Anatole Krasnyansky, Ukraine (1930 - )

Born in Kiev Ukraine in 1930, Anatole Krasnyansky, was a prominent architect and watercolorist when he left the U.S.S.R. for the United States in 1975. He found the US fertile ground for his aesthetic growth. Krasnyansky's traditional cityscapes, much admired in Europe, have grown richer, freer and more expressive; and in recent years he has evolved a second, wholly new style with which to render the experience and ideas of his new life in the United States. Krasnyansky's awareness of the interdependence of architecture, sculptures, painting and applied art, and his knowledge of these diverse disciplines have shaped his career and found expression in his art. Through experimentation Krasnyansky has developed his own artistic method, one that has freed him from the constraints of traditional watercolor techniques. The artist's innovative inclusion of paper texture into the creative process is a dynamic component of his art, resulting in an expansion of the medium's potential. Krasnyansky is one of the first artists to elevate the watercolor medium to the expressive possibilities usually associated with oil