Siziakova Valeria

1931 — 2013

Valeria Siziakova was born on August, 23 in Moscow in the family of an engineer. She was brought up by her grandparents. Having spent her childhood in Zvenigorod she kept many bright memories of that period which inevitably influenced her creative activity. Then came the war and the family moved to live in the country. However, alreadyin 1942 theartistreturnedtoMoscow. After six years she took up painting and drawing in the class led by Lidia Polyanskaya. Polyanskaya was part of the circle of well-known artists among which were N. Udaltsova and P. Kuznetsov. Polyanskaya had a great influence on Siziakova's style. That was the period when her first artworks appeared dedicated to everyday life in the village as well as those painted by memory, for example, “Winter", “Sunset" and “Fairytale". Siziakova also studied the history of European art and painting.

In 1949 Valeria Siziakova entered the Physics department of Moscow city pedagogical institute named after V.P. Potemkin, which she graduated from in 1953. Nevertheless, she was involved in art and drawing activity at the same time at the famous Art Studio of the Moscow House of Educationists situated in the old mansion of the Zubov family in Taganka, where classes were led by such famous Moscow artists as G.I. Tseitlin and S. G. Grigoriev.

Since 1950 Siziakova started taking active part in the studio and city exhibitions. Her work “Friends" was awarded a laureate diploma of the All-Russia exhibition of amateur artists' artworks within the frame of the World Youth Festival in 1957. In the same period the artist travelled a lot around the country. Her artworks of the time included landscapes of the Oka -river, Crimea, Caucasus , the Volga, Leningrad and Kizhi. In 1960 Siziakova entered art and graphics department of the Moscow state extramural pedagogic institute. However, after half a year she went back to her classes at the studio disappointed with the educational system offered at the institute. In 1962 the studio was headed by Evsey Reshin who possessed indisputable teaching talent and, according to Siziakova herself, persisted in his fight against amateurism in creative activity. For Valeria Siziakova he became her teacher and husband.

In the sixties Valeria Siziakova painted a series of Moscow autumn sketches, she worked a lot at the country-houses of the Union of Artists in the Baltic republics and on Lake Senezh together with her husband. After his death in 1978 Valeria Siziakova devoted all her time to preparing her husband's artworks for the committee on creative legacy where she had to show them. She published a catalog and organized several exhibitions of Evsey Reshin's artworks in Moscow. But she did not give up her own work, either. In 1983 – 1990s she participated in group exhibitions of teaching artists in Moscow and Moscow area, including: The Palace of Culture named after Potapov in Pavlov-Posad (1983); People's art gallery in Voronovo (1984); “Zenith" cinema (1988); “Rubin" cinema (1989); the Palace of Culture and Technology of National Nature Reserve (1990). In 1987 she received a laureate's medal at the second All-Union Folk Festival.

Siziakova's artworks reflect the influence of serious school by Evsey Reshin, deep knowledge of European art, however, her every piece is a vivid impression maintaining its power on both canvas and cardboard. Many artworks of the painter are presented in private collections in Russia and abroad.