Kuzmin Nikolay Vasilievich

December 19, 1890 (Serdobsk, Saratov province) — January 9, 1987 (Moscow)

Graphic artist, painter

Nikolay Kuzmin finished non-classical secondary school in Serdobsk. In 1900s he studied drawing by himself; since mid-1900s he was engaged in magazine graphic art, he worked for The Griffin (1906), Vesy (“The Scales”; 1909) and Apollon (“Apollo”) magazines. In 1911 he moved to St. Petersburg. Kuzmin studied in the Elizaveta Zvantseva School of Painting and Drawing in St. Petersburg; in the Drawing School under the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts (OPKh; 1912–1914), under the guidance of I. Y. Bilibin, A. A. Rylov, N. K. Roerich; at the faculty of graphic art in Petrograd Higher State Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) — the Higher Art Technical Institute (VKhUTEIN), under P. A. Shillingovsky and E. S. Kruglikova (1922–1924). The artist took part in the First World War and the Civil wars.

Kuzmin lived in Moscow. He was involved in easel graphic art and book illustration. In 1929 he was one of the founders and active participants of the exhibitions of the group Trinadtsat (“Thirteen”) in 1929–1931. Kuzmin exposed his works at the 2nd and 3rd exhibitions of graphic art in Moscow (1927, 1928), the 5th exhibition of painting and graphic art of modern Russian artists in Feodosia (1929), the exhibition of Ukrainian book graphic art in Kharkov, the exhibitions of Soviet art in Winterthur (1929), in London (1930), Zurich, Johannesburg (both — 1931), Königsberg (1932) and others. Since 1938 Kuzmin was a member of Moscow Regional Union of Soviet Artists (MOSSKh).

Kuzmin drew illustrations for many works of Russian, foreign and classical literature, in particular he illustrated Eugene Onegin (1932), Count Nulin (1959) by A. S. Pushkin; Masquerade by M. Y. Lermontov (1941); Complete Works by Kozma Prutkov (1933); Diary of a Madman by N. V. Gogol (1960); Iron Will (1946), The Lefthander (1957) by N. S. Leskov; La Faustin by Edmond de Goncourt (1933); Theatre by Alfred de Musset (1934) and others. Kuzmin was awarded gold medal for the cycle of illustrations for Eugene Onegin at the International book exhibition in Paris (1937), bronze medal for the illustrations for Count Nulin at the the exhibition Art of the Book in Leipzig (1959).

In 1966 Kuzmin was conferred the title of the Honoured Art Worker of RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic); since 1967 he was a corresponding member of the USSR Academy of Arts; in 1972 he was conferred the title of the People’s Artist of the RSFSR. In 1980 he was awarded gold medal of the USSR Academy of Arts for his illustrations to the books by Pushkin (Epigrams, 1979), Leskov (Stories, 1973), and by N. G. Kurganov (Short Intricate Stories, 1976).

Kuzmin wrote books Ring of King Solomon (1964), Stroke and Word (1967), Long ago and not long ago (1982). He was married to the artist T. A. Mavrina (Lebedeva). Kuzmin together with his wife collected great collection of Russian icons, works of folk, decorative and applied arts (now the collection is in the Department of Private Collections under the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts and in the Alexander Pushkin Museum in Moscow).

Nikolay Kuzmin is an outstanding book graphic artist and master of drawing. His best works are examples of unsurpassed skill of the artist in fluent, fine, stylized pen drawing (sometimes heightened with watercolour). The artist’s illustrations are characterized by lightness, humour, skill in expressing of the emotional features of literary works.

Works by Nikolay Kuzmin are in the biggest museum collections of the country: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, the State Literature Museum and others.