On Kok-Su Coast

Eugene Melnikov: Uzbekistan’s painter, poet, and People’s Artist.

Born in Buzuluk, Russia, Eugene has lived in Uzbekistan since 1948. In 1953, he completed the Benkov Republican Art School, and in 1960 the Ostrovsky State Theatre and Art Institute in Tashkent.

He is a member of the Artist’s Union of Uzbekistan and a regular participant in art exhibitions and open-air (outdoor painting) events in the Republicс and abroad.

Eugene is the master of genre painting, the author of famous canvases ‘Ulak’, ‘Horse Race at the Tashkent Hippodrome’, ‘Lyricism’, and others. He can work efficiently in various genres: portrait, landscape, and still life.

Eugene is also a talented colourist who is fond of Uzbekistan scenery, gets his inspiration from nature, and prefers to paint outdoors. However, he is equally adept at developing compositions such as ‘Corrida’ and others.

Eugene’s brushwork is close to that of post-impressionist painters with whom he has never stopped communicating throughout his creative life, even addressing them through his pictorial dedications: ‘The Self-Portrait in the Mirror’, ‘Dedication to Modigliani’, ‘Vineyards’, ‘May in Su-Kok’, and others.

International exhibitions:

1973 – Moscow, USSR
1975 – Brussels, Belgium
1978 – Tokyo, Japan
1978 – Helsinki, Finland
1990 – Chicago, USA
1996 – Paris, France
2000 – Hannover, Germany

The works of this talented painter can be found in the Karakalpak State Art Museum named after I.V. Savitsky, State Museum of Art of Uzbekistan, and in private collections and galleries in Russia, France, Germany, Holland, Sweden, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, USA, Great Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Israel, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Japan and Lebanon.