Valentin Pavlovich Fokeyev (1940–2016) was an outstanding Mstyora miniaturist, icon painter and graphic artist. He was born near Mstyora, in the village of Simontsevo, Vyaznikovsky district, Vladimir Oblast.

Valentin Fokeyev studied at the Mstyora Vocational Art School under the famous artist and teacher Antonina Mikhailovna Ovchinnikova. Later, he entered the Moscow Institute of Technology and worked at the Research Institute for Art Industry. In 1972, Fokeyev returned to Mstyora, to the painting workshop of the factory “Proletarian Art”.

Valentin Pavlovich Fokeyev was a master of building color combinations and complex multi-figure compositions. Using mainly different shades of ocher (from reddish-orange to light yellow), as well as blue, white and green, he created compositions of exquisite beauty and harmony. It is with color that the artist conveys the rhythm — sometimes fast and exuberant, and then smooth and slow.

In his works, Fokeyev depicted ancient fortresses and monasteries, epic heroes, historical battles and Russian troika — the traditional harness driving combination with three horses. The series of graphic sheets called “History of the Motherland”, on which Valentin Fokeyev worked for ten years, consists of 15 large sheets divided into miniature scenes, similar to the composition of hagiographic icons. The scenes illustrate the history of the creation of the Russian state from the Rurik Dynasty to the present day. The artist continues the traditions of ancient Russian chronicles, demonstrating both a deep knowledge of the country’s history, as well as a virtuoso command of the line and his ability to achieve a harmonious composition and color palette.

The jewelry box “Epic Poems about Ilya Muromets” combines several epic plots that are traditional for Mstyora miniature. The plot “Ilya Muromets Quarrels with Prince Vladimir” is presented in the center of the composition. Prince of the capital city, Vladimir arranges a feast for princes, boyars and bogatyrs (heroes). He offends the best of them — Ilya Muromets — by sitting him in the farthest corner of the table. To the right side of the central plot, the artist depicted the scenes “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber” and the scene “The Healing of Ilya Muromets”. On the left side is the plot “Ilya Muromets and Tsar Kalin”.

Valentin Fokeyev joined the Artists’ Union of the USSR in 1975. In 1999, he was awarded the honorary title of “Honored Artist of the Russian Federation”.