Explore | Collect | Design
Eugene Zaikine
| Previous Artist | Next Artist |
Eugene Zaikine (1908-1949)
-
Eugene Zaikine (1908–1949) was a Russian-born American painter, sculptor, and muralist whose work bridged Surrealism and large-scale decorative commissions in the United States. Born in Russia, he fled at age seventeen during the Bolshevik Revolution and settled in New York, where he became an active and sought-after artist by the 1930s and 40s.
Based in Rego Park, Queens, Zaikine established a reputation as a leading muralist, completing commissions for restaurants, theaters, hotels and churches. Notable projects included work at the Half Moon Hotel in Brooklyn, the Mayflower Hotel in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and major ecclesiastical interiors such as the Russian Greek Catholic Cathedral of the Transfiguration in Brooklyn and a Russian Orthodox church in Nashua, New Hampshire. A career highlight was his monumental mural for the exterior of the Manufacturer’s Trust building at the 1939 New York World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. Located on Constitutional Mall, it operated as an official exposition branch providing comprehensive financial services for visitors and 24-hour vault and storage facilities for fair exhibitors. The mural celebrated the new age of air, sea and land travel.
Alongside his public commissions, Zaikine produced deeply personal Surrealist paintings, in the vernacular of Salvador Dali (1904-1989) and Max Ernst (1891-1976), often confronting themes of war, imprisonment, and the psychological toll of modern life. This intensity was balanced by a sharp strain of humor—at times darkly comic—reflecting both his artistic versatility and his parallel life as an amateur magician.
Among his most enduring works are the celebrated murals at the Monkey Bar in New York, commissioned by hotelier Leon Quain, which remain a cultural landmark. Zaikine’s career reflects the dynamic intersection of immigrant experience, Surrealist expression, and the golden age of American mural painting.
Eugene was the father of the artist Victor "Zak" Zaikine (1941-2020), who is also represented in the Lost Art Collection.
We would like to thank Anastasia Zaikine Sinclair (granddaughter of the artist) for introducing Eugene Zaikine’s story and work to Lost Art Salon.
View All _|_ View Available _|_ View Sold
Subscribe
Sign up to learn about new collections and upcoming events