July 6

 

Athletic pursuits:

You gotta have art:

Viktor Popkov

                      Portrait of Serezha Rudkin (1965)

Painter Viktor Efimovich Popkov, born in Moscow in 1932, became one of the most prominent and influential Soviet artists of the 1960s. He was a role model to many artists of his generation, through his rejection of Soviet doctrines and principles of Stalinist Socialist Realism. Aside from being the best known contemporary Soviet artist of his time, his fame spread beyond his native land. From the mid-1960s until his death he participated in exhibitions all over the world.

Popkov died as the result of a tragic mistake in 1974 in Moscow at age 42. He thought he was hailing a taxi, but the vehicle turned out to be an armored courier vehicle, and Popkov was shot dead by its security personnel.