Vladimir Sakson

Vladimir Stanislavovich Sakson (Влади́мир Станисла́вович Са́ксон; May 17, 1927 – March 13, 1988) was a Soviet painter, book illustrator, scenographer, stage designer and art decorator, living and working in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad branch of Union of Artists of Russian Federation, regarded by art historian Sergei V. Ivanov as a representative of the Leningrad school of painting.

Biography
Vladimir Stanislavovich Sakson was born May 17, 1927, in Leningrad, USSR. In 1939-1940, V. Sakson participated in a competition of children’s drawings held in the memory of Pushkin in which his works stood out and his artistic talents were recognized. He was admitted along with other gifted young artists to the art studio at the Pioneer Union under the direction of Professor M.A. Gorohova. Later, he was accepted into the Artist School at the Academy of Art. There he studied under the patronage of such great artists as Andrei Mylnikov and Olga Bogaevskaya. The Second World War dramatically interrupted V. Sakson’s studies and forced his maturation. It was under siege that he first learned that he had been born under a lucky star – a friend of his whom he had been holding was killed in his arms during the raid by a stray bullet. The second time V. Sakson learned of his lucky star was during the evacuation of Leningrad. He and his mother missed the car that was to have taken them out of the city. The car that they could not reach sunk under ice during its escape. V. Sakson and his mother managed to escape from the besieged city and were sent to Samarkand. After the war, the refugees returned to Leningrad and V. Sakson returned to art school to continue his studies. In 1949 V. Sakson entered the Ilya Repin Institute. During his studies he became involved with a traveling theater group, creating sets for their performances of Trembita and Free Wind. For his diploma project he created a set for the N. Rimsky-Korsakov play Sadko.   In 1954 Sakson graduated from Ilya Repin Institute in Mikhail Bobyshov workshop, where he also studied of Alexander Debler, Yuri Neprintsev, Mikhail Platunov, Alexander Segal.

Since 1955 Vladimir Sakson has participated in Art Exhibitions. He painted portraits, landscapes, decorative compositions, worked as a theatre artist and in Art illustration. His first solo exhibition was opened in Saint Petersburg in 2007. Since 1960 Vladimir Sakson was a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists. V. Sakson began his career as a scenographer at Molotov Opera and Ballet Theater, now Perm Theater. Many of his sketches of costumes and decorations can be found in the theater’s archives. While working as a scenographer, he also found enjoyment in easel painting. Sakson enjoyed working as a book illustrator, working in lithographic studios illustrating children’s books. He created illustrations for poetry collections by V. Solouchin, B. Fedorov, and B. Kornilov. In the eighties V. Sakson was commissioned to create five murals for the Admiralteyskaya factory reflecting the glorious history of the Russian fleet. Unfortunately, the murals were destroyed and we can appreciate the unique character of this work only on the basis of archival drawings.   Whether portraits or genre paintings, V. Sakson’s masterpieces are distinguished by their lyricism and delicacy. He was most inspired by nature. The exquisite scenery of Baikal, Tumen, Sayan, and Crimea became the sources for many of his successful works. He was also a passionate traveler and mountain climber. This passion for nature sometimes manifested itself in strange ways. Thus he could, following a sudden inner urge, travel to Kamchatka, only making known his disappearance by calling home when already far away. During his many cross-country journeys, he could always find interesting characters for his portraits. Attention to the faces in his portraits – whether of an old Uzbek potter or of a fashionista – yields their character’s personal traits, which attracted Sakson.

Vladimir Stanislavovich Sakson died on March 13, 1988, in Leningrad. His paintings reside in art museums and private collections in Russia, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, England, and other countries.