Gennady Spirin (born 25 December 1948) is a Russian painter and children's book illustrator. A graduate of the Surikov School of Fine Art in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

and the Moscow Stroganov Institute of Art, he is noted for his unique style of

watercolor Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to ...

illustration. He has illustrated works by classic authors such as

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

, Anton Chekhov and

Leo Tolstoy Count Lev Nikolayevich TolstoyTolstoy pronounced his first name as , which corresponds to the romanization ''Lyov''. () (; russian: link=no, Лев Николаевич Толстой,In Tolstoy's day, his name was written as in pre-refor ...

as well as children's books by contemporary celebrities. He is perhaps best known for his illustration of Madonna's ''

Yakov and the Seven Thieves ''Yakov and the Seven Thieves'' is a picture book written by American entertainer Madonna. It was released on June 21, 2004, by Callaway Arts & Entertainment in over 110 countries and 38 different languages, including a Braille edition. The b ...

'' and Julie Andrews' ''Simeon's Gift''. His oil paintings hang in public and private galleries throughout the world. He has been profiled by ''

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''. His depiction of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchai ...

'' was selected by

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; colloquially Saks) is an American luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street shopping district of Washington ...

as the centerpiece of their famous Christmas display in 1997 and 1998. Following the dissolution of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1992, Spirin immigrated with his wife and sons to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, ultimately settling in Princeton, NJ, where he has lived and worked since.

References

External links

Official website

Gennady Spirin
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spirin, Gennady 1948 births Living people 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters 21st-century Russian painters Russian children's book illustrators 20th-century illustrators of fairy tales 21st-century illustrators of fairy tales 20th-century Russian male artists 21st-century Russian male artists