Oleg Tselkov (1934-2021) *86

was a Russian nonconformist artist, celebrated for his images of faces painted in bright color, depicting inner psychological patterns of violence in contemporary culture. In 1956 he had his first apartment exhibition in the Vladimir Slepyan (1930–1998) houseroom. In 1958 he graduated from the Saint Petersburg State Theatre Arts Academy, where he studied under experimental scenic designer and theatre director Nikolay Akimov. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Tselkov studio in Moscow was visited over the years by such celebrities as, Arthur Miller, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Renato Guttuso, Lilya Brik, Anna Akhmatova, Joseph Brodsky, Yevgeny Yevtushenko (close friend of Tselkov), Louis Aragon, and Pablo Neruda.

The first Tselkov solo exhibition was opened in Kurchatov Institute in January 1966, but after two days it was closed by the KGB for being ideologically unacceptable. In 1977 Tselkov moved to Paris. Some time later, he bought a farm in the Champagne region of France, 300 km from Paris. There he equipped a two-floor studio where he lived and worked.