ABOUT IGOR
In Memoriam
Igor Galanin, the Russian American artist whose serene paintings and sculptures of women, animals, fruit, and other objects of his imagination made him one of the world’s most original creators, died on Saturday, November 16, 2024, in Westchester County, New York. He was 87.
His death was caused by a fall which led to a hemorrhagic stroke.
Igor often gave a simple reason for becoming an artist: “I did not like to wake up early.“
Living in Soviet Russia, he started with ceramics. He liked the feel of the clay and was handy with the wheel. He then found commercial success as a children’s book illustrator. With an easy laugh, warm blue eyes, and an endless stream of stories, he charmed the largely female contingent who doled out commissions at Soviet publishing houses. The books he illustrated won awards.
The illustration commissions fueled a dream life. An apartment in downtown Moscow, a car, a summer rental across the way from Soviet Prime Minister Gromyko. In the evenings his studio, located proximally to the KGB headquarters, became a party scene where artists and intellectuals congregated.
One day as he sat in the waiting room of a publishing house, another artist in his fifties came in seeking work. He was roughly treated and rebuffed. Igor realized that if he stayed in the Soviet Union, this would be his fate. He decided to get out.
He considered some risky options—escape by balloon to Finland—and then heard through the grapevine that Jews could apply to emigrate. His mother, Bettina Friedman, was Jewish. He did not hesitate to risk his dream life—he would have lost everything if his application was refused. But his gamble paid off. He was permitted to leave.
The first emigres from the Soviet Union went to Israel. Igor reasoned that the market for art in Israel was limited. He approached the authorities with a reasonable question. “If I am leaving, does it really matter where I go?” They agreed to let him go to Italy.
In Rome Igor had his first solo exhibition at the Paesi Nuovi gallery. Surprisingly, the show sold out. “I did not expect Italians to buy art from someone who was not Italian.” He decided not to push his luck, and on October 31, 1972, he and his family landed at JFK airport in New York.
Kindness, often from strangers, fueled his career in the United States. He illustrated Thomas P. Whitney’s translation of Marko the Rich and Vasily the Unlucky (nominated for a Newberry-Caldecott award). “Thom Whitney,” as Igor called him fondly, arranged for him to exhibit at the Red Barn in Fisher’s Island, NY. A friend and fellow artist Alexander Nezhdanov selflessly recommended that Igor be included in a group show of Russian artists at Andre Emmerich gallery in 1975.
At the Emmerich show Igor was “discovered” by NY Times art critic John Russell. Russell had been instructed to review a different artist but was struck by the originality of Igor’s work and subsequently wrote a review that put Igor on the map. A bit begrudgingly, Russell described Igor’s work as a “dreamland” and concluded that he was “an unsentimental Chagall.” Igor’s feathers were not ruffled. He knew his own worth.
Igor never talked about the meaning of his art. He wanted people to experience it for themselves without interference. Russell was right to describe Igor’s work as a dreamland. Igor lived through a lot of trauma in his early years. His father, the grandson of the famous Russian historical figure Count Sergei Uvarov, was taken out of their home in the middle of the night by the KGB when Igor was 4 years old. Igor remembered his mother putting a fur coat on his father as he was led away. She subsequently developed schizophrenia, which was not diagnosed or treated for years. Later his stepfather withheld food from Igor to motivate him to get a regular job. He grew up alone.
Igor escaped to his studio to make art that was serene, beautiful, offbeat, and orderly. Largely, he taught himself. His bio credited Georgii Schetinin as a teacher, but Igor said he was more of a mentor. “We talked about life, not painting. His work actually did not appeal to me. But I liked him a lot.”
In the late 1990s the art world became more like a financial market with prices and reputations manipulated by well-heeled players. Igor retreated from the New York City spotlight and deepened his roots in Millwood, New York. He made friends with everyone—at Dodd’s Liquors, Drug Mart, even Chase Bank.
As the honorary Mayor of Millwood, Igor’s style could be blunt. He told people what he thought was best for them, even when his words would pinch a bit. People recognized that he cared. He did.
His early success in the Soviet Union taught him that fortune and fame were not worth pursuing. “Once I knew I had enough money to survive, I relaxed.” His work became less adorned. When he first started painting, he filled the canvas so clients would get their money’s worth. Now he scaled back his work, like Johny Cash in his unplugged recordings. A single wine glass. A bear on a bicycle. Four oranges.
Throughout his life Igor leaned on his wife, Natalia, for support and understanding. Their meeting was straight out of a fairy tale. He was encamped outside an artist’s retreat that Natalia’s sister, Tanya, was attending. He was sleeping under a tree when Tanya and Natalia showed up to give him food. Natalia sensed that this somewhat tiny man held great power. She decided to help him.
And boy, did he need help. In his first years in the US Igor had a limited grasp of English. He did not drive. He did not write. He did not do errands. He did not attend parent-teacher conferences. Natalia freed him up to do the things he loved: paint and entertain.
Igor inherited some aristocratic tendencies. He looked down on chicken, beer, and baseball. He often quipped that “stupidity is an incurable disease.” With exposure to the American way of life these inclinations became less pronounced, and his ease was transmuted into his paintings.
He sold more than 750 paintings, mostly to individual collectors who would buy several paintings over the years. The paintings spoke to people in an ancient, fundamentally human language. The connection to his collectors gave Igor tremendous solace. His daughter, who was his manager, fostered these relationships and turned them into friendships. They are Igor’s lasting legacy.
Igor is survived by his wife, Natalia, and their two children: daughter Natalia Gaither and husband Rowan and their two daughters Natasha and Nina, of New York City; and son Ivan Galanin and wife Pamela and their three children, Vince, Dima, and Katya, of New York City. A celebration of Igor’s life will be held later in Millwood. In lieu of flowers Igor would have wanted you to make a new friend.
Bio
Igor Galanin was born in 1937 in Moscow, Russia. He was educated and began his artistic career in the former Soviet Union by illustrating children’s books and designing sets for the Moscow Ballet Theatre. Igor exhibited regularly in Moscow and illustrated more than 30 children’s books. His children’s books continue to be published in France and Russia today. In 1972, Igor immigrated first to Rome, Italy, where he had his first international solo show, and subsequently to New York, where he initially continued with illustration work for The Macmillan Company—producing a series of children’s books. In 1975, Igor had a solo exhibit at the Red Barn Gallery on Fisher’s Island, New York and was selected to participate in the Young Artist’s Exhibit in Boston’s Rose Museum. This led to his first New York group show at the Andre Emmerich Gallery, a series of solo exhibits at the Pucker Safrai Gallery in Boston, and to his long association with Jean Aberbach (Aberbach Gallery) and Lindsay Findlay (David Findlay Gallery), in New York. In addition to New York and Boston, Igor has exhibited in Colorado, California, Florida, Texas, Maine, and Montreal, Canada.
Past clients include Roy Scheider, Glenn Close, Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, Whoopi Goldberg, Mason Phelps, Natalia Makarova, Rudolf Nureyev, and Jim Henson as well as such corporate clients as United Technologies Corporation, the Cincinnatian Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio, the Doubletree Hotels in New Orleans and the Creighton University Medical Center, Omaha, Nebraska.
Shows and Representation
Harbor Square Gallery | Rockland, ME | 2004–Present
Napua Gallery, Waldorf Astoria | Maui, HI | 2017–Present
Canyon Road Contemporary Art | Santa Fe, NM | 2018–2020
The Christina Gallery | Martha’s Vineyard, MA | 2014–2020
The Jewel Spiegel Gallery | Englewood, NJ | 2013–2019
Ann Jacob Gallery | Highlands, NC | 2011–2016
Amanti Art Gallery | Madison, WI | 2010–2011
JRS Fine Art | Providence, RI | 1986–2016
Gallery 444 | San Francisco, CA | 2000–2007
Harmon Meek Gallery | Naples, FL | 1995–2004
David Findlay Galleries | New York, NY | 1987–1996
Devin Galleries | New Hope, PA | 1993–1995
Brevard Art Museum | Melbourne, FL | 1989
Portals Ltd. | Chicago, IL | 1987–1988
Kieff Galerie d’Art | Montreal, Canada | 1987
Sloane Gallery of Art | Denver, CO | 1986, 1989
Kauffman Galleries | Houston, TX | 1982, 1983, 1984
Aberbach Fine Art | New York, NY | 1978–1986
Pucker Gallery | Boston, MA | 1975, 1976, 1987, 1997, 1990, 2000
London Gallery | Montreal, Canada | 1977
Andre Emmerich | New York, NY | 1976
Rose Art Museum | Boston, MA | 1975
Young Artists ’75 Exhibition | New York, NY | 1975
Village Art Gallery | Croton-on-Hudson, NY | 1974, 1977
Fishers Island Gallery | Fishers Island, NY | 1973–74
Paesi Nuovi Gallery | Rome, Italy | 1972
Recent Book Publications
(in addition to over 30 children’s books published by Malysh publishers in Moscow, Russia)
The Proud Maiden, Tungak and the Sun | Macmillan | New York, NY
Marko the Rich and Vasily the Unlucky | Macmillan | New York, NY
Alice | Macmillan | New York, NY
Master and Margarita | Penguin Books | New York, NY
The Brave Little Tailor | Hachette Éducation | Paris, France
Do-Rei-Mi | Labirint-press | Moscow, Russia
Museums
Art Museum University of Toronto | Toronto, Canada
An American Art Collection, Philharmonic Center for Arts | Naples, FL
Brevard Art Museum | Melbourne, FL
Rose Art Museum | Boston, MA
Mead Art Museum at Amherst College | Amherst, MA
Museum of Contemporary Art | La Jolla, CA
Zimerli Art Museum | New Brunswick, NJ
Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art | Loretto, PA
In the News
Art News | December 1974
The Harvard Crimson | March 1975
The New York Times | September 9, 1979
The National Jewish Monthly | June 1980
House and Garden | December 1983
The Yale Literary Magazine | 1982, 1985
Vanity Fair | September 1988
The Christian Science Monitor | June 1982; December 1984; May 1986
The Boston Connoisseur | 1986
Art & Auction | February 1988
Florida Today | March 1996
Naples Daily News | February 1996
Rocky Mount News | Denver, CO| 1986, 1989
Financial Times | London, UK | October 2000
Penthouse Magazine | 1991–1993
Vision Magazine | China | November 2015
Guideposts/Angels on Earth | November 2016
The Many Masks of Modern Art | Theodore Wolfe
Awards
Caldecott Award For Children’s Book Illustration (Nominated) | for Marko the Rich and Vasily the Unlucky | Thomas P. Whitney
The Art Directors Club 1991 Merit Award | 70th Annual Exhibition
Graphis Magazine Design Award | Penthouse Magazine | 1994