Antonin Soungouroff was born in Russia but settled in France where he became well known for his portraits of attractive young men, particularly young fisherman around Cannes, leginnaires, sailors and soldiers.

Indeed Soungouroff was quite well known as a gay artist who unabashedly dealt with themes and images relating to gay life and culture.

He became friends with many prominent writers and artists including Jean Cocteau, Christian Berard, and Roger Peyrefitte.