Anatole Krasnyansky

Ukrainian artist Anatole Krasnyansky pioneered new techniques in watercolor by experimenting with texture, creating art centered on dualities: old and new, history and imagination, structure and surrealism. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, he and his mother fled the invading German army in 1941, eventually settling in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where he graduated from high school in 1947. He returned to Kyiv that same year to study architectural restoration at the Kyiv State Art Institute and the Leningrad Academy of Art, receiving his masters in architecture in 1953.
Krasnyansky worked on the restoration of the Potemkin Palace, the Marble Palace, and the Hermitage museum. He also designed the Central Medical Emergency Building and the Polytechnic Institute Subway Station, along with hospitals, art pavilions, and monuments. After marrying Nelly Koshevatsky in 1957 and welcoming daughter Rimma in 1966, his family left the U.S.S.R. for the United States in 1975.
In America, Krasnyansky became a background artist and set designer for ABC, CBS, and Universal Studios. A 1981 experience working on a set for the rock band KISS profoundly affected him, leading him to incorporate surreal, masked characters into his paintings. His modern style developed from the information overload of his new life, combining the precision of watercolor technique with expressive effects produced by highly textured rice paper.
Krasnyansky received representation from Park West Gallery in 1994, and even designed the Greco-Roman façade for the gallery’s headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. His artwork is exhibited worldwide, and in 2013, Park West Gallery published a fully-referenced catalog raisonné of his graphic works. The artist passed away on March 10, 2023.