Andrei Borisovich Yumashev (1902–1988): Fighter pilot, major general of the Soviet Air Force (1943).
Andrei Yumashev was a legendary fighter pilot who flew across the North Pole from Moscow to the United States, setting a world record for a non-stop direct flight with flight commander Mikhail Gromov and Sergei Danilin. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union in 1937. As a boy, Andrei Yumashev had been interested in art. He attended the courses of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists and was later a friend of Ilya Mashkov, Robert Falk and Pyotr Konchalovsky. The pilot made sketches and painted portraits in the 1920s. Yumashev’s military career began at the age of sixteen, when he volunteered for the Red Army. He then became an air cadet and flew in the Winter War against Finland. The commander of a squadron of fighters during the Second World War, Yumashev paid occasional visits to Pyotr Konchalovsky in Moscow, where the artist painted his portrait. Later vice-commander of the First and Third Air Force on the Eastern Front, Yumashev fought at the Battle of Kursk in 1943. After the war, he was transferred to the reserve and joined the Union of Artists in 1946. Andrei Yumashev was not only a professional pilot, but also a highly cultured individual. The portrait depicts his energy, strength, dignity and confidence. The sturdy figure is expressively painted and actively perceived on the light background. The style of painting and the very texture is energetic.

Konchalovsky Pyotr

Konchalovsky, Pyotr Petrovich (1876, Slavyansk (Kharkiv Gubernia) - 1956, Moscow)
Painter. Studied at a school of drawing in Kharkiv, evening classes at the Stroganov Central School of Technical Drawing in Moscow, Academic de Rodolphe Julian in Paris (1897-98) and the Higher School of Art, Imperial Academy of Arts (1898-1905). Attended Konstantin Korovin's studio at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (until 1909). Helped to organise the first Jack of Diamonds exhibition (1910) and contributed to all other Jack of Diamonds exhibitions (1912-1927). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Golden Fleece (1910), Salon d'Automne (1908, 1910), Salon des Independants (1910-1912) and the Moscow Fellowship of Artists (1911). Founding member of the Moscow Painters (1924-1925).