Victor Tsigal

Graphic artist, painter, sculptor, applied artist, illustrator, writer. Elder brother of Vladimir Tsigal, father of artist Sergei Tsigal (born 1949), uncle of sculptor Alexander Tsigal (born 1948) and painter Tatyana Tsigal (born 1951), father-in-law of actress Lyubov Polischuk (1949–2006), grandfather of actress Marietta Tsigal-Polischuk (born 1984), great-uncle of fashion designer Masha Tsigal (born 1980). Born in Odessa (1917) in the family of Jewish engineer Yefim Tsigal (1883–1948) and his wife Adela (1890–1936). Studied carpentry at Professional and Technical School in Penza (1927–30), where he took painting lessons from Nikolai Petrov. Moved with his family to Moscow (1930), where he trained at the Mosenergomontazh Factory School (1930–33) and worked as an electrician (1933–34). Studied at the 1905 School of Art (1934–38) and under Gleb Goroschenko, Ivan Chekmazov, Vladimir Favorsky and Pyotr Pokarzhevsky at the Moscow Institute of Fine Arts (1938–41). Married artist Mirelle Shaginian (1941) and had daughter Elena (1941) and son Sergei (1949). Evacuated to Sverdlovsk (1941), where he designed and illustrated a literary and art miscellany called We Are from the Urals (1942). Served as a motorcyclist in the Tenth Guards Ural-Lviv Tank Division (1943–45). Returned to Moscow and completed his education at the Moscow Institute of Fine Arts (1945–46). Joined the Union of Artists (1946). Worked on such series of drawings as Heroes of the Battles of the Tenth Guards Ural-Lviv Tank Division (1943–45),Collective Farmers of the Crimea (1950–52), Soviet Kuban (1950–52), To the People of the Collective Farm (1951), Elections (1952), Altai Krai (1957), Dagestan (1959–60), In Holland (1961–78), Sea of Azov (1963–73), Fishermen of Azerbaijan (1965–73), Circus and Circus School (1969–75), Torzhok (1983), Uzbekistan (1984) and Kola Peninsula (1984). Published the albums Heroes of Battles: The Tenth Guards Ural-Lviv Tank Division (1945), Drawings by Tsigal in the Collective Farms of the Kuban, Crimea and Voronezh Region (1951), In Dagestan (1963), By the Hands of an Artist (1965) and Fishermen of Azerbaijan (1971). Illustrated Mikhail Saltykov-Schedrin’s Fairytales (1946), Jack London’s White Fang (1946), Ivan Krylov’s The Ass (1947), Leo Tolstoy’s Stories (1951), Ivan Franko’s To Children: Poems, Parables, Fairytales, Stories (1956), Rasul Gamzatov’s Zarema (1958), Imromi Isakov’s The Little Bridge (1959), Lyubov Voronkova’s Fedya and Danilka (1960), Georgy Ladonschikov’s The Cranky Little Bull (1961), Nina Artyukhova’s Grandmother and Grandson (1962), Vladimir Mayakovsky’s Every Page is a Lion or an Elephant (1965), Rashid Rashidov’s Kichi the Tinker (1965), Samuel Marshak’s The Miller, the Boy and the Ass (1967), Jan Grabovsky’s The Flea with Caprices (1968) and Konstantin Paustovsky’s The Ruffled Sparrow (1969). Travelled widely across Russia and abroad (from 1947), working with Ivan Sorokin in Dagestan (1958–61). Created animalist works of applied art (1960s–70s) and sculpted metal compositions on themes from Russian history (1980s). Awarded a silver medal of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1960) and the Ilya Repin Prize (1987). Honoured Artist of the RSFSR (1968), full member of the Russian Academy of Arts (1997). Subject of monographs by Vera Herzenberg (1963) and Lyudmila Akimova (1993). Wrote and published memoirs (1996). Died in Moscow (2005). Contributed to exhibitions (from 1942). Contributed to the Exhibition Dedicated to the Decade of Art of the Urals in Sverdlovsk (1942), Art Exhibition Dedicated to the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Red Army and Navy at the House of the Red Army in Samarkand (1943), Exhibition of Works by Sverdlovsk Artists on the Twenty-Fifth Anniversary of the Red Army in Sverdlovsk (1943), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1947 at the Tretyakov Gallery and Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1947), Thirty Years of the Soviet Armed Forces (1918–48) at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts and Moscow Fellowship of Artists in Moscow (1948), All-Union Exhibition of Works by Young Artists Dedicated to the Thirtieth Anniversary of the Komsomol at the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (1948), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Young Soviet Artists at the Georgian Picture Gallery in Tbilisi, Art Salon in Baku, Makhachkala, House of Engineering Technical Workers in Grozny and the Art Salon in Rostov-on-Don (1949), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1949 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1949), Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture, Political Satire and Graphic Art in the House of the Artist at 48 Gorky (now Tver) Street in Moscow (1949–50), Second Exhibition of Book Artists at the House of Artists in Moscow (1951), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Artists in Grozny, Baku, Yerevan, Tbilisi, Chi?in?u, Kakhovka and Odessa (1951), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Ivan Poddubny Pedagogical College in Yeisk (1951), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1951 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1951–52), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Palace of Culture of Colliers in Karaganda, Akmolinsk, Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Tagil, New Path Collective Farm Club in Nizhny Tagil, Vladimir Lenin Club in Molotov (now Perm) and Sverdlovsk Picture Gallery in Sverdlovsk (1952), All-Union Art Exhibition of 1952 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1952–53), Soviet Artists in the Struggle for Peace at the Kaluga Regional Theatre of Drama in Kaluga, Tula Regional Theatre of the Young Viewer in Tula, Alexander Deineka Regional Picture Gallery in Kursk, Konstantin Savitsky Picture Gallery in Penza, Museum of Local Studies in Chkalov (renamed Orenburg in 1957), Museum of Local Studies in Orsk and Chelyabinsk Regional Picture Gallery in Chelyabinsk (1953), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Sculptors at the Manège Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1953), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists in Kalinin (now Tver), Yaroslavl, Scherbakov (now Rybinsk), Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod), Saratov and Astrakhan (1953), Exhibition of Painting by Moscow Artists at the Manège Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1954), Exhibition of Works of Painting, Graphic Art and Sculpture Nominated for State Prizes for 1953 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1954), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Russian Museum in Leningrad (1954), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Regional Museum of Local Studies in Tyumen, Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts in Nizhny Tagil, Molotov Art Gallery in Molotov and Maxim Gorky Regional Museum of Art in Kirov (1954), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists from the Collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery Dedicated to the Tercentenary of the Reunification of the Ukraine to Russia in Kiev (1954) and Kharkiv (1955), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Theatre of Musical Comedy in Omsk (1954), District House of Officers in Novosibirsk (1954), District House of Officers in Chita (1954), House of Officers in Voroshilov (1954–55), House of Officers in Vladivostok (1955), District House of Officers in Khabarovsk (1955), House of Officers in Blagoveschensk (1955) and District House of Officers in Sverdlovsk (1955), All-Union Art Exhibition at the Tretyakov Gallery, House of the Artist and Union of Artists at 25/9 Gorky (now Tver) Street in Moscow (1955), Exhibition of Works by Moscow Artists Made on Trips to the Virgin and Fallow Lands in 1954 at the ZiL Palace of Culture in Moscow (1955), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists Around Kazakhstan in Jambyl (now Taraz), Chimkent (now Shymkent), Aktyubinsk (now Aktobe), Martuk, Chilik (now Shelek) and Uralsk (now Oral) (1955), Travelling Exhibition of Graphic Art at the Eesti Kunstimuuseum in Tallinn (1955), Viktor Kingissepp House of Culture in Kohtla-Järve (1955), House of Officers in Kaliningrad (1955), Vilnius Museum of Art in Vilnius (1955), Art Foundation of the USSR in Oryol (1956), Ivan Turgenev Collective Farm Club in Spasskoe-Lutovinovo (1956), Museum of Local Studies in Bryansk (1956), Locomotive Works Palace of Culture in Bezhitsa (1956), Ministry of Communications of the USSR Engineering Plant Club in Kaluga (1956) and Kalinin Regional Picture Gallery in Kalinin (1956), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Kaluga Regional Museum of Art in Kaluga (1955–56), Museum of Local Studies in Zlatoust (1956), Museum of Local Studies in Magnitogorsk (1956), Regional Museum of Local Studies in Chkalov (1956) and Simferopole Museum of Art in Simferopole (1956), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists 1917–56 at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (1956), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Turkmen Museum of Fine Arts in Ashgabat (1956), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the Andrei Zhdanov Factory Club in Derbent (1956), Rustam Mustafayev National Museum of Art of Azerbaijan in Baku (1956), Nizami Ganjavi Museum of Local Studies in Kirovabad (1956), Transcaucasian Metallurgical Plant Palace of Culture in Rustavi (1956), Georgian Picture Gallery in Tbilisi (1956–57), Philharmonic Hall in Kutaisi (1957), Museum of Local Studies in Poti (1957), House of Culture in Kirovokan (1957), Museum of Local Studies in Leninakan (1957), Art Salon in Yerevan (1957), Abkhazian Union of Artists in Sukhumi (1957) and the Municipal Theatre in Sochi (1957), Exhibition of Painting, Sculpture and Graphic Art on the Occasion of the First All-Union Congress of Soviet Artists at the Union of Artists, Academy of Arts of the USSR, House of the Artist, ZiL Palace of Culture and Central House of Workers of the Arts in Moscow (1957), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists at the House of Officers in Blagoveschensk, Museum of Local Studies in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Sovetskaya Gavan, House of Officers in Vladivostok, House of Officers in Voroshilov and the Museum of Local Studies in Stalinsk (1957), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Artists at Izmailovo Park in Moscow, Smolensk Museum of Fine and Applied Art, Railway Worker’s Palace of Culture in Homel, House of Folk Creativity in Mohilev and the Park of Culture and Relaxation in Babruysk (1957), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists Across the Northern Coastland in Rosta, Polyarny, Severomorsk, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk (1957), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists in Derbent, Makhachkala, Baku, Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Poti, Kirovokan (renamed Vanadzor in 1993), Leninakan (renamed Gyumri in 1990), Rustavi, Yerevan, Sukhumi and Sochi (1957), Travelling Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists Created in 1955–57 at Murmansk Regional Museum of Local Studies in Murmansk, Karelian Union of Artists in Petrozavodsk, Regional Theatre of Drama in Arkhangelsk, Vologda Regional Picture Gallery in Vologda, Maxim Gorky Regional Museum of Art in Kirov, Konstantin Savitsky Picture Gallery in Penza, Konstantin Savitsky School of Art in Penza and Oryol Picture Gallery in Oryol (1958), Soviet Graphic Art in Baltiisk, Pionersky, Liep?ja, Riga and Tallinn (1958), Soviet Artists on the Countries of the East in Moscow (1958), All Creatures Great and Small: Russian Animal Art (18th to 21st Centuries) at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg (2004), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists in Warsaw (1951), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art at the III World Festival of Youth and Students in East Berlin (1951), Soviet and Classical Russian Art at the Staatlichen Museen in East Berlin (1953), Dresden (1953), Staatliche Galerie Moritzburg in Halle (1953) and the Szépm?vészeti Múzeum in Budapest (1953–54), Soviet Fine Art in the People’s Republic of China in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hankou (1954–56), Ausstellung sowjetischer Graphik in East Berlin, Leipzig and Rostock (1955), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art at the V World Festival of Youth and Students in the People’s Republic of Poland in Warsaw (1955), Travelling Exhibition of Soviet Art in Syria, Lebanon and the United Arab Republic at the National Museum in Damascus (1955), UNESCO in Beirut (1956) and the Society for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries in Cairo (1956), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art in the People’s Republic of Bulgaria and the Socialist Republic of Romania in Sofia, Plovdiv and Bucharest (1956), Exhibition of Soviet Graphic Art and Sculpture in the Mongolian People’s Republic and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in Ulan Bator and Pyongyang (1956), Exhibition of Soviet Fine Art in the United Arab Republic in Cairo (1958), Exhibition of Works of Fine Art of Socialist Countries at the Manège Central Exhibition Hall in Moscow (1958), Exhibition of Works by Soviet Artists in the People’s Republic of China at the Palace Museum in Beijing (1958), joint exhibition with Mirelle Shaginian at the Central House of the Artist in Moscow (2009), one-man shows in Moscow (1954, 1963, 1969), Belgrade (1968), Warsaw (1968), Dar es Salaam (1975), Moscow/Leningrad/Vienna (1987) and posthumous exhibitions at the Russian Academy of Arts in Moscow (2006) and Darwin Museum in Moscow (2011).