Yefim Vasilyevich Chestnyakov

Yefim Vasilyevich Chestnyakov – a peasant artist, poet and storyteller from the remote Kostroma countryside. He was born into a poor peasant family in the village of Shablovo. Having overcome the resistance of his peasant community, Chestnyakov received an education and at the age of 25 went to St. Petersburg with the aim of entering the Academy of Arts. He studied in a studio attached to the Academy, but in 1905 returned to Shablovo because of the revolutionary events. In 1913 he came to St. Petersburg again, published and illustrated a book of fairy tales "The Wonderful Apple. Ivanushko. Sergiushko", and associated with well-known figures of the arts – I. Repin, I. Bilibin and K. Chukovsky. In 1914 he returned to his native village, where he lived until the end of his life.

Chestnyakov lived in seclusion; local residents believed he possessed the gift of foresight and healing. Recognition for his work came posthumously. A research expedition from the Kostroma Museum discovered his paintings. After restoration and the collection of his works, exhibitions of his paintings began in Russia and abroad in the 1980s. In 2004 the Yefim Chestnyakov House-Museum opened in Shablovo.