Grigory Ivanovich Gurkin (russian: Григо́рий Ива́нович Гу́ркин; 24 January 1870 – 11 October 1937) was a Russian landscape painter, the first professional artist of Altai ethnic origin. He is notable for his Altai mountain landscapes.

Biography

Gurkin was born in 1870 in the '' selo'' of Ulala, currently

Gorno-Altaysk Gorno-Altaysk (russian: Го́рно-Алта́йск, a=Горно-Алтайск.ogg, r=Gorno-Altaysk, p=ˈgornə ɐlˈtajsk; ; historically, pre-1932: Ulala) is the capital town of the Altai Republic, Russia. The population stands at around ...

. He was ethnic Altaian from the family of Choros (his name is sometimes indicated as Choros-Gurkin). In 1878 he was sent to the icon-painting school in Ulala, and eventually he became a professional icon-painter. Subsequently, he became a supporter of the Altai religion Burkhanism. He worked in Ulala and Biysk. In 1897, he started his studies in the

Imperial Academy of Arts The Russian Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by the founder of the Imperial Moscow University Ivan Shuvalov under the name ''Academy of the Thr ...

in Saint Petersburg with

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (russian: Ива́н Ива́нович Ши́шкин; 25 January 1832 – 20 March 1898) was a Russian landscape painter closely associated with the Peredvizhniki movement. Biography Shishkin was born to a Russian m ...

and Alexander Kiselyov. In 1903, Gurkin returned to Altai and started to work as a teacher in the ''selo'' of Anos, travelling every summer to remote regions of

Altai Mountains The Altai Mountains (), also spelled Altay Mountains, are a mountain range in Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their headwaters. The massif merges with the ...

. The closest city with the developed art scene was

Tomsk Tomsk ( rus, Томск, p=tomsk, sty, Түң-тора) is a city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, located on the Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. The city is a n ...

, where Gurkin participated in art exhibitions. He was the member of Tomsk Society of Art Lovers (the main Tomsk art scene society) since 1909. In February 1918, after the

October Revolution The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...

, representatives of Altay tribes in Ulala decided to establish the

Karakorum Government The Karakorum Government or Confederated Republic of Altai was a republic created as an attempt to create a independent Altai. it lasted from 1918 to 1920. when it got annexed by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Bakground The ...

, which had the purpose of uniting all Altay lands into a national state. Gurkin became the chairman of the government. In 1919, the government was dismissed by the forces loyal to

Alexander Kolchak Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (russian: link=no, Александр Васильевич Колчак; – 7 February 1920) was an Imperial Russian admiral, military leader and polar explorer who served in the Imperial Russian Navy and fought ...

, and Gurkin escaped to

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

, where he lived for a year and in 1921, with a help of the Red Partisans, led by their commander Sergey Kochetov, he moved to the independent

Tuva Tuva (; russian: Тува́) or Tyva ( tyv, Тыва), officially the Republic of Tuva (russian: Респу́блика Тыва́, r=Respublika Tyva, p=rʲɪˈspublʲɪkə tɨˈva; tyv, Тыва Республика, translit=Tyva Respublika ...

. There he continued to depict the everyday life and traditions of the locals, including the

shamanism Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with what they believe to be a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiri ...

. In 1925, Gurkin returned to the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

. In 1920s and 1930s, he was involved in education, in particular, he created illustrations to Altay epic poems and to primary school books. In 1937, during the

Great Purge The Great Purge or the Great Terror (russian: Большой террор), also known as the Year of '37 (russian: 37-й год, translit=Tridtsat sedmoi god, label=none) and the Yezhovshchina ('period of Yezhov'), was Soviet General Secreta ...

, Grigory Gurkin was arrested and subsequently executed.

References

External links

Exhibition: Paintings of Grigory Gurkin
@ History & Culture Academy of Latgale {{DEFAULTSORT:Gurkin, Grigory 1870 births 1937 deaths 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Russian male painters 20th-century Russian painters People from Gorno-Altaysk Soviet painters Great Purge victims from Russia Tengrist religious workers Russian modern pagans Modern pagan artists