Karabulak, Dzhetysu province, Kyrgyzstan 1924-2015 Almaty, Kazakhstan

A Soviet and Kazakhstani artist, master of watercolor. Honored Art Worker of the Kazakh SSR (1985), laureate of the Chokan Valikhanov State Prize and the independent Tarlan Prize (2006). He was born in Almaty Region into a peasant family and comes from the Dulat tribe of the Senior Zhuz. In 1938–1939 he studied at the Almaty Art College. In 1939, as one of the most gifted students, he was sent to the Leningrad Art School of the Academy of Arts. After the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he left for the front and took part in the defense of Leningrad. After the war, from 1948 to 1950, he continued his studies in painting at the Almaty Art College. He became a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR in 1959. He also taught at the Almaty Art College.