{{Short description|American artist (1900–1987)}} '''Roman Gregory Chatov''' (1900–1987) was a Russian-born American artist, painter, designer, and illustrator.<ref name="dalton">{{cite news | url=http://daltondailycitizen.com/features/x488807877/-Collectors-Highlights | title='Collectors' Highlights | newspaper=The Daily Citizen | date=June 2, 2007 | accessdate=August 14, 2012 | author=The Creative Arts Guild |location=Dalton, Georgia}}</ref>
==Life== Roman Chatov was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, to a theater impresario and his wife. He began drawing in his teenage years, including doing magazine illustrations at age 16 and being a military-correspondent painter near the end of World War I. Chatov was first trained in art in Russia and Paris, France.<ref name="christies"/><ref name=Roman/>
He moved to New York with his family in 1922 due to the Bolshevik Revolution and Bolshevik victory in the Russian Civil War. Chatov later joined the Art Students League and the National Academy of Art in order to improve his art training and skills. Chatov initially designed costumes and painted murals, including painting murals for the Ford and Palestinian Pavilions at the 1939 New York World's Fair under a commission from the New Deal Works Progress Administration.<ref name="dalton"/><ref name="christies"/><ref name=Roman/> Among his most notable work was a set of murals for New York City's Russian Tea Room restaurant; these murals are now in the collection of a New York City museum.<ref name="dalton"/><ref name="christies"/><ref name=Roman/> These successes led to his getting many painting commissions throughout the U.S. afterwards.<ref name=Roman/>
Chatov also designed costumes for Florenz Ziegfeld.<ref name="christies">{{cite web | url=http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/roman-chatov-untitled-4887011-details.aspx?intObjectID=4887011 | title=Roman Chatov (1900–1987) | publisher=Christies | date=18 April 2007 | accessdate=August 14, 2012 | author=Russian Works of Art & Fabergé}}</ref> Dancer Isadora Duncan expressed her admiration for his costume designs, and he painted a silk scarf for her, the scarf that led to her death when it became entangled in the wheel of a moving car.<ref name=Roman>{{cite web| url=http://www.chatovstudio.com/Roman_Chatov.html| title=Roman Chatov| publisher=Marc Chatov Studio| accessdate=August 18, 2012| url-status=dead| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120325070324/http://www.chatovstudio.com/Roman_Chatov.html| archivedate=March 25, 2012}}</ref><ref name=Dayinfashion>{{cite web| url=http://onthisdayinfashion.com/?p=5423 |title=She Paid the Ultimate Price for Fashion |date=September 14, 2010 | author=Ali Basye |work=On This Day in Fashion }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.isadoraduncan.org/about_isadora.html|title=About Isadora Duncan|author=Lori Belilove|publisher=Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation|year=2005|accessdate=August 18, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120829112925/http://www.isadoraduncan.org/about_isadora.html|archivedate=August 29, 2012}}</ref>
While in New York, Chatov met many of the most prominent artists and painters in the area, including Willem de Kooning, with whom he shared studio space.<ref name=Roman/> Under commission to MGM, Chatov and his brother Constantin painted portraits of famous Hollywood celebrities including Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable.<ref name=MarcBio>{{cite web|url=http://www.chatovstudio.com/Biography.html|title=Biography: Marc Chatov|publisher=Marc Chatov Studio|accessdate=August 18, 2012|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121118122937/http://www.chatovstudio.com/Biography.html|archivedate=November 18, 2012}}</ref> Chatov married Geneva McCormack in 1942.<ref name=Roman/>
In his later years, he primarily painted portraits, and also opened an art studio in Atlanta with the help of his brother Constantin. Chatov received the Governor's Award from the Georgia Council for the Arts and Humanities in 1983. He died in 1987 at the age of 86 or 87.<ref name=Roman/> His son Marc Chatov (born in 1953) continues in his father's footsteps today by working as an artist and an art instructor.<ref name=MarcBio/>
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Chatov, Roman}} Category:1900 births Category:1987 deaths Category:20th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:American designers Category:White Russian emigrants to the United States Category:American people of Russian descent Category:Painters from New York City Category:Artists from Rostov-on-Don Category:Artists from Atlanta Category:20th-century American male artists