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Koliabin, Vladimir Georgievich

Колябин, Владимир Георгиевич

Born July 7, 1921, Kibirevo, USSR; died April 4, 1980, Orekhovo-Zuevo, USSR

Vladimir Georgievich Koliabin was a Soviet painter and graphic artist. Born in the small village of Kibirevo located in rural Vladimir Region; his family moved to the industrial city of Orekhovo-Zuevo (Moscow Region) when he was a child. Koliabin began his higher education at the Moscow Art School in memory of 1905 where he was enrolled from 1937 to 1940. In the autumn of 1940, while still in school, he was called up for military service in the Red Army. During World War II, he took part in the Dnieper airborne operation (one of the largest operations of the war), and in the liberation of Hungary and Austria.

By the 1950s, Koliabin was designing political posters in addition to creating posters for the Institute of Health Education of the USSR. He participated in many exhibitions, including a large-scale presentation of works by artists from the Moscow area that took place in 1956 in Sverdlovsk. In 1972, the artist had a solo exhibition in Moscow. Koliabin became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR in 1948. As a painter, much of his work concentrated on portraits showing scenes of Soviet workers and Heroes of Socialist Labor. For the majority of his life, Koliabin lived and worked in Orekhovo-Zuevo and he died there in 1980. Various published sources report that his family name was alternatively recorded as Kaliabin.

Sources & Citations

Groys, B., Hollein, M. (2003). Dream factory Communism: The visual culture of the Stalin era. Ostfildern-Ruit: Hatje Cantz. (bio, Kaliabin/Koliabin; cover of book uses a poster by the artist)
tramvaiiskusstv.ru (bio, Kaliabin [sic])
arthive.com (dates of birth and death)