Grigory Gurkin
Grigory Ivanovich Gurkin (; 24 January 1870 – 11 October 1937) was a Russian landscape painter, the first professional artist of Altai ethnic origin. He is notable for his Altai mountain landscapes. Biography Gurkin was born in 1870 in the selo of Ulala, currently Gorno-Altaysk. He was ethnic Altaian from the family of Choros (his name is sometimes indicated as Choros-Gurkin). In 1878 he was sent to the icon-painting school in Ulala, and eventually he became a professional icon-painter. Subsequently, he became a supporter of the Altai religion Burkhanism. He worked in Ulala and Biysk. In 1897, he started his studies in the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg with Ivan Shishkin and Alexander Kiselyov. In 1903, Gurkin returned to Altai and started to work as a teacher in the selo of Anos, travelling every summer to remote regions of Altai Mountains. The closest city with the developed art scene was Tomsk, where Gurkin participated in art exhibitions. He was the member of Tomsk Society of Art Lovers (the main Tomsk art scene society) since 1909. In February 1918, after the October Revolution, representatives of Altay tribes in Ulala decided to establish the Karakorum Government, which had the purpose