Igor Tulipanov (Russian, born 1939)
The contemporary surrealist artist Tupilanov was born in St. Petersburg. He began his training at the Polytechnical Institute,where his artistic talent was soon realized and he was thus transferred to the Nikolai Akimov Institute. Tupilanov worked initially as a stage designer and gradually moved into painting. In 1980 he moved to New York,and shortly thereafter held his first major exhibition in San Francisco. Tupilanov was influenced by Bosch and Van Eych, and considers his work “Symbolic Naturalism” more than Surrealism. He has exhibited at the Chelsea Art Museum (From Leningrad to St. Petersburg – 25 years of art, 2003) and the Museum of Contemporary Russian Art. Known for his dreamlike pieces, Tulipanov’s beginnings in stage design are still evident as an underlying theme in his work.
Information courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, June 2008.