Soviet artist Semyon Chuikov
Soviet artist Semyon Chuikov (1902 – 1980) – People’s Artist of the USSR (1963), the winner of two Stalin Prizes (1949, 1951), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1958), the founder of the modern Kyrgyz art. Semyon Afanasievich Chuikov was born 17 October 1902 in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Soviet Socialist Republic of the USSR. His father served as a military clerk. S. Chuikov began as a writer-essayist. In 1924 – 1930 he studied at the Higher Art (class of RR Falk). Later he worked as a teacher – including Proletarian Fine Arts Institute (formerly the Higher Art and Technical Institute, VHUTEIN) in Leningrad (1930-1932). He was one of the founders and chairman of the board of the Union of Artists of the Kirghiz SSR (1933-1937, 1941-1943). In 1934 on his initiative in Frunze (former Pishpek), the first in the country Art Gallery (now the Kirghiz Museum of Fine Arts) was opened. Soon Chuykov organized school-studio, which in 1939 received the status of the Art School, for these places it was the first of its kind. He lived mainly in Frunze, often visiting Moscow.
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