Alexander Misuryev

Alexander Misuryev (29th of July 1936, Voronezh Oblast, Russian SFSR – 7th of February 2002, Riga, Republic of Latvia) – a painter, an illustrator, a graphic designer.

The future artist was born in a village Troiyskie Rolsyani (Sosnovsky district, Vozonezh oblast, Russian SFSR), where his father worked as a teacher. As a young boy he came to Riga with a big file of drawings and totally amazed the selection board of the J. Rozentals Art School. Afterwards, he enrolled into the Moscow Institute of Polugraphy and after graduating from it was sent to the capital of Kyrgyzstan - the city of Frunze (now Bishkek). There he worked in a publishing house. After two years of life in Frunze, he organized his own personal exhibition. All together, Misuryev spent twenty years in Kyrgyzstan. 

He was an art director of "Mektep" (Book) and "Kyrgyzstan" publishing houses. Afterwards, he was appointed as the head artist of the Art Foundation of Kyrgyzstan and the vice-chairman of the Union of Artists of Kyrgyzstan.

In 1971 he received the silver medal for his illustrations to the books for children by Kirghyz authors at the International Exhibition of Book Art in Leipzig. 

His works were constantly exhibited at the all-Union exhibitions and also abroad. The artist also travelled around the whole Soviet Union.

The fall of the USSR forced the artist's family - his wife, whom he met in Riga, and two of his sons, one of whom became an artist, to leave Kyrgyzstan for Latvia. They settled in Riga. In 1990ies A. Misuryev continued his fruitful work. His several personal exhibitions took place with the support of the Baltic-Slavic Society. 

In the summer of 1999 he participated in an exhibition, which was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of A. Pushkin, which took place at the art gallery "Nellia". He was planning to organize a big exhibition "Around the World", but did not manage to fulfill this plan. 

The drawings by Alexander Misuryev, who was a constant participant of different exhibitions, were often rewarded with International prizes and were purchased by museums. 

Alexander Misuryev died on the 7th of February 2002.  

                                                               Nina Lapidus