Roman Donskoy is a famous Russian artist, icon painter and restorer of the XX-XXI centuries. This painter is known to lovers of fine art not only in our country and neighboring countries, but also in Europe and America.
Roman Donskoy began to paint while still a high school student. It is believed that his father instilled a love for art in the future artist. Donskoy acquired the skills necessary for successful creativity later, studying with famous painters, sculptors, carvers.
Childhood and youth
Roman Donskoy was born in the town of Pushkin in the suburbs of Moscow in 1964. His father, Henrikh Donskoy, at one time was a fairly skillful and well-known artist and monumental carver. Roman's mother worked as a kindergarten teacher.
At the age of 7, the future artist, like most other Soviet children, went to first grade. One of Roman's favorite subjects, of course, immediately became drawing.
To develop the abilities of a talented boy, his parents enrolled him in the studio of one of the most famous artists of the USSR - Vladimir Ilyich Andrushkevich. Subsequently, in the workshop of this painter, Roman studied the basics of painting for several years.
After graduating from the eight-year school in 1979, Donskoy decided not to stay in school, but to get a creative education and become a student at the Abramtsev Art School. This educational institution in those years was just experiencing the peak of its heyday. Roman's teachers at the Abramtsevo School were such, for example, famous masters as A. A. Kolotilov and Yu. Ya Tsypin.
After graduating from college in 1984, Donskoy received the specialty of a stone carver-artist. In the same year, Roman was brought to the army. The artist spent the next two years in a military unit near the city of Novocherkassk, Rostov region.
University
Roman returned from the army to Pushkin in 1986. Subsequently, for several years, the artist, together with his older brother and father, was engaged in the restoration of churches in different parts of the capital. The work in the temples was quite difficult, but the young man really liked it. In churches, Roman in those years was mainly engaged in the restoration of monumental painting.
Later in 1988, Donskoy entered the Art Institute. Stroganov, Moscow. Of course, in this university he chose for himself the specialty "restoration of church painting". He graduated from the R. Donskoy Institute in 1995. His diploma work was the restoration of the frescoes of the dome of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin in one of the monasteries of Zvenigorod.
Work in the specialty
Graduated from the Donskoy University with a diploma of a restorer of monumental painting. Subsequently, in this specialty, the artist worked on the restoration of many temples throughout the country.
From 1998 to 2002, Roman participated, for example, in the restoration of frescoes at the Intercession Convent in Moscow. In 2001, for this work, he was even awarded the medal of Sergius of Radonezh, 1st degree. Moreover, the Patriarch of All Russia Alexei I personally presented this award to the artist.
In addition to the Church of the Virgin, during his activity as a restorer Donskoy took part in the restoration of:
- Levkovskaya chapel of Elijah the Prophet in the Moscow region;
- the metropolitan church of the Assumption of the Virgin;
- chapel of Panteleimon the Healer;
- the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin in Vladykin;
- Chernev Church of the Nativity of Christ, etc.
Paintings
Donskoy gave a lot of effort and time to restore frescoes and other church paintings. But even during his studies at the institute, Roman developed as a talented graphic artist and artist. Subsequently, he wrote many paintings, highly appreciated by both viewers and critics.
He painted pictures of R. Donskoy mainly in the landscape genre. At the same time, the artist was especially attracted by the Russian nature of the middle zone. Almost all of Roman Donskov's early paintings were painted in the Moscow region.
In a later period, the artist also created several canvases on which he depicted the nature of remote corners of Russia. Roman Donskoy also has works with landscapes of China and India.
The artist's favorite genre was landscape. But the portrait direction of painting also became quite attractive for Roman Donskoy. A lot of works of this genre also came out from the pen of the artist.
It is impossible to say that Roman worked in a certain style. In the paintings of this artist, you can see elements of impressionism, realism, fauvism, surrealism. But the greatest influence on the work of this painter, according to critics, was exerted by such directions as impressionism and the Russian avant-garde. The artist himself, during his lifetime, admitted that for a long time he worked under the impression of the paintings of Henri Matisse.
Donskoy began to take part in various exhibitions since 1998. In 2003, he became a member of the Moscow Union of Artists in the Direction of Monumental Painting.
Personal life
The family was created by Roman Donskoy in 1990. Olga Sokolova became the painter's wife. Later, the couple had three children: Ksenia, Anna and Ivan.
Family for Roman, like painting, has always been very important. The wife and children often became one of the objects of inspiration for the artist. On many canvases that came out from the pen of the painter, you can see precisely these people close to him.
Roman Donskoy lived a creative, active, multifaceted life. In total, more than 50 paintings came out from under his pen. This Russian painter died in 2013 of a heart attack in the capital. His last lifetime personal exhibition was held in Moscow in the Bogorodskaya hall on the Open Highway in 2012.
