Evgeni Vladimirovich Ilin was born in Samara on November 30, 1904. His education began at Samara’s Peoples’s University in M.I. Stepanov’s studio (1918-1919). Ilin joined the army and fought in the Civil War (1919-1922). He studied at the Worker’s Faculty (1922-1925) taking evening classes for adults preparing for higher education. He moved to Moscow and was accepted into the VKHUTEMAS/VKHUTEIN (1926-1930) where his teachers included Aleksander Osmerkin, Konstantin Istomin, Alexander Shevchenko, and David Shterenberg. After graduation Ilin worked as an academic secretary (1930-1931) in fine arts at Narcompros (People’s Commissariat for Education). He was a member of the Moscow branch of the Association of Artist’s of Revolutionary Russia (1928-1932), the Russian Association of Proletarian Artists and became a member of the Moscow Union of Soviet Artists (1932). Ilin participated in exhibitions throughout the USSR and abroad (beginning 1934). His painting “Chapaev Before the Flight” was chosen to represent Soviet art at the exhibition of Soviet Art in Philadelphia (1934). Ilin’s solo exhibitions were held in Moscow (1949, 1971, 1987) and Samara (1972). During the Great Patriotic War Ilin went to the front as an artist-correspondent. He sketched liberated cities, portraits of soldiers, and was there with the soldiers breaking out of the encirclement in the Battle for Velikiye Luki (1942-1943). Ilin's painting “Boyan” (1948) is viewed by many as an anthem glorifying the victory. During the 1950s-1960s Ilin worked on historical canvases (1950-1960s) including a series of paintings devoted to V.I. Chapeau, V.I. Lenin, and N.G. Chernyshevsky. Ilin taught in the Graphic Arts department of the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after V.I. Lenin (1955-1968). He was awarded the title Honored Worker of Culture of the Russian Federation (1975). One of his most well known paintings, “Morning At The Collective Farm” (1980) reveals the influence of Vasily Surikov, Ilin’s favorite artist. During his later years the artist often returned to his unfinished works, spending years on several of them. Paintings by Evgeni Ilin are part of the collection of the State Historical Museum (Moscow), the Museum of Contemporary History of Russia (Moscow), Volgograd State Museum of Defense, Smolensk State Historical and Architectural Museum-Reserve, the State House Museum of N. G. Chernyshevsky (Saratov), Samara Regional National History Museum, V. I. Chapeau Museum (Pugachev), the Central House of Aviation and Astronautics of M. V. Frunze (Moscow), and ROSIZO collection (Moscow). His works have been sold in galleries around the globe and are now in private collections in Russia, Austria, Spain, Italy, France, Turkey, Japan and the United States. Evgeni Vladimirovich Ilin died in Moscow on October 4, 1982 at 78 years of age.