- outstanding representative of fine arts in the Republic of Moldova
The graphic artist Leonid Grigoraşenco was born on October 21, 1924 in the village of Birzula, reg. Odessa, Ukraine. He studied at the children's art school in Tiraspol, under the guidance of A. Foiniţkii (1933-37) and for a short time at the Art School in Chisinau (October 1940 - May, 1941). He excelled in graphic art and watercolor painting, and his works impress with the mastery of realistic treatment of subjects, specific to the academic school of the nineteenth century.
Holding various leadership positions within the Union of Visual Artists (1951-1958; 1961-1964, president) and the Ministry of Culture of the MSSR (1965-1991, artistic editor), the painter was an ideological censor and the main sponsor for concluding creative contracts with painters. For his professional merits he was elected as a Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR (1958), received the awards Artist Emeritus of the People of the MSSR (1960), Plastic Artist of the People of the MSSR (1963), Laureate of the State Prize of the MSSR (1967), was decorated with the orders "Lenin" (1960), "Red Labor Flag" (1971), "Friendship of Peoples" (1984).
Personal exhibitions: Chisinau (1962, 1974, 1999, 2001, 2004), Moscow (1978), Kemerovo, Ulyanovsk, Irkutsk, Nizhny Taghil (1972), Plovdiv (1974), Belgrade (1978), Ulaanbaatar (1983).
The painter's works are in the State Collections of Moldova, Russia and Bulgaria. Leonid Grigoraşenco passed away on January 13, 1995 in Chisinau.
