Alexander Kremer

Russian Federation • Born 1958

Born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) and raised in the coastal town of Repino on the Gulf of Finland, Alexander “Sasha” Kremer represents one of the strongest living links to Russia’s great realist tradition. A graduate of the V.I. Mukhina Institute of Art and Design (1977–1982), Kremer was trained under distinguished Soviet masters such as Andrei Yakovlev, Piotr Fomin, and Andrei Mylnikov, inheriting the rigorous academic methods that have long defined Russian realism.

Artistry runs deep in the Kremer family. His grandfather, Veniam Veniaminovich Kremer (1899–1978), was a respected painter and contemporary of Nikolai Fechin, Isaak Brodsky, and Aleksandr Lyubimov, while his father, Mark Veniaminovich Kremer (b. 1928), remains a noted artist in St. Petersburg. Under their tutelage, Alexander developed a lifelong reverence for nature and the nuanced beauty of the Russian landscape. He continues to paint on Isaak Brodsky’s original easel and palette, heirlooms passed through generations that embody the continuity of Russia’s artistic heritage.

Kremer’s work is celebrated for uniting traditional Russian realism with a modern sensitivity to light and color. His winter landscapes, infused with atmosphere, clarity, and emotional depth, have earned him critical acclaim as a master of seasonal light. His oeuvre also includes portraiture and still life, often featuring his daughter, Elena, as a subject. Beyond oil painting, Kremer explores watercolor, wood carving, and jewelry making, while his wife, a noted folk artist, has works held in the Folk Art Collection of the Russian State Museum.

Since his first exhibitions in 1985, Kremer has shown extensively in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Helsinki, Paris, Athens, Tokyo, and across the United States. His paintings are held in the permanent collection of the Repin Institute and in numerous private collections worldwide. He divides his time between his family home in Repino and his studio in the heart of St. Petersburg.