Argunov, Ivan Petrovich – Portrait of an Unknown Woman in blue dress

The portrait is very well executed. The expression on the subjects face is pleasant. The modeling of the subjects face, figure, and clothing is very expressive. The composition is perfect, and the color scheme of the portrait is exceptionally beautiful. The painting style is soft, delicate, and very professional. Its amazing that a serf artist, self-taught, could create portraits of such a high level.

On September 7th, in the city of Zelenogradsk, Kaliningrad Oblast, an exhibition of paintings by V. F. Argounov and his grandson A. N. Seredin opened in the art foyer of the V. Kuranov City Library.
A film about the exhibition: http://youtu.be/jBE5lCp3Wo8
Argounov, Vasily Fedorovich (1905-1979),
a native of the village of Shmakovo, Kryvorozhsky district, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast, never studied painting. He inherited his artistic talent from his grandfather, Fedor Fedorovich Argounov.
A soldier, a teacher, and an artist. A participant in the Great Patriotic War, twice wounded, awarded a medal for the defense of Stalingrad. After the war, he taught biology at a school in Kaliningrad.
He was married to Elena Vladimirovna Privalova (1911-2007), who was born in the city of Ordzhonikidze. She told her daughter, T. V. Seridina, and her grandchildren, Alexander and Sergei, that all the Argounovs were artists by lineage.
Thus, the artistic talent was passed on to Alexander.
Seredin, Alexander Nikolaevich (1966-2010),
was born and studied in the city of Zelenogradsk. He graduated from the Frunze Higher Naval School in 1988.
He served as an officer on nuclear submarines in the Far North.
After demobilization in 1998, he worked as a security guard. He was a marine artist.
Unfortunately, the relatives do not have pre-revolutionary family archives; documents were lost after the war. However, it is quite possible that traces of the Argounovs who were serf artists and painted pictures for Count Sheremetyev may be discovered in our city: indeed, the exhibition features copies of paintings by great masters such as Aivazovsky, Levitan, and Gritsay, painted by Vasily Fedorovich.
Manuscripts do not burn – perhaps the genetic talent is those manuscripts. It continues to manifest itself in his great-granddaughter, Khodeeva Svetlana (who painted a landscape in her youth and later saw it in her grandfathers painting), and in his great-great-grandson, third-grader Khodeev Konstantin.
Friends and relatives of Alexander Seredin are grateful to the library staff for the wonderfully warm reception, the interesting opening of the exhibition, and Natalia Stanislavovnas unforgettable account of the lives and work of the Argounov artists.
Seredina L. I.