Mihail Chemiakin

Mihail Chemiakin was a Russian-American artist who was a prominent member of the Soviet Nonconformist movement. He founded the St. Petersburg Group of artists in 1967 and developed the philosophy of Metaphysical Synthesism, which aimed to create a new form of icon-painting based on the study of religious art of all ages and peoples. He also worked on a project called Mihail Chemiakin's Musée Imaginaire, which was a collection of millions of images organized into technical, historical, and philosophical categories. He was interested in various media, such as painting, sculpture, illustration, publishing, scenic design, and stage design. He produced several ballets with the Mariinsky Theatre, such as The Nutcracker and The Magic Flute. He also created many public monuments, such as the Monument to Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, the Children - Victims of the Sins of Adults in Moscow, and the Cybele: Goddess of Fertility in New York. He was awarded several honors, such as the Order of Friendship, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the State Prize of the Russian Federation. He lived and worked in Russia, France, and the United States until his death in 2023.