Before the Storm

Yakiv Oleksandrovych Basov was a Ukrainian artist, painter, graphic artist, and member of the Union of Artists since 1931 and the Union of Soviet Artists of Ukraine since 1958. He was an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1978). He was born on 20 January (2 February) 1914 in the city of Simferopol. From 1922-1930, he studied in the art studio of Mykola Samokish. In 1933, he was admitted to the painting faculty of the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Teachers: Oleksandr Savinov, Pavlo Naumov, and Isaak Brodskyi. From 1946, he lived in Crimea. He worked in the fields of easel painting and easel graphics. The author mainly painted landscapes and still lifes. He participated in art exhibitions since 1935, all-Ukrainian - since 1949, all-Union - since 1955. He held 63 personal exhibitions. The artist donated over 600 works to various museums in Crimea; over 100 works are in the collections of 43 museums in Ukraine. Among the works: "Crimean Courtyard" (1934), "Sunset at Sea" (1952), "Silver Sea" (1956), "Boats" (1991), "In the Expanses of Crimea" (1993), "Sunny Yalta" (1994) and many others. He passed away on 16 March 2004 in Yalta.