Shishko, Grigory Gordeevich

With changes in public life of the country, the family of Grigory Gordeevich moves to Zaporozhye , where his parents work on construction. In this city, the future artist goes to school. Once returning from school, he saw a couple who together enthusiastically painted the surrounding landscape. For a long time and enchanted, Gregory watched the sky, earth, trees appear on the canvas. Since then, he himself became interested in drawing, attends the usual drawing circle, such as those operating throughout the city at the palaces of culture. According to the artist’s sister’s recollections, the first successful work of Grigory Shishko was a bird on a branch - this work was stored in the artist’s family collection for a long time. In 1935, parents moved to Krivoy Rog . At the end of secondary school No. 15, Gregory dreamed of continuing his artistic education, but he could not quickly realize his plans - the Great Patriotic War prevented. On June 1, 1942, Grigory Gordeevich and many other young people were taken out to forced labor in Germany. First, there was work in the city of Hesse in the Ruhr region at a tank enterprise, from where he made his first escape. After the capture, he was sent to a German prison for two months, and for further work, but to a coal mine. He fled again, again went to prison. He was sent to a penal camp, where he was before being released from captivity on April 2, 1945. After the war and returning to his homeland, he worked as a graphic designer at the Kryvyi Rih Metallurgical Plant . In the late 1940s, the future painter married. Despite material difficulties, she continued her artistic education and in 1948 entered the Odessa Art College named after M. B. Grekov , which was reorganized from the Art Institute. At that time, it was one of the best educational institutions of this educational level, where the best artists taught.

After graduation, the artist returns to Krivoy Rog. It is in this city that Grigory Shishko is becoming an artist, Kryvyi Rih becomes the city of the artist's entire life - he draws inspiration from it. Here he works persistently and purposefully and, as a result, in 1964 he was admitted to the Union of Artists of the USSR.

As a result of hard work and creative searches, the artist developed his own unique pictorial style inherent in him. Works are written in wide, bold strokes, glow with iridescent colors. Favorite colors of his works are red and green, blue and orange.

The leading theme of Grigory Shishko’s creative work is the strict beauty of the iron land — careers, mines, mines, types of industrial Kryvyi Rih. A bright period of creativity is a trip to the village of Sednev near Chernigov. The themes of golden autumn, beautiful and tender spring appear in his work. Since then, at the first opportunity, the artist travels to Sednev always returning with a lot of work.

Grigory Gordeevich has in his paintings not only landscapes, but also wonderful still lifes, portraits of scientists, writers, workers of enterprises of Kryvyi Rih, rural residents, and political figures of that time. Many works were dedicated to Taras Shevchenko, whose personality the artist was fond of.

Since 1957, has been actively participating in all exhibitions, not only exhibiting himself, but also attracting young artists to these events, for which he earned respect among colleagues and like-minded people. A study of Shishko’s work in Krivoy Rog in the 1970s and 1980s was conducted by Lyudmila Dubnitskaya, an art historian at the Museum of History and Local Lore. Several solo exhibitions during the artist’s life were held in the city museum.

In 1992, the former Kryvyi Rih woman Tatyana Demidenko, the owner of a British gallery, offered Grigory Shishko to buy out a substantial part of his paintings. The artist, already seriously ill, agreed, and thus, in addition to industrial landscapes, landscapes of the Chernihiv region, as well as several canvases dedicated to Taras Shevchenko, were taken abroad.

The exposition of the Krivoy Rog Museum of History and Local Lore has several industrial landscapes by Grigory Shishko, and he also depicts the interior of the house in which Alexander Dovzhenko, an outstanding Ukrainian director, was born. This picture is particularly warm, it contains a mention of his own childhood, and a constant love for Ukraine, which the artist sang in his works. In each of the works there are new facets of the talent of the Kryvyi Rih artist, who left a bright, indelible mark on his native land.

In addition to the pictorial activity, Grigory Gordeevich loved to read and study history. He collected a large collection of books on fine art.

Until the last days of his life, Grigory Shishko worked. August 29, 1994 the artist died.

In the early 1990s, a large number of the artist's works were acquired by private collectors and the collection went to London. Solo exhibitions of Grigory Gordeevich were held here with great success. Many directories have been released. To preserve the artist’s memory, the personal albums “Grigory Shishko” (2001) and “Color of Ore” (2005) were published in English. Some of the works are in private collections in Scotland. Since 1993, there have been 9 personal exhibitions of the artist, one of the most important - in 2001 at the Mall-Galleriz, London. Also in Strasbourg ^[1] , London, Scotland.

In Krivoy Rog in honor of the artist named street ^[2] .

• Personal collections of the artist’s family, daughter - Tatiana Grigoryevna Ivashchenko, Viktor Mishurovsky, a long-term friend and colleague.
• Maltseva V., Barabanova V. Dovіdnik chlenі Spіlki artists і СРСР on Ukrainian RSR / Kiev, 1986. - 270с.

• Grigory Shishko - a prominent artist from Krivoy Rog
• Grigory Gordeevich Shishko on the site of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Universal Scientific Library
• Exhibition of Grigory Shishko