Zvontsov Vasily Mikhailovich (April 13, 1917, Vakhonkino, Novgorod Province - November 20, 1994, St. Petersburg) - honored Artist of the RSFSR (1978), people's Artist of the RSFSR (1983). Member of World War II.
A secular graphic artist, etcher, teacher, author of theoretical studies was born in the village of Vakhonkino, Cherepovets district of the Novgorod province (now Kaduy district of the Vologda region) in the family of a rural teacher Mikhail Loginovich Zvontsov.
The systematic drawing lessons of Vasily Zvontsov begin in Cherepovets under the guidance of A. A. Alekseeva, a former graduate of the Higher State Art and Technical Institute. In 1935 he entered the Leningrad Art College. A special influence on the future artist was made by Alexander Gromov, a draftsman and etcher who taught at the school. «It was Gromov who first told us about etching ... Since then, I decided to become an etcher», Zvontsov recalled.
In 1939 he entered the faculty of painting at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repin, but was soon drafted into the army. He went through the whole war (he finished it with the rank of lieutenant colonel, knight of five military orders).
In 1946, he was demobilized and restored at the institute in his first year, soon moving to the Faculty of Graphics (1948). His teachers were such masters as: K. I. Rudakov, A. F. Pakhomov, L. F. Ovsyannikov and G. D. Epifanov. After graduating from the Institute. I.E. Repin in 1952, V.I. Zvontsov remained to teach at the Faculty of Graphics (1953-1971). He worked in the field of prints and easel graphics (pencil, charcoal, Chinese ink). He paid special attention to the technical side of his works. Possessing all the famous techniques of etching. I have done a lot in this technique. He loved needle etching and dry needle engraving. Of all the genres, he preferred the landscape. A series of his etchings is dedicated to the Pushkin Reserve in Mikhailovsky. According to the artist, «the real landscape evokes feelings much more subtle, the ideas are more significant and develops in people the ability to notice and appreciate the beautiful».
As the poet and friend of the artist Mikhail Dudin wrote: «The eternal music of these wavy expanses of the earth, these birch and pine copses, scattering all summer longs, peering into the silent mirrors of lakes, as if into the eyes of an immortal, sounds in his sheets dedicated to the Pushkin Reserve love and passion».
