Rusu Ciobanu Valentina

About

Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu was born in Chișinău into the family of Gheorghe and Maria Rusu Ciobanu. In 1940, she became a member of the Union of Art Workers. In 1946, she married Glebus Sainciuc, and in 1947, their son Alexei (Lică) Sainciuc was born. In the same year, 1947, she became a member of the Union of Artists of the Moldavian SSR and the USSR, and participated in the first republican art exhibition in Chișinău; in 1950 - a member of the local committee and a member of the Art Fund of the Moldavian SSR, a member of the Council of the Union of Artists of the Moldavian SSR (1956-1965). In 1954, she participated in the first all-Union art exhibition in Moscow, in 1960 - in the first art exhibition outside the USSR, in Sofia, Bulgaria, and in 1967 - in the first art exhibition outside the socialist bloc in Montreal, Canada. She was a deputy in the District Council of Chișinău (1957-1959). She participated in the Congress of the Union of Artists of the USSR, Moscow (1966, 1988). In 1968, the first monograph dedicated to the painter appeared, in Russian, titled "Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu" by Ekaterina Kostina, Moscow; in 1979 - the monograph "Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu" by Sofia Bobernaga, Chișinău, in Romanian and Russian; in 2003 - the monograph on the life and work of the painter, titled "Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu," part of the collection "Bessarabian Masters of the 20th Century," by Constantin I. Ciobanu. In 2012, the painter's husband, the visual artist Glebus Sainciuc, passed away. After decades of work in the studio, after her husband's departure to eternity, Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu withdrew from public life and spent her last years in their old house in historic Chisinau. Valentina Rusu-Ciobanu passed away on November 1, 2021, in Chisinau, Republic of Moldova. November 5, 2021, was declared a national day of mourning by presidential decree; the artist's funeral took place at the Central Cemetery in Chisinau.