Dmitrii Zhilinsky was born in 1928 in Sochi, a southern Russian city located on the Black Sea. From 1945 to 1951 he studied at the Surikov Institute of Art under the well-known artist and scholar of ancient Russian art, Nikolai Chernyshov. Later Zhilinsky became a professor at the Surikov Institute and taught many artists who later opposed the official movement in the Soviet youth culture. Nesterova and Nazarenko are among his best students. Zhilinsky was the leader of the left-wing Moscow Union of Artists and one of the first artists who refused to abide by the artistic standards of Socialist Realism.
In 1990 Zhilinsky became a member of the Soviet Academy of Art, but even during the periods of liberalization and perestroika his art continued to provoke debate and controversy over its religious content and its proximity to Early Renaissance symbolism.
Zhilinsky’s art was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1982 and has been presented at numerous European art forums. His paintings figure in the permanent collections of various European and American museums and foundations. Zhilinsky lives in Moscow.
