Denis Yegelsky is a Russian artist and one of the founders and theorists of Neo-Academism, a movement developed in St. Petersburg around Timur Novikov's New Academy of Fine Arts. His work combines painting, graphics and experiments with historical photographic techniques, drawing on classical antiquity, the Renaissance, Constructivism, Russian ballet and dance culture.

Born in 1963 in Leningrad, Yegelsky studied at the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet from 1973 to 1977 before turning to visual art. From 1978 he studied in the studio of the unofficial Leningrad artist Igor Tyulpanov. He met Timur Novikov in the 1980s and became closely associated with his artistic circle.

In 1989, Yegelsky helped develop the theory of Neo-Academism and establish the New Academy of Fine Arts. He participated in the movement's first exhibition, Youth and Beauty, in 1990, and in 1991 exhibited with Novikov and other New Academy artists at the State Russian Museum. His work from this period drew heavily on the body, classical beauty and the traditions of academic art, while his long-standing interest in dance was reflected in projects such as The Spirit of Dance.

During the 1990s, Yegelsky headed a department of the New Academy devoted to historical photographic printing techniques and the reconstruction of old optical and measuring instruments. He continued to develop works at the intersection of painting, graphics and photography, including Passiones Luci and In Search of the Ideal Image. His work was shown extensively in Russia and Europe, including exhibitions at the State Russian Museum, the Pavlovsk Museum-Reserve and institutions in Karlsruhe, Berlin and Stockholm.

Yegelsky's paintings and graphics are held in the collections of the State Russian Museum, the Russian State Art Gallery, ROSPHOTO and the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts. He continues to be associated with the Neo-Academic movement and the artistic circle formed around Timur Novikov in St. Petersburg.

Denis Evgenievich Egelsky