Yuri Semenyuk

Represented in many private collections in Asia, Africa, Europe and North America, Yuri Semenyuk’s landscapes, portraits, genre and historic paintings have received many honors and have been acquired by the USSR Ministry of Culture, by the State Russian Museums, State Tretyakov Gallery and other galleries throughout Russia, the United States and Western Europe.

Semenyuk was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Russian Federation in 1978 and the title of People’s Artist of the Russian Federation in 1982. In 1986 he was awarded a Distinguished Order of Friendship of Nations for his substantial contribution toward the development of fine arts in the USSR. His personal exhibitions were held in 1972, 1982 (Yaroslavl and Rybinsk), and 1985 (Moscow and Leningrad) and 1996 (Yuriew-Polski ).

Yet all of this acclaim was preceded by a much darker time. Yuri was born in the village of Zavalino, in the Kolchuguin District of the Vladimir Region of Russia in 1922.

In 1941, he graduated from the Yaroslavl Secondary Art School. But War loomed and immediately after graduation, just 19-years-old, Yuri joined the Soviet Army as a private. Leningrad was under siege. Conditions were nearly unbearable, hardships were incredible. Many thousands of people lost their lives defending the homeland from the Nazi occupation. This artist with the gift of beauty served on the battlefields of the Great Patriotic War (referred to as World War II in the United States). He rose to command a battalion receiving numerous combat awards and decorations and was discharged in 1946.

After the war, Yuri Semenyuk became a professional artist in Yaroslavl, returning to that which he loved. After 1951 was always an active participant in Municipal, Regional, National, and All-Union Exhibitions. In 1954, two of his works, Evening over the Volga River and Red Hill received high awards from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. As a result of these accolades, Semenyuk became a member of the USSR Union of artists in that same year.

Since then, Semenyuk has combined his creative work with active participation in the congresses of artists. He has taken leading administrative positions in the Regional (1958-1961), Republic (1960-1993) and USSR (1977-1992) Union of Artists.