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Mihail Chemiakin

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Mihail Chemiakin
Chemiakin in 2023
Born
Mihail Chemiakin (Михаил М. Шемякин)

(1943-05-04) 4 May 1943 (age 81)
NationalityRussian-American
Known forPainting, Sculpture, Illustration, Musée imaginaire, Publishing, Scenic design, Stage design
Notable workSculpture: Monument to Peter I, installed courtyard of Sts. Peter and Paul Fortress, St. Petersburg, 1991

Sculpture: Children - Victims of the Sins of Adults, installed Bolotnaya Square Moscow, 2001

Ballet: Chemiakin's staging of Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" (set, costume, production design and creative concept), premiered Mariinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg, 12 February 2001

Mihail Chemiakin’s Musée Imaginaire: Research into the history of art from the point of view of the transformation of images, 1963 - date
Awards Order of Friendship, 2009
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, 1994
State Prize of the Russian Federation,1993
Websitehttps://mihfond.ru/
Mihail Chemiakin (left) with Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2001

Mihail Mikhailovich Chemiakin or Shemyakin (Russian: Михаил Михайлович Шемякин; born 4 May 1943) is a Russian-American painter, stage designer, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the nonconformist art tradition of St. Petersburg.

Early life

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Chemiakin was born to a military family. His father, a Kabardian from the Caucasus Mountains Mikhail Kardanov, had lost his parents and was adopted by a friend of his father's, White Army officer Piotr Chemiakin. The artist's father eventually became a Soviet Army officer. He received one of the first Orders of the Red Banner at the age of thirteen.[citation needed] Chemiakin's mother was an actress and poet Yulia Nikolaevna Predtechenskaya of Russian noble heritage. She met her future husband in 1941 when he came to the Moscow circus to recruit volunteers to fight in World War II, and accompanied him to the front. She served in the cavalry under the command of Lev Dovator and took part in battles alongside her husband.[1]

Mihail Chemiakin's Musée Imaginaire

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Mihail Chemiakin's Musee Imaginaire is a research project by Chemiakin, who considers the history of art from the point of view of the transformation of images. The basis of the research methodology is the interpretation and systematization of visual images.[2] The studies are presented in the form of sheets with images pasted on them, grouped according to the principle of visual generality — thematic, stylistic, figurative, iconographic.

Chemiakin's project was partially inspired by an essay by André Malraux,[3] who first formulated the concept of the Imaginary Museum. He proposed juxtaposing works of art from different cultures and eras to analyze the changing image or, as Malraux wrote, metamorphosis. In addition, he suggested that everyone should compose their own personal museum, selecting works without relying on the opinions and limited choices of major institutions.[4] This was made possible by the mass proliferation of photography.[5]

"Musée imaginaire" appears as an alternative to the classical museum in the evaluation of contemporary art, for which no clear aesthetic requirements have been defined.[6]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Mnukhin, Lev; Avril, Maria and Losskaya, Veronika (2008—2010). Russian Emigrants in France (1919—2000). Biographical Vocabulary in Three Volumes. Moscow: Nauka. ISBN 978-5-02-036267-3
  2. ^ "About Mihail Chemiakin's Musee Imaginaire".
  3. ^ Смольный, В. "Вселенная шарообразна!". Новое русское слово: 35.
  4. ^ Спивак, Д. "Музей: память и проекции будущего". Международный журнал исследовательской культуры: 87.
  5. ^ Мальро, Андре (2012). Голоса безмолвия (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: пер. с франц. В. Ю. Быстрова под ред. и с прим. А. В. Шестакова. pp. 10–18.
  6. ^ Бирюкова, М. В. (2016). "Музей воображаемый vs музей реальный: концепции гипотетических музеев второй половины ХХ века". Международный журнал исследований культуры. 3: 87.

Sources

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Further reading

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  • Mihail Chemiakin; Vol. 1: Russian Period, Paris Period; Vol. 2: Transformations, New York Period, 1986 by Mihail Chemiakin, Mosaic Press, NY, 1986.. ISBN 0-88962-327-9
  • M. Chemiakin: A View of the Artist Through the Media, 1962–1999, by Ilya Bass and Alan Lamb, Woollyfish Imprints, 2000. ISBN 0-9705728-0-8
  • Staging the Nutcracker, by Mihail Chemiakin, Rizzoli, 2001. ISBN 0-8478-2346-6
  • Heike Welzel: „Michail Šemjakin: Malerei und Graphik. Von der inoffiziellen sowjetischen Kunst zur russischen Kunst im Exil". Gebr. Mann Verlag, Berlin 2006. ISBN 978-3-7861-2531-0