The artist Vladimir Nikitovich Telin is well known in the town of Zavolzhsk, Ivanovo Oblast. In 1986, an art gallery was opened there on his initiative. Vladimir Telin was a graduate of the Surikov Moscow Art Institute.

In 1992, Telin was awarded the title of “People’s Artist of the RSFSR”. In 2001, he became an academician and was appointed head of the easel painting workshop of the Surikov Art Institute. In 2002, Telin was elected a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Arts, and six years later he was granted the title of honorary citizen of Zavolzhsk.

Born in Moscow, the artist settled in the Ivanovo Oblast. His artistic life was intrinsically linked with the Volga region from 1979: he bought a house in the village of Vershinino near Zavolzhsk and set up a workshop there, working fruitfully every summer for more than 30 years.

The artist saw his mission not only in his service to fine arts, but also in supporting local artists from different Russian regions and promoting exhibition projects in various cities of the country. He dreamed of creating a network of art museums in peripheral cities where there are no joint programs with large museums.

On the initiative of Vladimir Telin, a gallery of folk art was opened in Zavolzhsk. Its collection was made up of the works previously housed in the Fund of the Artists’ Union of the USSR. In 2007, the museum received the status of a municipal institution of culture.

Telin wrote,

Telin can be described as a romantic realist. The main theme of his works was the life of a forgotten rural province, the common people with their small unremarkable concerns, to which the artist gave a poetic interpretation. His outwardly quiet, but philosophically contemplative genre compositions and landscapes are distinguished not just by sincerity and heartfelt warmth — they fully express the wisdom of life.