Kostrov Nikolay Ivanovich (1901-1995) - was born on May 19, 1901 in the village of Vasilyevsky of the Nolinsky district of the Vyatka province; the son of a priest. He was the grand-nephew of the artist V. M. Vasnetsov. In the years 1911-1915. studied at the Vyatka Theological Seminary. In the years 1919-1920. studied at Kazan University at the Faculty of Philology.
In 1921 he returned to Vyatka. He studied at the Studio of Fine Arts at the House of Culture, led by M. Finikov, where he met with the young Vyatka artist E.I. Charushin. On his advice, he went to study in Leningrad and entered an art school. In 1922, Kostrov entered the Leningrad Higher Artistic and Technical Institute. He studied with Alexander Savinov, Alexander Karev, Mikhail Matyushin. Since 1923, N. Kostrov became interested in the activities of M.V. Matyushin at the GINHUK, attending the institute and doing experiments together with the main group of students of Matyushin.
In 1926, Nikolai Kostrov graduated from the institute with Yuri Vasnetsov, Valentin Kurdov, Evgeny Charushin, Gerta Nemenova, Sofia Zaklikovskaya, Vasily Kuptsov, Pavel Kondratyev and other famous artists. Since 1926, Nikolai Kostrov participated in exhibitions. He painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes, illustrated books. He worked in the technique of oil painting, collage, pencil drawing, etching and color lithography.
The works are in the State Russian Museum, museums and private collections in Russia, Germany, France and other countries.