Klykov, Nikolai

Born Mar. 9 (21), 1861, in the village of Mstera, in present-day Vladimir Oblast; died there Oct. 26, 1944. Soviet artist, a founder of Mstera miniature painting.

Klykov studied under his father, who was an icon painter. Before the October Revolution of 1917, he himself was an icon painter. Klykov taught at the St. Sergius Trinity Monastery and at the Stroganov School of Industrial Arts. His miniature paintings on lacquered papier-mâché objects are entertaining village scenes, organically integrated with the landscape. They are marked by a somewhat primitive treatment of human figures, a greenish turquoise color scheme (later, warm ochre), graphic softness, and a smooth, measured rhythm. Klykov’s works include The Storm and The Hunt (both 1934, Folk Art Museum, Moscow) and Dubrovskii (1937, Mstera Museum of Folk Crafts).