Mikhail Ivanovich Avilov (Russian: Михаи́л Ива́нович Ави́лов) (6 September 1882, Saint Petersburg – 14 April 1954, Leningrad) was a Russian and Soviet painter and art educator, who lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists,[1] professor of the Repin Institute of Arts, Stalin Prize winner, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, regarded as one of the brightest representatives of Soviet Art, who played an important role in the formation of the Leningrad School of Painting.
From 1893 to 1903, he studied in the Drawing School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, then in the private studio of the artist, Leon Dmitriev-Kavkazsky.
From 1904 to 1910, Avilov studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts as a pupil of Franz Roubaud and Mykola Samokysh.
In 1943, Avilov was awarded the Stalin Prize in the first degree for his battle painting «Duel Peresvet with Chelubey at the Kulikovo Field».
His grave remains at the Tikhvin Cemetery in St. Petersburg, with memorial bust of 1955 by Nikolai Dydykin [ru][4].