Zhanatay Shardenov. Soviet and Kazakhstani artist-painter. National Artist of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Member of the Artists Union of the USSR. He was born in the family of a herdsman in the village of Kovylenko, Akmola region. 1940 he was orphaned and his uncle took him in as a shepherd. From childhood he was inspired by the surrounding landscape and began to draw, and when the commission came to the village announced a competition for the best portrait of the hero of the revolution Vasily Chapaev, he also took part.... далее

Zhanatay Shardenov. Soviet and Kazakhstani artist-painter. National Artist of the Republic of Kazakhstan. Member of the Artists Union of the USSR. He was born in the family of a herdsman in the village of Kovylenko, Akmola region. 1940 he was orphaned and his uncle took him in as a shepherd. From childhood he was inspired by the surrounding landscape and began to draw, and when the commission came to the village announced a competition for the best portrait of the hero of the revolution Vasily Chapaev, he also took part. He drew Chapaev on a horse and took the first place. Then for the victory the artist was given a piece of red canvas. His uncle was offered to develop the youngster's talent and send him to study at an art school, and he went to Almaty. He graduated from the Almaty Art School named after N.V.Gogol (modern Almaty College of Decorative and Applied Arts named after Oral Tansykbaev) in 1943-1949. In 1949 for his excellent studies he was sent to the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after Ilya Repin. The great masters of the brush Abram Cherkassky, Leonid Leontiev, Alexei Bortnikov supported him. While in Leningrad, he became interested in the work of impressionist painters, their style was a discovery for him. He was attracted by mixing of paints, colour scale and smooth transitions. In 1956 he returned to Almaty and was actively involved in the artistic life of the republic. For inspiration the artist went to the mountains every day. His favourite genre was landscape. He had a special handwriting: the master worked not with a brush, but with a mastichin - a special knife for painting, generously using colours. But few people understood this technique in those years. For a long time, the master's paintings were considered ‘unprofessional’. About his innovative style, the artist himself said that only the French would understand it. And, indeed, when a delegation from France visited Kazakhstan in the 60s, many of Zhanatay Shardenov's paintings were sold out. Inspired Kazakh landscape painter began to create even more magnificent works. And in 1962, the famous American artist Rockwell Kent arrived in Almaty. He familiarised himself with the exhibition of Almaty colleagues in the Kazakh Art Gallery. When the guest was offered to choose his favourite picture, he stopped with special admiration and without hesitation at the landscape of Alatau mountains with icy peaks of Zhanatay Shardenov. Flushed with success, the artist invited Rockwell Kent to his studio, where he gave him two more landscapes as a keepsake. Today, any major museum in the country considers it an honour to have works by the artist in its collection. The works are represented in the A. Kasteev State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Museum of Modern Art (Astana), and in private collections. скрыть