"Pipa" 1988 Massive Oil on Canvas. Born in a small village near Moscow, Leonid Purygin grew up the son of a toy factory director and became a self-trained painter, representing the 'Art Brut' movement. His color-intensive style was deeply inspired by Russian popular art, impressions of the fantasy toy world of his childhood and Tolstoi's poetry of Buratino. Purygin's early works were rather limited to regular formats, but over the time they grew larger and turned into altars comprising different parts. Purygin received international recognition in 1988, when some of his works were sold in an auction for Russian avant-garde art at Sotheby's. In the following year he emigrated to New York, where Eduard Nakhamkin became his gallerist and cemented his international reputation. Overall size: 86 x 86 in. Sight size: 78 x 78 in. Please note that all sales are final. No refunds will be given under any circumstances.