Kirill Sokolov (1930 - 2004) trained as an artist in Moscow, under the Stalinist dictatorship. His interest in Western art during the Soviet years was considered dangerously subversive and had to be explored in secret. Following his wedding to British research student Avril Pyman (in the first foreign marriage personally approved by Krushchev himself), he moved to north-east England and in time gained a reputation as a leading international artist.
Sokolov regarded life as essentially tragic, but his belief in the power of art to transform and transcend tragic experience can be seen through throughout his work. He worked through the challenges of Soviet censorship, depression following emigration to England, illness, and a catastrophic fire to produce a vast collection of work ranging from book illustrations and oil paintings to innovative silkscreen collages and sculpture. His fellow artists, friends, and widow Dicky remember the love, humour and fierce determination which drove his creativity and led to his international reputation as one of the former Soviet Bloc's most remarkable modern artists.
Sokolov's work has been widely exhibited, and is held by galleries including the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow, The Sutton Gallery in Edinburgh, and Durham University.
Sokolov regarded life as essentially tragic, but his belief in the power of art to transform and transcend tragic experience can be seen through throughout his work. He worked through the challenges of Soviet censorship, depression following emigration to England, illness, and a catastrophic fire to produce a vast collection of work ranging from book illustrations and oil paintings to innovative silkscreen collages and sculpture. His fellow artists, friends, and widow Dicky remember the love, humour and fierce determination which drove his creativity and led to his international reputation as one of the former Soviet Bloc's most remarkable modern artists.
Sokolov's work has been widely exhibited, and is held by galleries including the Tretyakov State Gallery in Moscow, The Sutton Gallery in Edinburgh, and Durham University.
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