Alexander Dmitrievich Tikhomirov

Alexander Dmitrievich Tikhomirov was a Soviet and Russian artist, a pupil of I. G. Ryzhenko and A. A. Osmyorkin, author of Leniniana and the largest portrait of Lenin. He was born in Baku into a construction engineer's family. He began to draw in childhood. His early works from the Baku period have survived: the graphic portrait "Mama" (1928) and the painted "Portrait of Father" (1930s).

In 1934 Tikhomirov entered the second year of the Baku Art College. From 1935 he studied in the studio of I. G. Ryzhenko and at the same time worked as an art designer at the Baku Circus, creating posters and playbills. In 1937 he took part in an exhibition dedicated to the anniversary of the poem by Shota Rustaveli, presenting graphic illustrations. After graduating from the college in 1938 he worked at the Anti-Religious Museum, engaging in monumental and easel painting, creating portraits, still lifes, landscapes and genre scenes. In the same year he joined the Union of Artists of Azerbaijan.

During the Great Patriotic War Tikhomirov was exempted from mobilization due to blindness in one eye. He created propaganda posters and portraits of war heroes. Together with Ryzhenko he executed the panel "The Defeat of the Hitlerites in the Caucasus" for the House of the Red Army and Navy in Baku. In 1944 Tikhomirov moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow State Art Institute named after V. Surikov. From 1951 to 1976 he worked as an art designer at the Moscow Combine of Decorative and Applied Arts, producing, among other things, portraits of Lenin for the city's festive decoration. His largest work is the giant portrait of Lenin (42 x 22 m) on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building. For the portrait of Lenin he received a gold medal at VDNKh. Alexander Dmitrievich Tikhomirov passed away on March 30, 1995. Solo exhibitions of his works were held after the artist's death.