Viktor Efimovich Popkov Painter, graphic artist, portraitist, landscape and genre painter.... In the mid-60s Popkov totally changed his style. He rediscovered individuality in the wake of the official art of the Stalin era, which had been an expression of state-sponsored ideology. The artist’s personality is very much in evidence in his paintings: he freely expressed his opinion of human beings and the world at large. His work pinpointed the theme of a lost generation whose lives had been messed up by the Great Patriotic War (the Mezensk Widows cycle, 1966–1968). The self portrait as a composite image of his contemporaries occupied a special place in the artist’s work (Father’s Overcoat 1970–1972). ... Popkov died in an accident in 1974. http://www.tretyakovgallery.ru/en/collection/_show/author/_id/338 ...one of Russia’s most acclaimed artists ... Popkov’s enormous talent was recognized in both Russia and the West. He came to be one of the foremost proponents of the ‘Severe’, a style of painting which combined the formal elements of Social Realism with a greater degree of hope which Popkov... https://www.somersethouse.org.uk/visual-arts/viktor-popkov Popkov is a pioneer of the so-called “austere” style [which seeks to portray situations without gloss]....the austere style is close to reality... artists went to factories and other enterprises and tried to portray people and situations without embellishment. They used more schematic, flat techniques. Generally speaking, his work can be divided into 3 periods: romantic socialist realism, the austere style, and symbolism. http://moscow2012.fide.com/en/home/12-news-en/376-popkov-eng Popkov’s paintings are characterized by dramatic tension, the use of generalized social themes, and psychological insight into persons and situations. Distinguished by rigorous composition and vivid color, they reveal a tendency to reflect philosophically on life. http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Viktor+Efimovich+Popkov undefined

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