V. Atanov 1941
Vladimir Atanov was born on 16 August, 1919 in the village of Kshen’, Kursk region. His father taught mathematics in a high school and his mother was a primary school teacher. Vladimir attended school in Khimki where he took drawing lessons from V.V.Karavashkin, who himself was a pupil of the painter I.S. Goryushkin-Skoropudov. A devoted art teacher, Karavashkin instilled in the future artist a love for painting, drawing & sketching.
In 1939 Vladimir enrolled in the Architectural Institute. In 1941 he went to the warfront, as did many other students, not waiting to be drafted and left in his third year at the Architectural Institute. The same year 22 y.o. Vladimir graduated from the Novgorod-Volyn military infantry school with the rank of lieutenant. He fought as a commander of the mortar platoon in the 9th Infantry Regiment, the 5th Moscow Volunteer Division. Later he became Deputy Company Commander, Mortar Company Commander, and achieved the rank of Captain in 1943. V. Atanov fought on the Kalinin front from 1942 to 1944, on the Leningrad and Baltic fronts in 1944 & 1945. He fought in the battles of Rzhev, Dukhovshchina and Lioznensk, Vitebsk and Velikye Luky as a member of the 158th Moscow Volunteer Lioznensk-Vitebsk – the 881th Infantry Regiment – Infantry Division (twice awarded the Red Banner Order of Suvorov) and as a member of the 178th Infantry Division he participated in the battles of Leningrad, on the Mannerheim Line, in Vyborg and Kurlandia.
Occasionally, between the fighting, he made small watercolour sketches, but only a few of them survived. From the frontline he brought two portraits made by his friends in 1941 and 1943.
For participation in fighting V.S.Atanov was awarded the Medal “For Courage” (1942), the Order of Red Star (1943), the Medal “For the Defense of Moscow” (1945), the Medal “For Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic war of 1941-1945”, the Order of the Great Patriotic War II degree (1985), the medal named after Zhukov, and ten other medals. After the war Vladimir returned to the Moscow Architectural Institute. He met again with his friends from the institute and his best friend, Pavel Afonin, with whom Vladimir Atanov had a chance to meet three times at the front. Vladimir and Pavel maintained their friendship until the last days of their lives.
In 1949 V. Atanov graduated from the Moscow Architectural Institute. For 3 years, from 1949 to 1952, he worked in Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) in the regional design bureau “Oblproekt”. In 1951 V. Atanov joined the Union of Moscow Architects. Later, in 1952, he continued his professional development at the Architectural Improvements Faculty of the Moscow Architectural Institute. From 1953 he worked as the head of a group of architects in studio №5 (led by G.A. Zakharov) in the design bureau “Mosproekt-1”. Later, together with G.A. Zakharov, V. Atanov transferred to the Russian Institute of Urban Development and Investment “Hyprogor” and worked there from 1955-1961. From 1961 to 1964 he worked in the office of the design of the Palace of Soviets of the USSR State Construction Committee as the chief architect of the project workshop object №1. From 1964 to 1979 he worked in MNIITEP (Moscow Scientific Research and Design Institute of Typology and Experimental Design), four of those years he was the head of studio №4.
In 1975 Vladimir Atanov was awarded the prize of the Council of Ministers of the USSR for the design and construction of the experimental comprehensive school in Vishnyaky – Vladychino. In 1980 he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation for the architectural design and construction of the concert hall “Enthusiast” in Vishnyaky-Vladychino.
In 1979 V.S. Atanov started his work in the Moscow Architectural Institute. From that moment on, watercolour painting and teaching became the main work of his life. At first he taught as an associate professor of painting, later, from 1998 – as a professor. In 1994 V.S. Atanov was awarded the title “Honored Architect of the Russian Federation.” In 2002 he received the badge of the Ministry of Education “Honorary Worker of Education of the Russian Federation” for services to education.
Atanov at Moscow Architectural Institute, 2009
Professor V.S. Atanov is an acknowledged master of watercolour painting, whose works were displayed at numerous exhibitions organised at the Moscow Architectural Institute, the Union of Moscow Architects, the Artists’ Union, the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg and Riga. He had a solo exhibition in 1981 at the World Symposium in Bulgaria. Many of his paintings were awarded prizes and certificates, some of them are in private collections in America, England, Sweden, Holland, Yugoslavia, Cuba and Ireland. V.S. Atanov dedicated his book “Watercolour Painting En Plein Air”, which was published in 2006, to the Moscow Architectural Institute. In this book, illustrated with his own watercolours, Vladimir Atanov shared his creative and professional experience, he considered painting classes a must for students who wanted to become future architects. V.S. Atanov died on 17 June, 2011, he was buried at the Vvedenskoye cemetery in Moscow. The life of Vladimir Sergeyevich Atanov is an example of selfless service to the Motherland and boundless devotion to art and architecture.