Vladimir Burmakin

Vladimir Ivanovich Burmakin was born on 9 January 1938 in Sverdlovsk (now Yekaterinburg); soon after his birth the family moved to Tashkent. His father, Ivan Burmakin, a native of the Yaroslavl Governorate, painted and worked as a confectioner; he died shortly before the war began.

From 1952 Burmakin studied at the P. P. Benkov Republican Art School, graduating in 1957. Alongside it he learned ganch carving from the master Tashpulat Arslonqulov and painting from V. I. Zhmakin; biographical notes say he spent about eleven years improving his craft in the workshops of Arslonqulov and of Abdulhaq Abdullayev, People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR.

After the school he briefly taught drawing in Samarkand schools and then worked as chief artist of the Tashkent House of Officers. From 1959 to 1965 he studied at the A. N. Ostrovsky Tashkent Theatre and Art Institute under Professor R. A. Akhmedov, People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR.

He became known for portraits that convey a woman’s state of mind — “Baysun Madonna” (1968), “Elvira” (1983) — and for decorative compositions such as “Waiting Women” (1962). A large solo show held jointly with Ruzi Choriev in the House of Knowledge hall in 1969 was a notable event in Tashkent’s art life. In the 1970s he made more than twenty monumental panels and bas-reliefs, for the Palace of Friendship of Peoples, the Pakhtakor metro station, the Mehnat Zakhiralari sports complex, the Zarafshan restaurant and the Tashkent hippodrome.

In 1981, after another solo exhibition, Burmakin was named Honoured Art Worker of the Uzbek SSR. He was vice-president of the Union of Artists of Uzbekistan in 1994–1997, became a full member of the Academy of Arts of Uzbekistan in 1997 and its secretary in 2006. He taught for more than forty years, and his pupils include many well-known Uzbekistani artists.

In independent Uzbekistan Burmakin made mosaics for Tashkent airport, the hall of the Senate building and the Alisher Navoiy National Library. His works were shown in Russia, the United Kingdom, France, the USA and other countries; some two hundred of his paintings are held by a gallery in Gummersbach, Germany. The Academy of Arts awarded him its gold medal (2003), and in 2005 he received the Order “For Selfless Service”.

Vladimir Burmakin died in Tashkent on 31 August 2024.