Zakharov was born on September 5, 1919, in Aleksandrovskoye rural settlement, a little village in the
Smolensk Governorate of the
Russian Empire (today part of
Monastyrshchinsky District,
Smolensk Oblast). He descended from a farming family. In 1935, he received a grant to study at the
Kalinin Academy of Art in Moscow, where he finished his studies with distinction in 1941. Health problems kept Zakharov from being drafted for military service. He continued his art studies at the Surikov Academy of Art in Moscow. Zakharov was taught as an elite student by Aristarkh V. Lentulov, one of the best known representatives of the Russian
avant garde. Zakharov started his career as an independent artist in 1950. This was the era of the totalitarian Soviet art, during which artistic expression was subordinated entirely to the interests of the
Communist Party. Zakharov never created the so-called
thematic paintings, which typically idealized the supposedly blissful existence of the Soviet citizenry. The young painter did not choose this path, which would have conformed to the ruling ideological system and would have guaranteed fast recognition and material advantages. Zakharov's art was inspired by the magnificent achievements of the Russian and Ukrainian landscape paintings of the late 19th and early 20th century, which are characterised by the poetisation of nature. Zakharov's landscapes and still lifes were highly admired. The paintings were exhibited in numerous art galleries and reputable museums in
Kyiv,
Moscow and
Saint Petersburg. Zakharov's paintings are greatly valued by collectors in Russia, Ukraine and Western Europe. Zakharov was particularly attracted to two landscapes:
Crimea, where he lived, and the village of Sedniv, close to
Chernihiv, where he often traveled to paint.
Taras Shevchenko, the great Ukrainian painter and poet, stayed often at the
Lyzohub manor in
Sedniv during the 1840s. Fyodor Zakharovich Zakharov died after a long illness in
Yalta on September 29, 1994, and is buried there. In 2016 the personal exhibition of Fedor Zakharov was opened in the Hall of Yalta's Union of Artists, Crimea. The Large catalogue of his paintings was also presented during the grand opening. == Work ==