Mihail Mikhailovich Chemiakin or Shemyakin (; born 4 May 1943) is a Russian-American

painter Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

stage designer Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including plays and musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, where it may be referred to as prod ...

, sculptor and publisher, and a controversial representative of the nonconformist art tradition of

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

Early life

Chemiakin was born to a military family. His father, a Kabardian from the

Caucasus Mountains The Caucasus Mountains * * Azerbaijani: , * * * * * * * * * * * is a mountain range at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Stretching between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, they are surrounded by the Caucasus region ...

Mikhail Kardanov, had lost his parents and was adopted by a friend of his father's,

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

officer Piotr Chemiakin. The artist's father eventually became a

Soviet Army The Soviet Ground Forces () was the land warfare service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1946 to 1992. It was preceded by the Red Army. After the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, the Ground Forces remained under th ...

officer. He received one of the first

Orders of the Red Banner The Order of the Red Banner () was the first Soviet military decoration. The Order was established on 16 September 1918, during the Russian Civil War by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee. It was the highest award of Sovi ...

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 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 Lev Mikhaylovich Dovator ( 19 December 1941) was a famous Soviet Union, 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 B ...

and took part in battles alongside her husband.

Mihail Chemiakin's Musée Imaginaire

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. 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 Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

, 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. This was made possible by the mass proliferation of

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

. "

Musée imaginaire A musée imaginaire or imaginary museum is a collection of works of art that a person holds as essential or favourite, so that given the opportunity he or she would bring them together in a single ideal museum. The term is closely associated with ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

on the Quai Branly at the Salon du Literature Russe in 2024

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

External links

Monument to Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg

Atlas Obscura ''Atlas Obscura'' is an United States, American-based travel and exploration company. It was founded in 2009 by author Joshua Foer and documentary filmmaker/author Dylan Thuras. It catalogs unusual and obscure travel destinations via professiona ...

, accessed 5/27/2025 {{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 Recipients of the Golden Mask

Early life

Mihail Chemiakin's Musée Imaginaire

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links