Ilya Glazunov, 87, Populist, And Controversial, Russian Painter

“His lifelong infatuation with the czarist past, the art and architecture of the Orthodox Church and the mystical conception of Holy Russia found an eager audience among audiences disillusioned with Communism and distraught by Russia’s loss of standing in the world. Liberals, on the other hand, regarded Mr. Glazunov as an obscurantist, xenophobe and anti-Semite, in thrall to the darkest forces in Russian history. He preferred to think of himself as a patriot.”