 |  | Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev was a painter, illustrator, and theater artist known for his colorful, ironic depictions of the festivals, sideshows, and bazaars of Russian provincial life. His masterly portraits painted in the stylized Russian folk tradition also earned him the admiration of Russian Academy throughout his life. After studying at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts under Savinsky and Repin, Kustodiev traveled throughout Europe briefly on scholarship and returned to his beloved native country only to be disillusioned by the failure of the December Revolution in 1905. He then began to dabble in illustrating the books of philosophically like-minded men like Nicolas Gogol, and remained productive for many years despite an increasingly debilitating neurological illness. |