He came from a family of Siberian Cossack land explorers. His grandfather, Ivan Yakovlevich, was a merchant of the 3rd guild of the city of Tara of the Tobolsk province. Father, the famous shipowner Pavel Trofimov, and his associates, merchants and shipowners, vigorously developed the industry of the region. In the 1900s among them arose the idea of the revival of merchant shipping on the Northern Sea Route and the organization of fairs in Mangazeya. In 1911, Fridtjof Nansen was invited to inspect the Ob-Irtysh basin and the mouth of the Ob; The project was financed by PI Trofimov. The family had ten children, each of whom received an education, including higher education.
In 1899, VP Trofimov graduated from the Moscow Art School named after Stroganov, or the “School of drawing in relation to the arts and crafts,” as its founder, Count SG Stroganov called it. (Such different figures as M. A. Vrubel, A. V. Shchusev, K. A. Korovin and many other artists, architects, sculptors left this school in different years). A close friend and fellow student of Ignatius Nivinsky in college, with whom he was presented to the gold medal; instead of a medal, friends chose a trip abroad for improvement at the expense of the school; later, the husband of Nivinsky’s sister, Vera. She sang well, recited. Hearing her recitation at a graduation party at the gymnasium, the famous comedian of the Maly Theater Elena Leshkovskaya persuaded her parents to allow her talent to be developed in her daughter. V.P. Trofimov continued his education in the private school of S.Yu.Zhukovsky and N.F. Khalyavin, then abroad, where he traveled several times.
In 1900 he was appointed a teacher of evening classes at the Stroganov School, where he proved himself and as a good administrator. Soon the teacher Trofimov was transferred to the village of Rechitsa already the head of the branch of the school.
In 1903-1905 he worked in the Sudzhan Zemstvo as an artist and head of the artistic part of the handicraft department. An important event in his personal life took place in Sudzha - the firstborn, Ignatius, was born. The next few years they live in Moscow, where Vincent Pavlovich teaches watercolor techniques in the private art and industrial school of Bogdanov and Galkin, and in 1909–1911 he heads the Stroganov School in Sergiev Posad.
From 1911 to 1922 in Voronezh, V. Trofimov was the head and creative director of the Art and Crafts School. Kolomenkina, a branch of the Stroganov School. In the Moscow Historical Museum is kept etude VP Trofimov, dedicated to the arrival of Emperor Nicholas II in Voronezh at the beginning of the First World War. The works of V.P.Trofimov of this period are also kept in the Voronezh Museum of Local Lore. Artist Trofimov repeatedly participated in the All-Russian competitions of the art industry in Moscow and St. Petersburg in 1900-1916, was awarded the first prizes. In 1916 he took part in the Moscow Association of Artists. In 1918, he sent three paintings from Voronezh to an exhibition in Moscow, one of them (“Bathing boys”) was bought on the very first day.
In 1924, the family moved to Omsk, where V.P. Trofimov was appointed head of the painting department of the Vrubel art technical school and, in addition, became the head of the branch of the New Siberia society. Here are painted the pictures “At the ferry across the Irtysh”, “Ob at Belokurikha”, “Ob”, “Spring in the Omsk backwater”, “Pier in Omsk at night”, “The Kara expedition in transit” Siberian resort “Borovoe”, travel albums, monumental works on wall painting in the interiors of public buildings. In the 1930s, the works of V.P. Trofimov (portrait of Lev’s younger son, “Our Shift” and others) widely diverged in postcards issued by the Association of Artists of the Revolution with a print run of 25,000. Almost entirely the nautical theme of the paintings reflects another strong passion of Vikenty Pavlovich - seaman. He was an excellent yachtsman and conveyed to children the love of big rivers, the sea. Knowledge of marine life gave him the opportunity to draw amazingly accurate sailboats - with the transfer of the smallest details of the hull, rigging, which is not always found in marineists.
In Moscow, where the Trofimovs moved in 1932, VP Trofimov designed the ceiling of the main staircase in the House of the Soviet Army in Arkhangelsk, the ceiling lights of the White Hall of the Moscow City Council and the Museum of Architecture named after Shusev, and made paintings in the House of People's Commissariat of Heavy Industry in Sochi.
In the late 1930s, the family moved to Zagorsk, where Vikenty Pavlovich, along with his eldest son Ignatius, carried out one of the most amazing and complex works - the restoration of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. In the process, a unique creative tandem of father and son was formed. Ignatius Trofimov, an architect and restorer appointed by the supervisor and chief architect, developed a master plan for the restoration. Vincent Trofimov, perfectly mastering the art of composition, made artistic reconstructions of the monuments of Lavra in their optimal form, found by his son, largely relying on the drawings made by the latter. In the book of I.V. Trofimov a number of works by Vikenty Pavlovich are placed: “The Church of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity Cathedral. Perspective view from the east "; “The Church of the Spirit. Perspective view from the southwest "; “Hospital wards with the church of Zosima and Savvatiy. Perspective view from the south-east "; "Refectory. Perspective view from the northeast "; "Refectory. East-West section; and many others.
During these years, VP Trofimov leaves no easel painting, constantly participating in exhibitions. August 23, 1955 in the Zagorsk Museum-Reserve opened a personal exhibition of the artist, which presented his work, ranging from the first to the paintings that are in the stage of sketches. Most of the exposition consisted of paintings devoted to the Lavra. As absolutely rightly written in the exhibition catalog, “these watercolors can serve as a document for the researcher of ancient Russian architecture, every detail has been worked out with such precision”. His legacy - pictorial and applied - is very large and, in fact, has not yet been properly studied. The archive of V.P. Trofimov and part of his paintings and etudes in 1990-1991 were transferred to the Tyumen Regional Museum of Fine Arts, where separate exhibition areas were allocated for the paintings of his and his brother, the artist Konstantin Trofimov. Pictures VP Trofimov also stored in the museums of New Jerusalem, the Museum of Architecture im.Shuseva and many others.
VP Trofimov left a lot of students in various areas of easel, monumental, applied painting, art industry. First of all, he raised his children, who lived in an atmosphere of incessant artistic creativity. His eldest son Ignatius Trofimov, the main head of the restoration works, an honorary citizen of the Sergiyev Posad district, a member of the Union of Architects of Russia, a full member of the Academy of Architectural Heritage, dedicated his book to him: “With particular gratitude, the author honors the memory of his father, artist Vikenty Pavlovich Trofimov, 1938 to 1956 who lived and worked within the walls of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra and was a daily adviser and leader of the author. Deep knowledge of the artist in the field of art and architecture, vigorous creative activity expressed in paintings, imbued with infinite love for everything Russian, served the author as a constant creative example to which he owes everything positive in his work. ”
