Michel Larionov

Mikhail Fyodorovich Larionov (Russian: Михаи́л Фёдорович Ларио́нов; June 3 [O.S. May 22] 1881 – May 10, 1964) was a Russian avant-garde painter who worked with radical exhibitors and pioneered the first approach to abstract Russian art. He was founding member of two important artistic groups Knave of Diamonds and the more radical Donkey's Tail. His lifelong partner was fellow avant-garde artist, Natalia Goncharova, with whom they worked on Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in France and Switzerland.