Kirill Konstantinovich Sokolov (27 September 1930 – 22 May 2004) was a Russian painter, sculptor, print-maker and stage designer. Name in
Russian: Кирилл Константинович Соколов.
Throughout his career, Kirill Sokolov's work and art enjoyed a wide range of media and art forms, from books illustrations and
silk-screen printing
Screen printing is a printing technique where a mesh is used to transfer ink (or dye) onto a substrate, except in areas made impermeable to the ink by a blocking stencil. A blade or squeegee is moved across the screen to fill the open mesh ...
to
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
,
collage
Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...
and
sculpture
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
.
Between 1950 and 1957 Sokolov studied at the
Surikov Institute
The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (russian: Московское училище живописи, ваяния и зодчества, МУЖВЗ) also known by the acronym MUZHZV, was one of the largest educational insti ...
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 million ...
. Amongst his classmates was the future conceptual artist
Ilya Kabakov.
[http://www.henrydyson.co.uk/artists/sokolov/index.php] In 1960 Sokolov met his future wife,
Avril Pyman
Avril Pyman (aka Dr Avril Sokolov, Fellow of the British Academy#Fellowship, FBA; born 4 May 1930) is a British scholar and translator of Russian literature. In addition to translating poetry and children's literature, she has written a study of R ...
, a British research student and biographer of
Alexander Blok. The couple married in Moscow in 1963. For the next ten years Sokolov gained distinction as a highly original engraver and illustrator of some fifty books, including the works of
Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov ( rus, links=no, Михаил Афанасьевич Булгаков, p=mʲɪxɐˈil ɐfɐˈnasʲjɪvʲɪtɕ bʊlˈɡakəf; – 10 March 1940) was a Soviet writer, medical doctor, and playwright active in the fir ...
and
Yuri Trifonov.
In 1974 Sokolov moved to the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
from where he established an international reputation.
Living first in
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...
and then
Durham, the artist served as co-editor of the international art journal
Leonardo
Leonardo is a masculine given name, the Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese equivalent of the English, German, and Dutch name, Leonard
Leonard or ''Leo'' is a common English masculine given name and a surname.
The given name and surname originate ...
as well as becoming a member of the
Society of Graphic Fine Art
The Society of Graphic Art for Pornographique (renamed Society of Graphic Fine Art in 1984) is a British arts organisation established in 1999.
History
The Society of Graphic Art (SGA) was founded in 1999 by Frank Lewis Emanuel, whose idea it was ...
.
During his career, Sokolov developed his own method of printmaking, which he called 'silkscreen collage'. Using this technique he created dozens of folios on themes such as 'London 1984' (just as much a tribute to Dore's 'London a Pilgrimage' as to a reflection on British society after Orwell), 'Big Meeting' (a reflection on the Durham Miners' Gala), 'Chester-le-Street Parish Church' (a series celebrating the 1100th anniversary of the Parish Church of St. Mary & St. Cuthbert) and many others.
Writings
References
External links
*
Biographical timeline of the life and work of Kirill Sokolov
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sokolov, Kirill
Russian male artists
1930 births
2004 deaths