Mikhail Shemyakin
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Mihail Mikhailovich Chemiakin (or Shemyakin, russian: Михаил Михайлович Шемякин, born 4 May 1943) is a Russian
painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
,
stage designer Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly trained ...
, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the
nonconformist Nonconformity or nonconformism may refer to: Culture and society * Insubordination, the act of willfully disobeying an order of one's superior *Dissent, a sentiment or philosophy of non-agreement or opposition to a prevailing idea or entity ** ...
art tradition of
St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
.


Early life

Chemiakin was born to a military family. His father, a Kabardian from the
Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains, : pronounced * hy, Կովկասյան լեռներ, : pronounced * az, Qafqaz dağları, pronounced * rus, Кавка́зские го́ры, Kavkázskiye góry, kɐfˈkasːkʲɪje ˈɡorɨ * tr, Kafkas Dağla ...
Mikhail Petrovich Kardanov, had lost his parents and was adopted by a friend of his father's,
White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв ...
officer Piotr Chemiakin. The artist's father eventually became a
Soviet Army uk, Радянська армія , image = File:Communist star with golden border and red rims.svg , alt = , caption = Emblem of the Soviet Army , start_date ...
officer. He received one of the first
Orders of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner (russian: Орден Красного Знамени, Orden Krasnogo Znameni) was the first Soviet Union, Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War b ...
at the age of thirteen. Chemiakin's mother was an actress and poet Yulia Nikolaevna Predtechenskaya of Russian noble heritage. She met her future husband in 1941 with the start of the
Great Patriotic War The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of conflict between the European Axis powers against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Sout ...
and asked him to take her to the front line. She served in cavalry under the command of
Lev Dovator Lev Mikhaylovich Dovator ( 19 December 1941) was a famous Soviet major-general who was killed in action during World War II and posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Life Born in 1903, Dovator came from a Belarusian Jew ...
and took part in battles alongside her husband. Mihail Chemiakin spent his early years in
East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...
where his father served. His family 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 national ...
in 1957. He studied at the secondary school of art affiliated with the
Il’ya Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture 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 Thre ...
in
Leningrad Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, but was expelled from it in 1961 for «aesthetic deprivation» of classmates and failing to conform to
Socialist Realism Socialist realism is a style of idealized realistic art that was developed in the Soviet Union and was the official style in that country between 1932 and 1988, as well as in other socialist countries after World War II. Socialist realism is ch ...
norms. Between 1959 and 1971 he worked various niche jobs, in-between which he participated in different art projects.


Career

He later got a job at the
Hermitage Museum The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the list of ...
. With his colleagues from the museum Chemiakin organized an exhibition in 1964, after which the director of the museum was fired and all the participants forced to resign. In 1967 he founded the group of artists called St. Petersburg. Together with the philosopher Vladimir Ivanov he created a treatise called Metaphysical Synthesism dedicated to «new forms of
icon An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, and Catholic churches. They are not simply artworks; "an icon is a sacred image used in religious devotion". The most ...
painting based on studying of religious art of all epochs and nations». He was subjected to forced psychiatric treatment and in 1971 he was exiled from 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 national ...
. According to Chemiakin, the KGB officer behind this actually saved him by offering to «quietly leave the country» with $50 in the pocket, because some people from the
Artists' Union of the USSR The Artists' Union of the USSR (russian: Союз художников СССР, translit=Soyuz khudozhnikov SSSR) was a creative union of the Soviet artists and art critics embracing the Republics of the Soviet Union, Republics of the Soviet Union ...
insisted on his isolation.Mikhail Chemiakin Visiting Dmitry Gordon
at
Dmitry Gordon Dmitry Ilyich Gordon ( uk, Дмитро Ілліч Гордон, Dmytro Illich Hordon, russian: Дмитрий Ильич Гордон; born October 21, 1967) is a Ukrainian journalist, interviewer, politician and singer. He is also the editor- ...
's Youtube channel, 2010 (in Russian) He settled in France where he published Apollon-77, an almanac of post-Stalinist art, poetry, and photography. He moved to
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...
in 1981. Since the early 1990s he started visiting Russia once again, working on street shows by
Slava Polunin Vyacheslav Ivanovich “Slava” Polunin PARMariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre ( rus, Мариинский театр, Mariinskiy teatr, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic theatre of opera and ballet in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music th ...
, a TV series by
Russia-K Russia-K (russian: Россия Культура, translit=Rossiya Kul'tura "Russia - Culture") is a Russian nationwide not-for-profit television channel that broadcasts shows regarding arts and culture. It belongs to the state-controlled VGTRK ...
and other government-backed projects. In 2007 he returned to France where he currently resides. Chemiakin works in a broad range of media and subjects, as can be seen in the 2010 two-volume book on his art, Mihail Chemiakin (Azbooka publishers, St. Petersburg). He has illustrated books for Mikhail Yupp. In 2001, commissioned by the City of Moscow, Chemiakin created a monument "
Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices ''Children Are the Victims of Adult Vices'' is a group of bronze sculptures created by Russian artist Mihail Chemiakin. The sculptures are located in a park in Bolotnaya Square, Balchug, south of the Moscow Kremlin behind the British Ambassador ...
", a group of sculptures in a park 2000 feet south of the Kremlin, behind the British Ambassador's residence. Other sculptures by Chemiakin include Peter the Great in St. Petersburg's Peter and Paul Fortress, Peter the Great in London, Monument to Victims of Terrorism in Vladikavkaz (North Ossetia), Vladimir Vysotsky in Samara, Russia. Since roughly 2001, he has worked as an artistic designer on the Russian animated feature film ''
Hoffmaniada ''Hoffmaniada'' (russian: Гофманиа́да, translit=Gofmaniáda) is a 2018 Russian stop motion-animated feature film from Soyuzmultfilm. The film is one of the first full-length puppet animated film in the recent history of the animation stu ...
''. In 2001 he directed and designed an entirely new production of ''
The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...
'' for the Mariinsky Theater, where he also created a second ballet based on the same tale by Hoffman, "The Magic Nut". In 2010 the artist created a new production of "Coppelia" for the Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theater.


See also

*
List of Russian artists This is a list of Russians artists. In this context, the term "Russian" covers the Russian Federation, Soviet Union, Russian Empire, Tsardom of Russia and Grand Duchy of Moscow, including ethnic Russians and people of other ethnicities living in Ru ...


References


Sources

*''The Grove Dictionary of Art'', by Jane Shoaf Turner (Ed.), Grove's Dictionaries. *
Kolodzei Art Foundation The Kolodzei Art Foundation, Inc. promotes the contemporary art of Russia and Eastern Europe. The Kolodzei Art Foundation often utilizes the artistic resources of the Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art, one of the world's larg ...

Kolodzei Art Foundation and Kolodzei Collection of Russian and Eastern European Art


Further reading

*''Mihail Chemiakin; Vol. 1: Russian Period, Paris Period; Vol. 2: Transformations, New York Period, 1986'' by Mihail Chemiakin, Mosaic Press, NY, 1986.. *''M. Chemiakin: A View of the Artist Through the Media, 1962–1999'', by Ilya Bass and Alan Lamb, Woollyfish Imprints, 2000. *''Staging the Nutcracker'', by Mihail Chemiakin, Rizzoli, 2001. * Heike Welzel: „Michail Šemjakin: Malerei und Graphik. Von der inoffiziellen sowjetischen Kunst zur russischen Kunst im Exil". Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2006. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chemiakin, Mikhail 1943 births Living people Soviet painters Painters from Saint Petersburg Soviet sculptors Circassian people of Russia Soviet prisoners and detainees Soviet emigrants to the United States State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates