Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu

Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu (born 28 October 1920, Chișinău, Lăpușna County, Kingdom of Romania (now Moldova) – died 1 November 2021, Chişinău) was a visual artist from Bessarabia.

Education From 1934 to 1947, she studied at Chişinău's Fine Arts School, at the Chişinău School of Fine Arts (in the class of professors Auguste Baillayre), at the Iași Academy of Fine Arts, and at the Ilya Repin Republican School of Fine Arts in Chişinău in the class of Ivan Khazov (now The Alexandru Plămădeală Republican College of Fine Arts).

Activities In 1947, she became a member of the Union of Fine Artists of the Moldavian Socialist Republic and the Soviet Union and participated in the first art exhibition of the Chişinău Republic. In 1950, she was a member of the local committee and the Art Fund of the USSR, and for 10 years a member of the Council of the Artists' Union of the USSR.

In 1954, she participated in the first all-Russian art exhibition in Moscow. In 1960, she participated in the first art exhibition outside the USSR, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and then in 1967, in the first art exhibition outside the socialist bloc, in Montreal, Canada.

Style The grave of artist Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu next to her husband, plastic artist Glebus Sainciuc, Central Cemetery, Chișinău, Moldova. Her work is notable both for her expressive style, considered by critics to be unconventional and innovative, and for her deep poetic touch. According to commentator Sofia Bobernaga, Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu's painting is a symbiosis between "poetic realism" and "authentic spirit", and according to critic Vladimir Bulat, the painter's chosen style could be "read" as "sublime distortion" during the Soviet regime, a risk Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu took.

Retirement and death In 2012, the painter's husband, Gleb Sanciuc, died. After decades of studio work, Rusu-Ciobanu retired from public life after her husband's death, spending her final years in their old home in historic Chişinău.she died on 1 November 2021 and in 5 November 2021 was declared a day of public mourning by Decree; the artist's funeral was held at the Chișinău Central Cemetery. Selective list of works

Fetiță la fereastră, 1957 Plantând copaci, 1961 Portretul Lui Emil Loteanu, 1964 Portretul actorului Dumitru Fusu, 1964 Foc de artificii, 1966 Micul dejun, 1979 - 1980 Scriitorul Serafim Saca, 1996 Vizita doctorului, 1971 La bal mascat La joc, 1957 Autoportret cu ochelari Cană pe pervaz Actrița Maria Goncear Flori pe fundal roșu Glie și oamenii Invitație la dans