Part 1 - Ivan's Early Years

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On June 12, 1918, located in the county of Krasnodar in the village of Belaya Glina in the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, Ivan Ivanovitch Garikow was born. He was the fourth child of six (five brothers and one sister) born to Anna (Nechaikina) and Ivan Garikow.

World War I had ended but civil war continued to rage throughout Russia. Czar Nicholas II had been ousted the previous March and had been shot on 17 July 1918.

After Lenin's takeover of the Russian government became a reality, Joseph Stalin's ascension to power soon followed. Stalin implemented numerous purges upon the Russian people. He victimized, ostracized and executed millions of anticommunist dissidents. During the purges and reprisals that characterized Joseph Stalin's rise to power, Garikow attended elementary school and his family lived a relatively peaceful, if impoverished life, on a horse ranch.

Near the completion of his elementary school education, his artistic ability was noticed, and Ivan was sent to painter's school. At age eighteen, he submitted his art work for consideration to the Repin Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Leningrad. Ivan was granted admission as a student of the Repin Academy.

	Repin Academy, Leningrad

To this day, Repin Academy remains the most prestigious art school in the former Soviet Union (Russian Federation) and is currently part of St. Petersburg State University which was known previously as Leningrad State University. Built by Peter the Great, the construction of the school was started in 1706 and completed in 1741. The school is located inside the Petropavloskaya Fortress. The Fortress was built on a small island on the Neva River. It was because of this great artistic academy that the city St. Petersburg had its beginning.

In 1937, Ivan walked the thousand mile pilgrimage to Leningrad from Belaya Glina to study art. While attending the Repin Academy (1937-41), there were many times he went without shoes or overcoats. Soup and an occasional piece of bread were his meals; and more often than not, he went completely without food. Housing was less than adequate. With most of them sleeping on the floor, six to eight other students would share one room. Academic study was not an easy pursuit. Life was hard.

Upon completion of Ivan's studies at the Repin Academy in the late spring of 1941, Ivan took a job as an interior decorator in the resort city of Petrasowodsk which was located a few miles northeast of Leningrad. Unbeknownst to him, his stay there was to be extremely short-lived.

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