Key dates in the life and work of Alexander Vasilyevich Nikolaev

1897 30 August Не was born in Voronezh into the family of an army engineer.

1908-1916 He was a trainee at the Sumy Corps Cadets near Poltava.

1916-1917 He trained at the Corps of Uhlans in Тver.

1918 He indulged in art at artist A. A. Buchkuri's studio in Voronezh. The branch of the Moskovsky Svobodny. Theatre arrived in Voronezh. He was take on as a second artist.

1919 He studied under the direction of K. S. Malevich at the 2nd State Free Studios in Moscow. He became a member of a nucleus for sym­ pathizers of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks). He was enlisted and sent as a political instructor to the Denikin battle-front.

1920 After demobilization he was authorized by a Commission of the Turkestan Central Executive Committee to come to Tashkent with a group of young artists and architects to enhance and develop culture and art in Central Asia. He moved to Samarkand.

1920-1925 He worked at Samkomstaris along with the artists D. K. Stepanov, A. V. Isupov, М. V. Stolyarov, I. S. Kazakov, E. A. Mokeyeva. He painted miniatures and stylized compositions. He was engaged in m easuring architectural monuments, sketching and im itating mosaics. 

1924 He was an associate of the Uzbek satyric periodical “Mushtum ” (“A F ist”). Together with V. I. Ufimtsev he painted pictures on modern subjects.

1924 In common with V. I. Ufimtsev he decorated the city of Bukhara to m ark the 1st Congress of the Communist Party of Uzbekistan and 1st Congress of Soviets of the Uzbek SSR.

1925 He returned to Tashkent.

1927 He worked at the Uzbek State Publishing House. He designed the stage at the Ya. M. Sverdlov Opera and Ballet Theatre.

1928-1929 Не was a member of the “Masters of the New East" group including A. N. Volkov, М. I. Kurzin, S. A. Malt, V. P. Markov. He was an associate of the magazine “Yangi Yul” (“The New Path ”).

1929-1931 He worked in V. V. Lebedev’s studio at a publishing house in Leningrad. Three books were published for children, which he illustrated. He collaborated w ith the periodicals “Yojh”, “V okrug Sveta”, “Rezets" and “Krasnaya Panorama”. His works were exhibited in Leningrad.

1930 He cooperated w ith the “Kizil Uzbekiston' ("Red U zbekistan”) Publishing House.

1933 He worked as Responsible Secretary of the m agazine “Uzbekiston Kurulishda” (“Uzbekistan — A Building Site"). He was an associate of the periodicals “Mushala” (“A Torch”) and “Ataka” (“An Attack”). He went to a military camp where he created his paintings “The First Uzbek Horse Regiment on a Training March”. “Red Army Men Relaxing”.

1934 He painted his canvas “White Gold”. He illustrated М. M. Kazemi’s novel “Teheran. A City of Horrors” which was published by the Samarkand State Publishing House in 1934. He painted “The Old-Method School and “The Old School and the New School which were ordered by the People’s Commissariat of Education.
He took part in arranging and holding an exhibition in Moscow of the works of artists of Uzbekistan. Some of the works were purchased by the Museum of O riental Culture.

1935 He went on a tour to the mountains with a group of Tashkent artists (V. E. Kaidalov, V. N. Gulyayev, V. L. Rozhdestvensky. N. M. Gerasimov, L. I. Ufimtseva, L. K. Kaydalova and V. N. Kedrin) by route of Таshkent — Ura-Tyubeh — Dushanbe. On his way he made a series of drawings and sketches  mountain landscapes, genres and portraits.