Vladimir Alexandrovich Basmanov

He was born on February 27, 1948, in Kislovodsk, Stavropol Krai. His mother was a medical worker and his father an art teacher. He received his initial art education at the art studio of the House of Culture in Kislovodsk under T. M. Golovko (1960–1967). Basmanov studied at the art and graphic faculty of the Karachay-Cherkess Pedagogical Institute (Stavropol Krai), with teachers G. V. Beda, A. S. Khvorostov, G. S. Ostrovsky, and A. S. Ryndin (1967–1972). During this time, he completed his thesis "Art of the Peoples of the North Caucasus" under Professor G. S. Ostrovsky, with whom he maintained a creative relationship for life. From 1975 to 1976, he lived in Ufa, participating in the founding of the art and graphic faculty at the Ufa State Pedagogical Institute. From 1976 to 1979, he pursued postgraduate studies at the Department of Painting of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V. I. Lenin, under Academician V. P. Yefanov, Professor K. M. Maksimov, and Associate Professor A. S. Puchkov. During his postgraduate studies and afterward, he wrote articles on the formation of color-tonal structures in painting and the work of various artists for journals such as "Artist," "Young Artist," and "Art." Some articles were published in collected scientific papers.

After moving to Vladimir in 1979, he taught for more than 20 years at the art and graphic faculty of the Vladimir State Pedagogical Institute while also engaging in creative activity. In 1980, he defended his dissertation on "Tonal and Color Contrasts and Methods of Their Use in Teaching Painting," and was awarded the academic title of "Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences." A member of the Union of Artists of the USSR since 1985, he was also given the title of Associate Professor and was named an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 1997.

Basmanov received awards at international exhibitions in Poland, Canada, Spain, and Russia (1994–1997). In 1998, he taught at the School of Academic Drawing in Saint-Étienne, France, and helped develop educational programs for beginner watercolorists for a two-year course. His works are held in OCCII Vladimir, the State Vladimir-Suzdal Historical, Artistic and Architectural Museum-Reserve, MMOMA, museums in Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Tula, Tyumen, galleries and private collections in Russia, Australia, Austria, UK, Hungary, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, Israel, India, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Norway, Poland, USA, Ukraine, France, Czech Republic, Switzerland, South Korea, and Japan. He died on March 26, 2004, in Vladimir, and was buried at the Ulybyshevo cemetery.

According to Basmanov: "I believe that work in art is not so much the artist’s own creativity as it is serving the Creator. If an artist realizes this, it can be said that he practices creativity to the best of his ability. I think that, by understanding oneself, recognizing one’s strengths and weaknesses, one must put all their energy into realizing their positive potential. The main thing is how fully you reveal yourself as an artist."

"Basmanov did not develop along a single line, but in various directions; however, the vector of his pursuits is a strong and uniquely lyricism, an artist's concern that does not turn into unpredictable willfulness, but remains within the bounds of objective world perception. The evolution of the artist, in my opinion, is in his striving for a perfected laconic visual language, an inseparable unity of landscape lyricism with a heightened sense of the epic nature of space. This unobtrusive, not declarative but original, organic epicness is perceived as a structuring constant of the artistic image, whose stateliness sometimes gains symbolic resonance," — G. Ostrovsky, Doctor of Art History, Professor.

He worked in the rare technique of color aquatint (a type of etching), with works noted for their expressiveness, deep tones, shimmering and velvety surfaces, and clear and laconic compositions. He also painted in oil and pastel.

Wife – Tatyana Mikhailovna Basmanova, member of the Vladimir city club "Muses of Artists." Their daughter, Inna, was born in 1975.

In 2006, a personal exhibition of Basmanov was held at the MSID in Rostov-on-Don. In 2014, an exhibition in memory of Basmanov was held at the Regional Centre for the Promotion of Fine Arts in Vladimir. In 2018, an exhibition dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Basmanov's birth was held at the Children's Art School in Vladimir.