Overview
- TASS reported that Plotnikov died at age 83 in a St. Petersburg hospital, with colleagues recalling his early promise and lifelong dedication to portraiture.
- St. Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov offered condolences, calling him an unsurpassed master of the portrait genre.
- An honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, he was renowned for series featuring Vladimir Vysotsky, Lili Brik, Sergey Parajanov, and other cultural figures.
- Known as Valeriy Petersburgsky, he worked independently rather than on staff and produced distinctive covers for the magazine Sovetsky Ekran.
- His career spanned a first solo show in 1976, exhibitions in Russia and abroad, a photo‑album trilogy published in 1999, 2003, and 2004, and a recent appearance at a MAMM exhibition where he met visitors and signed books.