Semyon Chuikov

Painter, teacher. Born in Pishpek in Russian Turkestan (now Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan) in the family of Afanasy Chuikov (1902). Studied at the Turkestan School of Art in Tashkent (1920–21) and under Robert Falk and Aleksandrs Drevinš at the VKhUTEMAS/VKhUTEIN in Moscow (1924–30). Member of the Russian Telegraph Agency (1929) and October (1930). Taught at the Institute of Proletarian Fine Art in Leningrad (1930–32) and the Vasily Surikov Institute of Art in Moscow (1947–48). Chairman of the Kirghizian Union of Artists (1934–37, 1941–48). Founded the Kirghizian Picture Gallery. People’s Artist of Kirghizia (1944), People’s Artist of the USSR (1959). Full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958), winner of the Stalin Prize (1949, 1951). Awarded a gold medal at the Exposition Universelle in Brussels (1958) and by the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1980). Died in Moscow (1980). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1927).