Popov, Igor

Born Oct. 16, 1927, in Kharkov. Soviet painter. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1970).

Popov studied at the V. I. Surikov Moscow Art Institute from 1945 to 1951 under S. V. Gerasimov. Since 1974 he has been chairman of the board of the Moscow organization of the Artists’ Union of the RSFSR. Popov’s paintings—mainly landscapes, genre compositions, and portraits—are poetic renderings of Russian nature and the modern life of small Russian cities and their inhabitants. They are characterized by free painterly modeling; examples include Market Day (1958–60, Iaroslavl’ Art Museum), the series of portraits Fishermen from Galich (1965, Board of Artistic Funds and the Planning of Monuments of the Ministry of Culture of the RSFSR), To Your Health, Aleksandr Martynovich! (1967), and September: All Is Quiet (1972; the last two paintings are housed in the Tret’iakov Gallery).