Mikhail Alexandrovich Kamanin (1933–1992) was born and lived in the city of Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod). In 1958, he graduated from the Surikov Moscow Art Institute. He studied under Pavel Petrovich Sokolov-Skalya and Fyodor Pavlovich Reshetnikov. His graduation work “Volga People — the Shipbuilders” was supervised by Viktor Grigorievich Tsyplakov.

Even as a student, Mikhail Kamanin paid a lot of attention to the industrial landscape, which was generally in tune with the fashion of that time. The construction of hydroelectric power plants and ships became the themes of his exhibition works. His portraits were also notably successful, but his main genre was landscape.

In his youth, the artist had a chance to travel a lot around the country. He visited Baikal, the Solovetsky Islands, the Baltic regions, and Crimea. During his travels, he painted landscapes and made studies that reliably conveyed the features of the landscape. However, he was mostly moved by panoramic views of the endless Russian fields and rivers.

Obsessed with the “wanderlust” and the desire to compose his musical landscapes, in 1963 Mikhail Kamanin bought a motor boat and a tent. For a number of years, he sailed along the Volga. Valentin Pavlovich Lukin wrote,

Mikhail Kamanin’s artworks are imbued with the traditions of Russian Realism. The artist painted his beloved Volga — “the main road of Russia” — at different times of the day, epically majestic, thoughtfully quiet, or romantically tense. He made sketches in the early morning, in the hot afternoon, and even in frightening stormy weather.

His lighting landscapes are distinguished by the special melodiousness of painting and the entire color palette: sunsets and twilight quietly creeping up. In these works, the artist’s mature skill and comprehension of his native land and its history are clearly evident.

“A Cloudy Day” from the collection of the Zavolzhsk Art Gallery is a study. It is distinguished by the immediate perception of nature, the sincerity of the artist’s feelings, and the search for expressive pictorial means in the rendering of the diverse surroundings.