Grigory Ivanovich Gurkin (; 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 (, ; ; historically, pre-1932: Ulala) is the capital town of the Altai Republic, Russia. The population stands at around 64,000 people as of 2020 with steady growth over the recent years. In the past, the town was known as ''Ulala' ...

. 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 Burkhanism, known endonymically as Ak Jang ( ; ), is an indigenist new religious movement that flourished among the Altai people of Russia's Altai Republic between 1904 and the 1930s. The Russian Empire was suspicious of the movement's potenti ...

. He worked in Ulala and

Biysk Biysk ( rus, Бийск, p=bʲijsk; , ) is a city in Altai Krai, Russia, located on the Biya River not far from its confluence with the Katun River. It is the second largest city of the krai (after Barnaul, the administrative center of the krai ...

. In 1897, he started his studies in the

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

in Saint Petersburg with

Ivan Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (; – ) was a Russian landscape painter and graphic artist, one of the most famous landscape painters of the post-reform era, and the creator of the iconic painting '' Morning in a Pine Forest''. He was an academician ...

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 Asia, Central and East Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia, and Kazakhstan converge, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob River, Ob have their headwaters. The ...

. The closest city with the developed art scene was

Tomsk Tomsk (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Tomsk Oblast in Russia, on the Tom (river), Tom River. Population: Founded in 1604, Tomsk is one of the oldest cities in Siberia. It has six univers ...

, 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, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...

, representatives of Altay tribes in Ulala decided to establish the Karakorum Government, 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 Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...

, and Gurkin escaped to

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

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

Tuva Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the Federal subjects of Russia, federal sub ...

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

shamanism Shamanism is a spiritual practice that involves a practitioner (shaman) interacting with the spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct spirits or spiritual energies into ...

. In 1925, Gurkin returned to the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

. In the 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 (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, 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