Soviet Russian artist Alexandr Burak 1921-1997

Soviet Russian artist Alexandr Burak (July 10, 1921 – April 29, 1997) – Ural painter, Professor of the Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute (1968-1989). Member of the USSR Union of Artists (1951) and Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1964). A real “singer of the Urals”, the artist created a whole series of epic, lyrical and industrial landscapes. Working on the Ural landscapes, he seemed to dissolve into a majestic nature, merged with it, and it confidently revealed to him the secrets of the unique combination of colors. Also widely known as a master of genre painting, he raised the importance of the domestic genre in the period when it was in a certain decline. In the genre picture, Alexander Filippovich showed himself as a subtle psychologist.
Born July 10, 1921 in the village of Efremovka in the Barabinsky district of the Novosibirsk region, in 1930 the family moved to the city of Kemerovo. His epic paintings were always full of love and admiration for his homeland. In 1938 he entered the architecture faculty of Novosibirsk Institute of Civil Engineering. Simultaneously, he worked as an artist-animator at the Novosibirsk studio of popular science films.

After graduation, in 1944, Burak became the main artist of the color documentary “The Untouched Urals”. Filming took place in Sverdlovsk and Sverdlovsk region. In the Urals he met artists IK Slyusarev, VS Zinov and others. Sverdlovsk landscapists became his teachers in painting from nature. Although he didn’t finish his work on the film “The Untouched Urals”, but almost 10 years later Burak created a painting called “The Untouched Urals”.

Since 1946, Burak lived and worked in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg) in the design institute. In fact, painting was only a favorite hobby in his spare time. However, in 1950, thaks to the Board of the Union of Artists, Burak received an opportunity to study at a creative base near Moscow. There the artist studied and communicated with masters of Soviet Art from Kiev, Leningrad and Moscow. Among his teachers were famous Soviet artists – P. Sokolov-Skala, G. Nyssa, G. Shegal, P. Krylov, and others.

Soviet Russian artist Alexandr Burak

After returning home, Burak spent the summer of 1951 in the South Urals, where he worked in nature, setting up a workshop in the rocks. There he created his painting “In the Southern Urals”. The same year he became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. Later, in 1964 he received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

In 1958 he traveled on the ship “Georgia” around Europe, having visited Brussels at the World Exhibition, Antwerp, the Louvre, Paris, etc. The result of the trip were the paintings “Homeless”, “Near the metro station”, “On the streets of Naples”, “On the streets of Istanbul”, etc.

In 1968-1989 he worked as manager at the Department of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture of Sverdlovsk Architectural Institute, Professor.

A. F. Burak constantly participated in art exhibitions in the USSR and abroad. In particular, his exhibition took place in the gallery Marko Datrino in Italy. His paintings are in the Tretyakov State Gallery and in other Moscow and regional museums in Russia.