Oleksii Shovkunenko

Who was Oleksii Shovkunenko?

Oleksii Oleksiyovych Shovkunenko was a Ukrainian painter and teacher, and from 1947 on a member of the USSR Academy of Arts.

Shovkunenko was born in the city of Kherson, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire.

Shovkunenko was a graduate of the Odessa Art School in 1908 and the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1917. He took part in the exhibitions of the Society of South Russian Artists from 1913–19 and was a member of the Kostandi Society of Artists from 1924–9. He taught at the Odessa Art Polytechnic from 1926–9 and at the Art Institute from 1929–35 and later at the Kiev State Art Institute from 1936–63.

Shovkunenko painted many portraits, including some of prominent Ukrainian cultural figures and also he painted landscapes of Ukraine, Moscow and other areas.