Lev Kropivnitsky was born in Tiumen in Siberia in 1922, the son of Evgenii Kropivnitsky, a well-known artist and poet. In part through his father’s work, he studied the Russian avant-garde and became interested in Cubism and transrational poetry. In 1939 he entered the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Art, but in 1941 was sent to the army. He continued his education after 1945 and briefly studied under the well-known Soviet artist Aleksandr Deineka. He studied painting, glasswork, and mosaic technique. In 1946 Kropivnitsky was arrested and sent to a labor camp. Even while in the camps he continued his theoretical analysis of art forms and pondered the relationship between abstract and figurative art. Following Khrushchev’s denunciation of Stalin in 1956, Kropivnitsky was rehabilitated and allowed to return to Moscow. In 1957 he completed his first abstract composition, and later turned to Pop Art and fantastic realism.
Lev Kropivnitsky was at the very center of Moscow artistic life during the underground period. He often hosted readings of avant-garde poetry and musical concerts in his studio and collected paintings by the old masters. Kropivnitsky died in Moscow in 1995.
