In the yurt. 1979

Oil on carton. 37x26,8

Graduated from the Sh.Rustavely Art School in Ashkhabad and the Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute. Majority of her paintings can be described as genre scenes, but due to acute style of her painting, her bright and colourful works have a specific meaning. The subject matter is only the pretext for creating a joyful world, where everything is amazingly beautiful. One can find a resemblance with ancient Oriental miniature painting in her works conveyed by a wide range of colours and a refinement of paintings.

Oriental bazaar.1985

Oil on canvas. 97,5x78,3

Graduated from the Republican Art school named after Benkov. The artist developed his artistic skills at the Nukus Museum of Art, where he worked as an artist for several years. Antonov’s works are distinguished by a search for new forms, symbolism and ornamental character of his compositions.

Wooden door with carving from the popular epos. 1986

Wood. 200x91x6,5

Aman Atabaev continued to develop the best traditions of Karakalpak folk art. His knowledge in the rich folk art stimulated him to make wood carving. All his works, including often everyday life objects, decorated with carving, have an ornamental character. His carved doors decorated with folklore motifs, sculptural portraits and wooden masks reveal Atabaev’s rich imagination, his artistic skills and variety of his artistic technique.

Still-life with a lilac-coloued jingil (tamarisk).1990

Oil on canvas. 66x91

Painter, one gifted artists of the younger generation. Graduated from the Art School named after J. Shamuratov in Nukus.

Among his paintings prevail genre scenes and still-lifes, where the main motif is associated with colourful tonality. His pastel compositions with domination of silvery and lilac tones and touches of reddish and brown paints give an impression of colour and light, airiness. One can feel material tangibility of depicted objects in his works, although their contours are not clear and melt into the background.

Still-life with a peeling mill. 1982

Oil on canvas. 100x75,5

Graduated from the Tashkent Art school named after P.Benkov, and later (1972) the Easel painting Department of the Tashkent Theatre and Art institute. The artist’s most favorite genres are still-life and portrait. The main source for his inspiration is the picturesque and colourful everyday life of his people. His still-lifes are expressive and colourful.

Izentaev is a chairman of the Karakalpak branch of the Uzbek Academy of Arts and an academician of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan.

Sprout. 1969

Wood. 193x58x47,5

Having obtained his degree at the Tashkent republican Art School, Kuttimuratov was hired by Savitskiy as a restorer at the Museum. He became Savitskiy’s protégé and under his tutelage, Zholdasbek made great strides and became one of the leading figures in the art-scene of Karakalpakstan.

In the second half of the 1960s, Kuttimuratov had gained a considerable reputation and participated in all major republican art exhibitions. Zholdasbek Kuttimuratov’s main artistic ambition was to capture the delight of women’s beauty in his sculptures.

So, he often appeals to the heroines from the Karakalpak popular epos and is striving to depict them in allegoric and symbolical images. In addition to his famous work “Amu-Darya”, the museum possesses some of his best early works such as “Sprout”, “Bride”, “Aryslan”, “Zulkharnay” and others. The “Sprout” is especially noteworthy for the simplicity of its forms and its overall harmony.

Over the last few years, Kuttimuratov has turned to marble, limestone and granite from which he creates his sculptures. Some recent smaller works are very strong in the theme they express, the lyrical and decorative symbolism of their composition.

Golden Autumn

Oil on canvas. 76x56

Lepesov is beyond doubt one of the most famous and gifted contemporary painters coming out of Karakalapkstan. After finishing the secondary school in 1966, he was admitted to the Alma-Ata Art School, where his teachers were such distinguished artists as T.Togyzbaev, M.Ismailov, graphic artists V.Krushin, B.Pak, B.Tabiyev and S.Aytbaev. From them he learned the secrets of Fine Arts, namely free hand painting and colour composition.

In 1970, Lepesov returned to Nukus to start the long and winding road of an artist’s life, at the Nukus Fine Arts Production Workshops, where he worked as a decorator. Lepesov worked in different techniques and genres, predominantly finding artistic expression in land-scapes and still-lifes. He represents the essence of the Karakalpak Avant-Garde. His works are distinguished by the decorative aspect and his expressive choice of vibrant colours, reflecting those of his own culture and environment. Some of the finest works by Jengis Lepesov are now part of museum and private collections in Russia, USA, Korea, Japan, Sweden, amongst others.

On the Amu-Darya River: 1967

Oil on canvas. 120x70

Graduated from the Tashkent Art School named after Benkov. He is considered to be one of the first professional artists of Karakalpakstan. Madgazin’s most favorite genre was landscape. The peculiar charm of Karakalpak nature was conveyed by the artist with a great skill who managed to depict harmony in scenes of local nature. Many of his paintings were devoted to the Amu-Darya River and the Aral Sea. Nowadays, these landscapes illustrate the former strength and abundance of full-flowing and capricious Amu-Darya River.

In the evening on the Amu-Darya River

Oil on canvas. 41x100

Studied at the Republican Benkov Art School in Tashkent, at the Department of Painting (1952-1957). After graduating from it, he began to work at the State Musical Drama and Comedy Theatre named after K.Stanislavskiy in Nukus, initially as an artist, then (from 1958) as an art director.

The first play, decorated by Saipov at the theatre was the historical drama “Bakhit” (late 1957). During the subsequent years he decorated the play by K.Vinnikov and Yu.Oscarov “White lotus” (1959) written according to the motifs of ancient Indian legend. His sketches for this play were acquired by the Theatre Museum named after Bakhrushin in Moscow. During a short term the artist designed and decorated over 50 performances.

K.Saipov was one of the first Karakalpak professional artists and despite his very short life he had a significant influence on development of Karakalpak Fine Arts.

Little dutar-player

Oil on canvas. 82x82

Graduated from the Republican Art school named after Benkov (1962-1969) in Tashkent. Serekeev’s creative activity is characterized with his eager to develop his own artistic manner of painting and to find his own way to in revealing the subject-matter. The narrative and domestic scenes take an important place in his paintings. There he depicts the people with their everyday concerns and occupations. Very often he combines in his works genre scenes and landscape which mutually enrich and complete each other. He is one of the active artists in Karakalpakstan panting usually out-of-doors. Serekeev likes most of all the rural motifs, the subject of labour. Colour and texture of his brushwork convey emotional atmosphere of his compositions.

Still-life with a chair

Oil on canvas. 90x62,5

The initial artistic education Shpade received at the Ashkhabad Art School named after Sh.Rustavely. After two years of work as a drawing teacher at the secondary school in Bayram-Ali, and then as a cartographer in the geological team, she moved to Karakalpakstan in 1960 where she met with I.V.Savitskiy. She worked at the Artistic Fund of the Karakalapak branch of the Karakalpak Autonomous Soviet Republic and simultaneously at the department of art history of the Karakalpak branch of the Uzbek Academy of Sciences, where she had been invited by Savitskiy.

These years in many aspects determined not only the whole life of the artist but also a circle of her interests. There was a rapid growth of the Karakalpak artistic culture at that time, so A.Shpade became a participant of many interesting events in this republic. A.Shpade continued her study of art, but she never lost her ties with Karakalpakstan, first of all with Savitskiy. From 1962, she studied at the Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute, then at the Moscow Textile Institute, where she received a degree of designer in the textile industry. In the early 1970s Shpade became well-known as a painter. One of characteristic features of her artistic language became ornamental character of her paintings and other works of art. At present she works as a restorer in the Nukus Art Museum.

Old man in a big fur-cap. 1975

Wood. 72x56x48

Although D.Toreniyazov had no artistic education, but his creative activity reveals his extraordinary talent and unique character of his works. One can feel in Toreniyazov’s works a deep link with the folk art traditions. He used these traditions in his own way, creating the distinctive images and conventionalized characters in his sculptures. He could use any peace of wood for making his sculptures, feeling and discovering its future image.

Toreniyazov’s works have various subject matters. Along with the fantastic creatures he produced sculptures conveying the Karakalpak people’s national character. The sculptor worked a great deal producing small-sized wooden pieces. Sometimes he tried to inlay his works with bone.

Autumn in Shakhaman. 1976

Oil on canvas. 52,5x79,5

He is a self-taught artist without a special artistic education, but with original brushwork and natural talent. Savitskiy and his museum promoted the development of his talent. Now the museum possesses dozens of his paintings. Utegonov’s landscapes are amazingly beautiful with their brown and golden colour range combined with acute impression of nature and simplicity and logic clearness of its conveyance. His emotional perception of nature determines its depiction in his paintings.

The artist skillfully conveys different states of nature using the shades of colours and light.