Victor Nizovtsev was born in Russia and studied at the Ilia Repin Collge for Art in Chisinau, Moldavia and the Vera Muhina University for Industrial Arts in St. Petersburg. He now lives in the U.S. in Maryland.
His paintings have some of the narrative character of Golden Age children’s book illustration, and draw on influences from Art Nouveau, Symbolist and other 19th century painters (in particular John Singer Sargent’s Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose), but have a contemporary feel.
His subjects include repeated dream-like themes of mermaids, floating lanterns, colorful jesters, playing card kings and queens, storybook villages and playful children. These are arranged in seemingly narrative compositions and portrayed in vibrant color with wonderful elements of texture, at times reminiscent of Gustav Klimt’s decorative textural areas.
I haven’t been able to find a dedicated site or blog for Nizovtsev, but his work is represented by at least two galleries, and there are several mentions of his work on other blogs and art sites.
The McBride Gallery in Anapolis, MD, seems to be his primary gallery, offering both originals and giclee prints, and including some bio information on their site. There are several pages of images (though some links are broken).
His work is reproduced larger elsewhere, however, such at Tutt’ Art and Inspirations. I’ve listed what other sources I could find below.
[Suggestion courtesy of Tim Poorman]
Oh! These are simply exquisite! I love his imagination, his color choices and his attention to detail! I would love to sit patiently in front of them while the rest of the story drifted by! :)
I wonder what the bird’s nest full of eggs in the top of that little man’s hat represents? It appears in two of these paintings. Perhaps they are two different illustrations from the same story?
As soon as I saw the lanterns I thought of John Singer Sargent!
Once again, thank you, Charley! Another great post!
Each art is a great piece and has done an amazing work..Liked Victor Nizovtsev art and his work is brilliant!!
stickers
Wow !
Thanks once again Charley, for posting this stunning work – absolutely fantastic. Such rich colour, and attention to those small details that makes the difference !
Taking screen grabs of these to enjoy at leisure later :)
You can download the two high-res images at the Rijksmuseum by creating an account and clicking through some use agreement silliness. See my post on the Rijksmuseum website.
Not sure how I missed this post…
Great work, richly colored, they have that fully painted luxurious feel to them that the illustration had during it’s so-called ‘Heyday’, before photography took over in magazine publishing.
Reminds me of contemporary artist/illustrators Scott Gustafson and to some degree The Brothers Hildebrandt.
I am happy to see this kind of work still be done in the digital age.