Gerol'd Vzdornov graduated from Moscow State University, History Faculty, Department of the History and Theory of Art (1959). Having received his Ph.D. in 1985, he became chief researcher at the State Scientific Research Institute of Restoration, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1994), and Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Fine Arts (2004). He authored about 300 works, including 20 monographs.

The first study to trace the emergence of the art historical interest in icon painting in the nineteenth century with its evident impact on the course of Russian modernism in the twentieth century.