Rudolf Frentz workshop. His graduation work was a genre painting named "Poet Nikolai Nekrasov on the Volga River", dedicated to Nikolai Nekrasov, a prominent Russian poet, writer, critic and publisher of the XIX Сentury (painting now resides in the Museum of the Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg).

In 1954-1956 Galakhov continued his postgraduate study in the Repin Institute of Arts. Since 1951 Galakhov had participated in Art Exhibitions, mostly as a master of landscape and genre scene. He worked in technique of oil painting, tempera, pastel, watercolors, and pencil drawing. Since 1953 Galakhov also start painted pictures on contract. In 1955 for series landscapes of the Volga River he was admitted to the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists.

In 1950s the leading place in art of Galakhov belonged to landscapes of the Volga River. He traveled on the Russian rivers Volga, Vetluga, Vyatka, where he painted a lot sketches from the life. His paintings are sustained in the strict, almost classical tradition of Russian landscape painting. This is indicated by the work shown in exhibitions, such as "Landing stage on the Volga River", "Evening. Kama mouth" (both 1954), "July" (1955), "Port on the Volga River. Evening", "Blooming meadows on the Volga River" (both 1956), "The Storm under the Volga River", "On the Volga River" (both 1957), "Construction of the Kuibyshev Hydroelectric Station" (1957), "Autumn on the Volga River" (1957), and others.

In the late of 1950s Galakhov traveled to Siberia and Baikal Lake. This led him to new experiences, embodied in numerous sketches from the life and landscape paintings, such as "The Village in Siberia" (1959), "On the shore of Baykal Lake", "At The crossing", "Siberian Village" (all 1960), "Soon alloy" (1961), "Construction in Siberia" (1962), and others. These travels helped him to diversify his palette and to understand the plastic characteristics of different places, gave new impetus to picturesque searches and preparing for a meeting with Karelia, which became a turning point in his work.

Soompasal village in Karelia. 1983

In the 1960s Galakhov discovered Karelia. He painted numerous sketches and paintings devoted to the nature and the present day of this region. Although Galakhov created a lot of genre paintings (among them "On the roads of Karelia", "Yuma lumber station in Karelia", "Forest Weekday", "Forest Master", and others), most of his work was still landscapes. He was particularly attracted to the wild parts of northern nature, untouched by civilization. He knows how to show us her fragile beauty and majesty. Among the famous works of this period were "The Village of Umba" (1969), "Karelia. The beginning of winter" (1973), "White Night in Karelia" (1974), "Northern Summer" (1977), "Kem. Winter is coming" (1978), "Old Church in Kem" (1982), "Northern Spring" (1984), and many others.

In his works Nikolai Galakhov has consistently advocated the principles of picture-landscape, with well-developed plot basis and elements of the genre. His methods of realization of pictorial ideas are near to the works of known Russian landscape painter Arcady Rylov.

In 1984 Nikolai Galakhov was awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of Russian Federation. Solo Exhibitions by Nikolai Galakhov were in Leningrad (1988) and Saint Petersburg (2010, 2013).

Paintings by Nikolai Nikolaevich Galakhov reside in State Russian Museum, State Tretyakov Gallery, in the lot of Art museums and private collections in Russia, China, England, in the U.S., Japan, and in other countries.