Igor V. Babailov, Hon. RAA
“What makes us all beautiful, is our unique individuality. To capture that beautiful uniqueness of my portrait subjects and to preserve it for future generations to treasure, is my ultimate goal as an Artist."
Igor V. Babailov, Hon.RAA, KStA, MFA/Ph.D.(NASAD), D.Litt.(Hon.Causa) is a world-renowned American portrait artist. Deemed Living Master by his contemporaries, he has painted over 2,000 commissioned portraits including Presidents, Supreme Court Justices, Prime Ministers, Fortune 500 CEOs, members of nobility and British Royalty, and three Popes for the Vatican.
He is the only portrait artist to receive The Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2022), one of the most prestigious awards in America, and his name read into the Congressional Record. Knighted Chevalier of the Order of St. Anne (est.1735), he is a Distinguished Fellow at Catholic University of America, Honorary American Academician of the Russian Academy of Arts (est.1757) and received an Honorary Doctorate from Cumberland University. Other distinguished awards and honors for his artistic achievements include Vatican Pontifical Medal, George Washington Presidential Coin, Award ‘For Excellence’ from U.S. Military Commander Gen. David Petraeus, and the Joe DiMaggio Official Major League Baseball Award for Portraiture, presented at Yankee Stadium.
His George Washington portrait hangs in Mount Vernon Museum, and the Vatican Curator acknowledged Babailov as Maestro for his portrait of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI, selected by the Pope to represent his Papacy in the Vatican Splendors Museum Tour, where it hung alongside the works of Michelangelo, Giotto, Bernini, and other Masters of the Renaissance.
A child prodigy, Babailov began his formal classical art training at the age of nine, and in the span of 16 years (1974-1990) he attained the doctoral level of traditional fine art education, contributed to his unparalleled skill in academic drawing (or drawing from life), which today is a fundamental challenge for many artists.
“Many with a resumé as formidable as that of Igor Babailov’s would be tempted to rest on the thick cushion of laurels that he has accumulated, yet he continues to set the bar higher for himself … ,” – writes Elizabeth Lev, renowned art historian from Rome, in the Foreword to his book Legacy Portraits.
Babailov is a member of the National Arts Club in New York City and his mid-south studio is in Nashville, Tennessee.
Selected Commissions & Collections
• Supreme Court of the United States
• George W. Bush Presidential Library
• William J. Clinton Presidential Library
• George Washington’s Mount Vernon Museum
• Nelson Mandela Presidential Collection, South Africa
• Supreme Court of New York State
• West Point Military Academy Museum
• Vatican Museums, Vatican
• Buckingham Palace, London, England
• House of Commons, Parliament Hill, Canada
• Presidential collection, Republic of Malta
• Imperial House of Romanov, Madrid, Spain
• Giuliani Partners, New York City
• Harvard University Medical Center
• Boston Eye and Ear Infirmary, Massachusetts
• Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Headquarters
• Rhone-Poulenc Rorer • Power Corporation
• Kremlin, Russia
• Bank of Canada
• Cramer, Rosenthal, McGlynn, LLC., NYC
• Justice A.A. Birch Court Building, Nashville, TN
• Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., NYC
• Moscow Patriarchate
• Vanderbilt University
• Monmouth University
• Cumberland University
• Catholic University of America
• Ave Maria University
• McGill University
• Indiana University Art Museum
• Vietnam Academy of Art
• WireMasters Inc.
• John Paul II National Shrine, Washington, DC
• McDonald’s Corporation
• Contrans Corporation
• Pianist Byron Janis
• Maria Cooper Janis, daughter of legendary film star Gary Cooper
• Baseball Hall-of-Famer Reggie Jackson “Mr.October”
• Mikhail Kalashnikov – inventor of AK-47
• Actor James Gandolfini
• Actor Tony Lo Bianco
• Football star Tiki Barber
• Football star Boomer Esiason
• Entertainer Regis Philbin
• Hockey legend, “The Golden Jet” Bobby Hall
• Frank Military, life-time friend & music publisher of Frank Sinatra
To name a few.
Honors & Awards
• The Ellis Island Medal of Honor (2022)
• Read into the Congressional Record (2022), with the U.S. Senate Tribute to Igor Babailov
• Honorary Doctorate, Cumberland University (2019)
• Knighted Chevalier of the Order of Saint Anne (est. 1735)
• George Washington’s Presidential Coin Award, Mount Vernon Museum
• Official State Recognition (Resolution No. 69) by the Tennessee Governor and Senate
• Award ‘For Excellence’ presented by Gen. David H. Petraeus, U.S. Army Commander
• Awarded Pontifical Medal of Pope John Paul II, Secretariat of State, Vatican
• Acknowledged as Maestro by the Curator of the Vatican Museum
• Titled Living Master™ by the Art Renewal Center (U.S.A.)
• Joe DiMaggio Official Major League Baseball Award for Portraiture, presented at Yankee Stadium
• Granted Official Coat of Arms & Hereditary Nobility - by The Imperial House of Romanov
• Titled Drawing Master, Drawing Society of Canada
• Hon. American Academician, Russian Academy of Arts (est. 1757)
• Honored Artist of Udmurtia (2012)
• Knighthood of the Order of St. John (NY Priory)
• Awarded Hon. Academician by the International Academy of Culture and Art, 2016
• Order ‘For Service to Art’ (The Golden Star), International Academy of Culture and Art
• Award of Appreciation, The National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, 2016
• Grand Prize – American Society of Portrait Artists competition (1994)
• Award ‘For Outstanding Achievement in Portrait Painting’ – presented by John H. Sanden & American Artist Magazine (1993)
• First Prize Winner – All-students’ Drawings & Graphic Works Competition, Surikov State Academic Art Institute under the Russian Academy of Arts (1989)
• Honors Graduate (Surikov Fine Art Lyceum for gifted children) with professors’ recommendation to the Surikov State Academic Art Institute (1983)
• Top Prize Award for portrait ‘Egorka’ in the National All-Art-Schools Competition (1981)
• Selected out of thousands of submissions in a nation-wide competition for the only vacancy at the most prestigious school in the nation, Surikov fine arts lyceum for gifted children (1979)
