Igor Babailov

Igor Babailov (born February 9, 1965) is a renowned portrait and figurative artist, scholar and spokesperson for the traditional school of classical art, Babailov is considered to be one of the most sought after artists of our time.

Bestowed with the title Living Master by his contemporaries, he has painted numerous officially commissioned portraits of world leaders, celebrities, social, business and political elite. His notable paintings are in important national and international museums and collections including those of Pope John Paul II (The Vatican Museum Collection);President George W. Bush(Official Collection of the President),Former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani of New York, (Giuliani Partners, NY); President Vladimir Putin of Russia,(The Kremlin); Nelson Mandela,(Presidential Collection, South Africa); Former First Lady Hillary R. Clinton, (Clinton Presidential Library); Prime Minister , (House of Commons); TV Celebrity Regis Philbin; film and TV star James Gandolfini, recipient Joe DiMaggio Awards NYC; the foremost American figurative sculptor Frederick Hart; Founder & Chairman of The Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts Isadore Sharp; Dr. Wayne Streilein, (Harvard University); Dr. Kimura, leading US researcher of the inner ear (Boston Eye & Ear Infirmary); American Steinway pianist, Byron Janis - Steinway Hall Collection, 57th St. NYC, commissioned by wife, artist and author, Maria Cooper Janis, daughter of film star Gary Cooper; Mr. Ted Lazenby, CEO, South Life Holdings; three portraits of partners Cramer, Rosenthal, McGlynn for the corporate collection of CRM Investments, NYC; President Curtis Simic (Indiana University Foundation); Joseph Steinberg, Chairman and President of Leucadia National Corporation; American Football Star Boomer Esiason, Founder of SoBe beverages John Bello; and others. His painting of the world-famous Japanese film director, Akira Kurosawa, was commissioned by the Kurosawa Productions, for the Starlight Starbright Children’s Foundation – Japan, founded by Steven Spielberg. He is currently painting the portrait of Pope Benedict XVI, sponsored by Ave Maria University of Naples, Florida, for the Vatican Museum.
He was listed in numerous publications including the New York Magazine as one of America’s top artists.

Babailov painted his first portrait at the age of four and began his formal art education at the age of nine. Recipient of national and international awards and honors, Mr. Babailov attained the highest level of fine art education receiving his Master of Fine Arts degree from the world acclaimed Surikov Academy (AKA Surikov Institute with its roots in Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture), representing Imperial Academy of Arts (est. 1757). His formal art education (1974-1990) in the historically famous curriculum of Classical Realism, taught him the principals and the knowledge of such Masters as: Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Raphael, Rubens, Van Dyck and more contemporary ones such us Ilya Repin, V. Serov and others, and it provided him with an unparalleled skill in academic Drawing. Frank Military, fmr. President of Warner Chappel Music and Song Writer’s Hall of Fame Inductee called Babailov ‘the Michelangelo of today’.

Babailov’s large-scale mural size multi-figurative works such as the historical painting of the Columbus Voyage to the Americas, entitled “For Gold, God and Glory” is illustrated in the Peruvian Encyclopedia (Empresa Editora Il Comercio, S.A.) His painting titled BELIEVE, the official portrait of Pope John Paul II, painted in commemoration of the World Youth Days, is in the Vatican Museum, by the personal decree of Pope John Paul II it is displayed in Castel Gandolfo, the Papal Summer Residence.

Mr. Babailov is on the board of the International Child Art Foundation, in Washington, DC and his multi-figurative mural, Who has to suffer…..and Why?, is dedicated to the children of the world, the innocent victims of world terrorism. He is an exclusive speaker on the Harry Walker Agency of New York, one of America’s leading speaker’s agencies. He organized the very First Official Delegation of American Artists to Russia and has taught at the Florence Academy of Art.

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