Boris Smirnoff

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Boris Smirnoff (1903–2007) was a Franco-Russian painter who helped shape cubist, avant-garde, and analytical art. He was the youngest of three brothers, born in Russia; his brothers were Alexander and Vladimir. The family fled to France in 1917 after the October Revolution, but Boris stayed in Petrograd to study art and work at the Meyerhold Theatre. In 1926 he found inspiration in Pavel Filonov’s Analytical Art. He moved to France in 1927 and painted oils and pastels for about a decade. During World War II, German forces burned many of his oils and pastels as “degenerate art.” After that he painted only watercolors on paper, joking that he could carry them in a suitcase. He refused to sell his works, following his teacher Filonov. After the war he lived in Britain, Lisbon, Malaysia and Singapore, Switzerland and the Netherlands. When he returned to Russia, he found it had changed, but he stayed there until he died in 2007 at age 104. After his death the Boris Smirnoff Foundation was created to manage his collection. Today you can see some of his art at the Vineyard Hotel in Newbury, Berkshire, England.