The name of Nikolai Ulyanov (1875–1949), a pupil of V.A. Serov, remained shifted to the background for a long stretch of time. Following a period of being influenced by individual painters and whole movements, Ulyanov ended up developing his own creative style. His fantasy produced both enigmatic images inspired by the Antiquity and phantasmagorical paintings inspired by city life. The artist’s experience of working as a scenographer at the Studio Theater on Povarskaya and communicating with V.E. Meyerhold and K.S. Stanislavsky was continued in portrait painting. Ulyanov approached the task of planning stage settings and the visual concept of a production from the point of view of a stage director willing to find the right expression of his ideas. During the earlySoviet period, the artist’s works were devoted to the building of a new life, however, later on he turned to the theme of Russian history, where he filled the psychological niche. The State Tretyakov Gallery, in its effort to recover the master’s name back from obscurity, has opened Nikolay Ulyanov’s solo exhibition.
Key words: N.P. Ulyanov, artist, portrait, exhibition “Art Without Manifesto”, the State Tretyakov Gallery.
