Vladimir Sergeyevich Timiryov (''Timirev''; Владимир Сергеевич Тимирёв; 1914–1938) was a Russian avant garde painter and a victim of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secretar ...

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secret ...

Life

Vladimir Timirev was born in 1914 as the son of Admiral Sergey Nikolayevich Timiryov of the

Russian Imperial Navy The Imperial Russian Navy () operated as the navy of the Russian Tsardom and later the Russian Empire from 1696 to 1917. Formally established in 1696, it lasted until dissolved in the wake of the February Revolution of 1917. It developed from a ...

. His mother was the poet

Anna Timiryova Anna Vasilyevna Timiryova (russian: Анна Васильевна Тимирёва; 18 July 1893 – 31 January 1975) was a Russian poet. Born Anna Safonova, she was the daughter of composer Vasily Ilyich Safonov. At the age of 19 she married Ad ...

. His maternal grandfather was the composer orchestra conductor Vasily Ilyich Safonov. In 1918, when he was only four years old, his parents separated. His mother commenced a

common law marriage Common-law marriage, also known as non-ceremonial marriage, marriage, informal marriage, or marriage by habit and repute, is a legal framework where a couple may be considered married without having formally registered their relation as a civil ...

with Rear Admiral Alexander Kolchak, who became Vladimir's "stepfather." Vladimir's father Sergey subsequently moved to China as a

White émigré White Russian émigrés were Russians who emigrated from the territory of the former Russian Empire in the wake of the Russian Revolution (1917) and Russian Civil War (1917–1923), and who were in opposition to the revolutionary Bolshevik commun ...

. During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, Alexander Kolchak led one of the largest factions of the anti-communist White Movement based at Omsk. In February 1920, Vladimir's stepfather was betrayed by his allies and handed over to the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

in Irkutsk. He was given a cursory trial and shot, whereupon his body was cast into the frozen

Angara River The Angara ( Buryat and mn, Ангар, ''Angar'', "Cleft"; russian: Ангара́, ''Angará'') is a major river in Siberia, which traces a course through Russia's Irkutsk Oblast and Krasnoyarsk Krai. It drains out of Lake Baikal and is ...

. For decades after his death, however, their association with Kolchak would have dire consequences for Vladimir and his mother. Timirev graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. Upon completing his first year in 1930, he worked on the construction site of the Bobrikov Chemical Industrial Complex. After graduation, he worked as an artist and book illustrator.

Jack London John Griffith Chaney (January 12, 1876 – November 22, 1916), better known as Jack London, was an American novelist, journalist and activist. A pioneer of commercial fiction and American magazines, he was one of the first American authors to ...

’s book “ Northern Tales” was published with Timirev’s illustrations. He published his drawings in newspapers for the reviews of stage plays. Timirev participated in a science and research expedition to the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

in 1935. During the expedition, he produced many sketches, drawings and water colours on the subject of the Caspian Sea. He also created a series of works about Vyshniy Volochok.

Arrest and execution

He was arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in 1938 and shortly afterwards executed by shooting. Apparently, the reason was an anonymous denunciation made by friends. The denunciation referred to the fact that Vladimir was the "stepson" of Admiral Kolchak, who was demonized in the Soviet propaganda of the time.

External links

Savitsky Collection Page about Vladimir Timiryov
(archived link) {{DEFAULTSORT:Timiryov, Vladimir Sergeyevich 1914 births 1938 deaths Great Purge victims from Russia 20th-century Russian painters Russian male painters Russian illustrators People executed for treason against the Soviet Union Soviet painters Moscow Architectural Institute alumni