Vera Mukhina was undoubtedly the most famous Soviet sculptor; her sculpture group Worker and Kolkhoz Woman that crowned the building of national Russian pavilion at the International Exhibition in Paris in 1937 is still one of the major sculptures shaping the Moscow city landscape.

Andrei Rublev is widely known as the foremost master of Moscow school of icon-painting, monumental and book painting of the 15th century. His oeuvre presents one of the pinnacles of Russian and world culture.

Russian avant-garde is a common term denoting a most remarkable art phenomenon that flourished in Russia from 1890 to 1930, though some of its early manifestations date back to the 1850s, whereas the latest ones refer to the 1960s.

The life-asserting power and beauty of images created by Zinaida Serebriakova ascend to the best traditions of Russian and West European realistic art; whereas her pure and crystal-clear talent was inherited from the famous artistic dynasty of the Lanceray-Benois that she belonged to.

One of the most prominent Soviet Russian sculptors Ivan Shadr became far-famed after his sculpture Woman with an Oar was replicated with a countless host of cheap plaster copies, which decorated numerous Soviet parks and vacation resorts.

The lubki (sing. lubok) are Russian hand made folk prints representing a rich and expressive layer of this country’s culture, history and art. These once popular simple printed pictures coloured by hand eloquently speak about life and outlook of the common people of the past.

Russian animators title 2007 the year of Fyodor Khitruk. The great master, who has brought up not only several generations of animated film artists, but all Russian viewers as well, turned 90 years old on May 1, 2007.

The imposing monumental buildings projected by the famous Soviet architect Lev Rudnev cannot but leave a lasting impression of stern beauty and might. His giants of the Moscow State University (MSU) and the Frunze Military Academy make up a specific face of the capital of Russia.

All works by Yevgeni Kazantsev reveal the originality of his artistic outlook. Kazantsev is a vivid example of artists able to see and convey the peculiar spirits and splendour of Russian broad expanses, as well as transient sensations of people and miraculous beauty of ordinary things.

The prominent Russian artist Nikolai Zarubin (1948-1998) defined his art as visual representation of his philosophical and ethical outlook on the universe. A bright representative of the national tradition of philosophic art he developed his own unique method.

It was Masyanya who brought fame to Oleg Kuvayev. Masyanya, an amusing and touching heroine of the witty flash-animated series that first appeared in the Russian internet on October 20, 2001, has become nearly a cult figure.

Mikhail Roginsky (1931 – 2004) is an outstanding Russian artist, one of the leaders of Moscow non-conformist art, and the creator of the modern national visual method, with its laconic means and inner expressiveness.

“He could tempt anyone to draw, those who wanted to and even those who did not”. He was one of the most vivid “landmark” figures of the post-war nonconformist art of Russia.

Combining traditions of Vladimir Favorsky and modern avant-gardism he has created his own style peculiar for blending Sots-art elements with subtle spatial play.

‘The greatest enemy of an artist is an advisor, even a well-wishing one. He deprives the artist of his free will’ –Ernst Neizvestny says.

In 1984 the international jury in Los Angeles called his Tale of Tales (1979) ‘the greatest animated film ever’.

Sculptor and artist Mikhail Shemyakin (Shemiakin) is known all over the world today thanks to his hard-working and talented nature rather than to a scar on his face.

These stylish metal castings found in the Ural inspire scientists and artists to try to fathom the mysteries they harbour.

The history of Russian fine arts falls into two distinct periods, with the border between them marked by the reforms of Peter the Great. This distinction is utterly profound, dealing with the basics of artistic perception of reality.