The Artists' Union of the USSR () was a creative union of the Soviet

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

s and

art critic An art critic is a person who is specialized in analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating art. Their written critiques or reviews contribute to art criticism and they are published in newspapers, magazines, books, exhibition brochures, and catalogue ...

s embracing the

Republics A republic, based on the Latin phrase '' res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although ...

of the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. The Union was founded started in 1932 to supersede the AKhRR. The integral Union was instituted in 1957. By January 1, 1976, the Union included 14,538 members. It was officially disbanded at its 8th Congress in January 1992 after the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, with its rights distributed over the corresponding unions in the

post-Soviet states The post-Soviet states, also referred to as the former Soviet Union or the former Soviet republics, are the independent sovereign states that emerged/re-emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Prior to their independence, they ...

History

Prior to the Artists' Union of the USSR, there existed the Union of Soviet Artists (Союз советских художников, ''Soyuz sovetskikh khudozhnikov''), which was founded by Alexander Grigoriev in Moscow in spring 1930. It included Moscow and Leningrad artists along with former members of the AKhRR. The first exhibition of the Union of Soviet Artists was held on 15 April 1931 in Moscow at the exhibition hall of the co-operative society Khudozhnik. The Union of Soviet Artists ceased to exist in 1932 following a government decision. Following the resolution "On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organizations" by the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on 23 April 1932, unions of Soviet artists were established in the Union and autonomous republics, in krais, in oblasts, and in cities to supersede previous organizations. The first Congress of the Artists' Union of the USSR was convened in February–March 1957. In

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

they built the Central House of Artists which was opened in 1979.

Chairmen of the Artists' Union of the USSR

Konstantin Yuon Konstantin Fyodorovich Yuon or Juon (; – April 11, 1958) was a noted Russian painter and theatre designer associated with the Mir Iskusstva. Later, he co-founded the Union of Russian Artists and the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Ru ...

- (1957–58) * Sergei Gerasimov - (1958–64) * Boris Ioganson - (1965–68) * Yelena Belashova - (1968–71) * Nikolai Ponomaryov - (1971–88) * Valeri Sidorov - (1988–1992)

Notes

References

Soviet art Civic and political organizations based in the Soviet Union 1932 establishments in the Soviet Union 1992 disestablishments in Russia Arts organizations established in 1932 Arts organizations disestablished in the 20th century Creative unions in the Soviet Union {{Art-org-stub