Mikhail LARIONOV

Mikhail Larionov was a Russian avant-garde painter born in Tiraspol who helped pioneer abstraction in Russian art. He co-founded the influential exhibiting groups Jack of Diamonds and the more radical Donkey's Tail, and with his lifelong partner Natalia Goncharova developed Rayonism, one of the earliest abstract painting styles. Larionov later worked in France designing for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, and died near Paris in 1964.