Irina Baldina

Irina Baldina was a Soviet Russian painter who lived and worked in Leningrad, and was a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists. She studied at the Moscow Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts and the Repin Institute of Arts in Leningrad, where she met her husband Alexei Eriomin, who was also a painter. She graduated in 1952 and became a permanent exhibitor of the Leningrad Art exhibitions. She worked mostly as a painter in genre of portrait, landscape, and still life. She was especially fond of the nature and peoples of the Lake Onega region, where she created many paintings and sketches from life. She also painted portraits of famous people, such as composer Dmitry Shostakovich and folk narrator Irina Fedosova. Her style was characterized by a broad painting, vigorous stroke, and intensified decorative effect. She skillfully used the techniques of plein air painting, subtly passing a variety of shades of mood and color relationships in the northern nature. She died in 2009 at the age of 87. Her paintings are in art museums and private collections in Russia and other countries.