Boris Vikentevich Stavitski was born December 1, 1920 in Kiev (Ukraine). He studied at the Moscow Intermediate Art School from (1930-1940) and Surikov Institute (1945-1951). His education was interrupted by the Great Patriotic War in which he fought. After demobilization (1945), he returned to his studies at the Surikov Institute under the tutelage of V.P. Efanov and K.M. Maksimov. Stavitski was active in Moscow. He began participating in exhibitions prior (1944) to graduation and continued to exhibit throughout his lifetime. Important shows include: "All-Union Art Exhibition", Moscow (1951) and "Soviet Russia", Moscow (1960). Stavitski specialized in genre paintings and compositional portraits. He was awarded the Stalin State Prize of the USSR (1951), named Honored Artist of Russia, People’s Artist of Russia and elected Member of The Academy of Fine Arts of Russia. He was married to fellow artist and Artists Union of the USSR Member Irina Sergeevna Bogdanova (1926-2006). Boris Vikentevich Stavitski died in 2000 at 80 years of age.