Baki Idrisovich Urmanche

Baki Idrisovich Urmanche was a Soviet Tatar painter, sculptor, graphic artist, and photographer. He was born into the family of a village mullah and received his primary education at home. He studied at the Kazan madrasa "Muhammadiya." After that he worked as a teacher in the village of Tatarskie Tarkhany and served in the Russian army, including in Kazakhstan, where he received his first lessons in drawing and painting from Austrian prisoners of war. Later he worked as a decorator at the People’s Commissariat for Education and studied at the Kazan Free Art Workshops, where his mentors were the well-known artists V. K. Timofeev, G. A. Kozlov, and N. S. Shikalov.

In 1926, after graduating from the institute, the artist returned to Kazan. Urmanche worked as a teacher at the Art School, produced his own works, organized art-ceramic workshops, wrote articles, created illustrations, and gave lectures. His creative career was interrupted by exile to Solovki (1929–1933), but after returning to Moscow he resumed his artistic life. From 1941 to 1956 he lived and worked in Kazakhstan, creating historical canvases, landscapes, portraits, and sculptures. In 1957 Urmanche returned to Kazan. Baki Idrisovich Urmanche died on August 6, 1990, at the age of 93. During his lifetime he was recognized as a classic of Tatar fine art.