Efrem Ivanovich Zverkov

About museum

Efrem Ivanovich Zverkov – a Soviet and Russian painter, graphic artist, master of landscape painting, and teacher. He was born on February 1, 1921 in the village of Nesterovo in the Tver Governorate. In 1926 the Zverkov family moved to Tver, where he began taking painting lessons from the artist N. Ya. Borisov, a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a pupil of I. E. Repin. In 1939 he was admitted to the preparatory department of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but in November of the same year he was drafted into the ranks of the Red Army.  

After his demobilization in December 1945 he studied painting in Moscow, in the studio of Academician B. V. Ioganson. He graduated with honors from the Moscow State Art Institute named after V. I. Surikov (1947–1953). Since 1940 he was a regular participant in all-Union, all-Russian, Moscow and international exhibitions. In 1988 he was elected an academician (full member) of the USSR Academy of Arts (he had been a corresponding member since 1975). For many years he was a member of the governing bodies of creative organizations.  

From 1994 to 1999 he directed the restoration of the painted decoration of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. People's Artist of the USSR (1981), laureate of the RSFSR State Prize named after I. E. Repin (1975) and of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1997). He was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 2nd class, the medal "For the Victory over Germany", the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV class (2005) and III class (2011), and the Order of St. Sergius of Radonezh of the Moscow Patriarchate. The artist's work has been the subject of monographs, albums, more than 200 publications in various periodicals, and films have been made about him. In 2001 a new star in the constellation Aquarius was named after Efrem Zverkov. Some of the artist's works: "Reka Poved" (1967), "Autumn Time" (1970), "Spring in the Forest" (1971), "At Home" (1971), "Morning in the Field" (1979), "Blue April" (1971), "Autumn Day" (1981) and others. Efrem Ivanovich Zverkov passed away on July 31, 2012 in Moscow.