Vladimir Yankilevsky

Vladimir Yankilevsky (1938-2018) was a nonconformist artist active in Russia from the 1960s to the 1980s, and part of an underground circle of like-minded artists that included Ülo Sooster, Ilya Kabakov, Yuri Sobolev, Ernst Neizvestny, and Eduard Shteinberg. What connected them was their pursuit of an artistic language distinct from the official socialist realism, one that reflected the times and prioritised personal expression. Born in Moscow in 1938, Yankilevsky left the Soviet Union in 1989, moving first to New York and later to Paris, where he lived until his death. Today, many of his works are held in prominent museum collections across Europe, America, and Russia, as well as in private foundations and collections.