Anatoly Annenkov

755. Prague - Cloudy Day 10 x 14 inches gouache, watercolor, ink, paper		752. Castle 1998 9 x 12 inches; gouache watercolor, ink on paper Orig. Price $140 Sale Price
891. Harlequin on Red 21 1/2 x 17 inches oil on canvas SOLD		890. Harlequin on Blue 21 1/2 x 17 inches oil on canvas SOLD
889. Harlequin Mindful of Time 21 1/2 x 17 inches oil on canvas SOLD		885. Angel Resting 21 1/2 x 17 inches oil on canvas

Anatoly Annenkov was born in the Ural Mountains on February 6, 1959. He always had artistic aspirations, and in the early eighties he moved to St. Peterburg (then Leningrad) to study at the Academy of Art (the Repin Fine Arts Institute).

Annenkov entered the Academy in 1982. He specialized in monumental art. After graduating in 1988 he worked as a restorer of the spectacular cathedral frescoes in the ancient Russian cities of Pskov, Novgorod, and Zvenigorod. In 1990 Annenkov joined the St. Petersburg Artists' Union. He now heads the painters' section of the union.

Annenkov's work can be classified broadly as mythological realism. Themes from the cultures of Ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt are important inspirations for his works. He has looked to the antiquity for the well-honed corresponcence of content and form, but in his original works the ancient art is transformeed by the methods and the knowledge of modernity. Annenkov aims to bring together various layers of culture in his expression of human nature.

Most recently Annenkov has been working on the paintings of the "Egyptian Cycle". The familiar symbols of the Egyptian civilization attain a new life in these wonderful, airy canvases. Some of his modern substitutions are ironic, such as the addition of the Soviet hammer and sickle to the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Annenkov is a master of texture, recreating stone surfaces in all their complexity; his colors are brilliant and clear. Although he has never been to Egypt, Annenkov appears to feel so free and familiar in the world of Egyptian art that one wonders whether there is not a subliminal connection in operation. Half-jokingly, he says that he lived one of his past lives as a dancer in ancient Eypt.

Annenkov works in the fresco and graphic genre in addition to painting. His works have been exhbited in Germany, Finland, the United States (Atlanta, GA), and St. Petersburg.