Veniamin Vladimirovich Kostitsin (Russian: Вениамин Владимирович Костицын Venjamin V. Kosticyn; born January 28, 1949, in Krasnoyarsk), is a Russian-born artist based in Austria. His oeuvre primarily incorporates painting, graphics and mixed media.
Veniamin Kostitsin was born in Krasnoyarsk, Russia and grew up in Norilsk after his parents relocated. In 1971, he moved back to Moscow, where he married Svetlana Mikhailovna Teterina, an art historian, in 1973. Their son, Veniamin Kostitsin-Teterin, is a photographer.[1]
Kostitsin has enjoyed artistic training since early adolescence. Between 1964 and 1968, Veniamin Kostitsin studied at the 'Grekov' Art College in Odessa. From 1972 to 1978, he completed his education at the WGIK (All-Union State Institute for Cinematography) in Moscow, as an art director.
Kostitsin first gained major positive critical appraisal in 1975 for his series 'Old Moscow.' In 1977, his series 'The Russian North' was honoured by the Russian Academy of Fine Arts in Leningrad. Between 1975 and 1989, Kostitsin illustrated over 20 books for children, some of which were re-published in English and German. Until 1989, Veniamin Kostitsin exhibited throughout the Soviet Union, his work often being purchased for the numerous state collections.
Svetlana Teterina used her position as a custodian at the Polenovo estate museum of Vasily Polenov to introduce her fiance, Kostitsin, to the art-elite and offspring of local nobility in Tarusa, Meshchovsk and Polenovo. Tarusa, a family seat of the Teterin family, has since played a significant role in the artistic life of Veniamin Kostitsin. The area's landscape was often reproduced in Veniamin's illustrations for publications of 19th Century Russian literature and featured prominently in his paintings between 1973 and 1987. The artist was also strongly influenced by Peredvizhniki during this period.
Veniamin Kostitsin has lived and workd in Baden bei Wien, Austria, since 1990.