1916-1995
Piotr Nikolaevich Andrianov is an outstanding example of the best type of Soviet Era painting. He was born in 1916 to the family of a workman. He finished elementary school and went to vocational college at an engine factory where he later became an engine repairman.
His family of six depended on young Piotr and his father to be the breadwinners. But Piotr was eager to draw and began attending painting courses in the evenings. Once his tutor visited Piotr’s mother and told her that her son was a gifted painter and his talent needed to be nurtured. He advised her to let him go on studying art.
At Piotr's last school exhibition, his work drew the attention of Igor Grabar, rector of the Moscow Fine Art Institute and one of Russia’s greatest painters in his own right. Igor Grabar invited Piotr Andrianov to join his first year students at their practical work session in Troitskoe Village near Moscow. The young artist did so and began a period of fruitful and difficult study.
In 1948 Piotr graduated with honors from the Art Institute and joined the Moscow Painter’s Union as a professional. Everything portended a brilliant career. However, he chose a different path led by his innate “inteligentnost” and became known as a dissenter, stunting his career for the sake of principle.
At this time he turned his attention to nature and the study of landscape apart from the political world. Harmony, love of family, nature and life became the most important things in the life of the artist. He built a house in the country near Moscow and became so attached to the place that he had little interest in the hectic life of the city.
Since the fall of Communism, Piotr Andrianov's art has risen in stature and is now placed in the front rank of painters from the second half of the Twentieth Century.
Mr. Andrianov is listed in the book "A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian and Soviet Painters 1900's - 1980's" by Matthew Cullerne Bown.