Lobachev, Yuri

1941 - 

Yuri Lobachev is one of the last proponents of what is called the "Vladimir School of Art" in Soviet and Russian art. The School was started in the 1950’s by painters Vladimir Yukin, Kim Britov and Valeri Kokurin in the city of Vladimir, Russia and the surrounding area. The School was marked by a style that was decorative in nature. The artists used thick, dense color palettes that combined in tonal harmonies and contrasts of color. The compositions were often painted in a flat two dimensional manner that the artists felt the human eye could read. The School was very popular in Soviet times (even though it did not fit the parameters of Socialist Realism) and is one of the most sought after Schools of art in Russia today. While there are many artists in this region today, few like Lobachev have adhered to the style of painting that the School’s founders pioneered. 

Lobachev was born in the small Russian village of Petrovski in the Ivanovo Region in 1941. He graduated from the Ivanovo Art School in 1964 and was captured by the decorative painting of the Vladimir Region. He was able to move to Vladimir, Russia in the early 1970’s and has participated in numerous group exhibitions in the region since. Lobachev was elected by his peers into the Vladimir Union of Artists in 1977.  

He has several works in the permanent collections of regional museums in Vladimir and Suzdal. He is listed on page 189 of Matthew Bown’s, A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian and Soviet Painters.