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{{Infobox East Asian
|title=Nikolai Shin
|sort=russian1
|hangul=신순남
|hanja=申順南
|mr=Shin Sun-nam
|rr=Sin Sunnam
|cyrillic=Николай Сергеевич Шин
|romanization=Nikolay Sergeevich Shin
}}
'''Nikolai Shin''' (1928 in [[Dalnegorsk]], [[Primorsky Krai]], [[Soviet Union]] – August 18, 2006 in [[Tashkent]], [[Uzbekistan]]) was an Uzbekistani painter of [[Gyopo|Korean descent]], sometimes referred to by Korean newspapers as the "[[Picasso]] of Asia".<ref name=Izvestia>{{cite news|title=Культурная интеграция (Cultural Integration)|last=Zhanuzakova|first=Mayra|publisher=Izvestia|date=2004-11-12|accessdate=2007-02-10|url=http://www.izvestia.kz/news.php?date=12-11-04&number=8|language=Russian}}</ref><ref name=Donga>{{cite news|url=http://www.donga.com/fbin/moeum?n=dstory$c_165&a=v&l=8&id=200608250110|publisher=Donga Ilbo|date=2006-08-25|accessdate=2007-02-10|script-title=ko:(명복을 빕니다)‘아시아의 피카소’ 신순남 화백 별세|last=Jeong|first=Ui-yong|language=Korean}}</ref>

== Biography ==

=== Early life ===
Shin's childhood was filled with hardships. His father died at the age of 21, when Shin was only 4; his mother remarried the following year, sending he and his sister to live with his grandmother. In 1937, he and his family were [[Deportation of Koreans in the Soviet Union|deported to Central Asia]] along with all other [[Koryo-saram|ethnic Koreans in the Russian Far East]]. After the deportations, his family stayed in the [[Kazakh SSR]] for a few years before eventually settling in [[Tashkent]], [[Uzbek SSR]] (now [[Uzbekistan]]) in 1940.<ref name=Choi>{{cite paper|url=http://www.ctman.net/english/articles/article05.html|author=Choi Tae-man|title=The Painting of Nikolai Sergeevich Shin|accessdate=2007-02-12|year=2003|publisher=Kookmin University}}</ref> His sister became infected with [[malaria]] and died at the age of 16, leaving Shin as sole breadwinner for his mother and grandmother; Shin spoke of his memories of tilling the rocky soil with his bare hands, trying to eke out a living. Eventually, unable to care for his grandmother, he sent her to live with relatives in the [[Kazakh SSR]], where she too died.<ref name=SkyBlueHometown>{{cite web|url=http://www.sky-blue.co.kr/english/picture.html|title=Sky-Blue Hometown|last=Kim|first=So-young|publisher=Cinemaya|year=2001|accessdate=2007-02-10}}</ref><ref name=KoreaHeute>{{cite news|title="Hometown" erzählt eine vergessene Geschichte |url=http://www.koreaheute.de/kultur/0503/Kul007.htm |date=May 2003 |accessdate=2007-02-11 |publisher=KOREAheute |language=German |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008165730/http://www.koreaheute.de/kultur/0503/Kul007.htm |archivedate=2006-10-08 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref>

=== Artistic career ===
[[Image:NikolaiShinRequiem..jpg|left|thumb|250px|A panel from ''Requiem'']]

In 1949, Shin graduated from Tashkent's Benkov Art School, and began his career in painting, first receiving acclaim for his work in 1957, when he won the grand prize at the International Youth Festival in Moscow and the second prize in the Republican Festival of Young Artists of Uzbekistan.<ref name=Choi/> In 1960, he graduated from Atropsky Art College, also in Tashkent; after his graduation, he began work on his painting ''Requiem'', which would take him until 1982 to complete. ''Requiem'', painted on a canvas three metres tall and forty-four metres wide in primary colors, depicts people without eyes, noses, or mouths; Shin has stated that this was meant to represent the sense of enslavement and namelessness felt by the [[Koryo-saram]] as a result of the deportations.<ref name=SkyBlueHometown/> Following his completion of ''Requiem'', Shin would go on to paint other works on the theme of the deportations and of Korean culture in Central Asia;  he began to become well known in the West with his solo exhibition in Moscow in 1990, and another in Tashkent in 1991. Eventually, his art attracted the attention of the Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund, who offered him financial support, enabling him to hold further exhibitions.<ref name=Choi/> His work was recognised by the Korean government in 1997, when they awarded him with the [[Order of Culture Merit (South Korea)|Order of Culture Merit]] ([[:ko:문화훈장|문화훈장]]); he then donated ''Requiem'' to the Museum of Contemporary Art.<ref name=Donga/><ref name=IDFA>{{cite web|url=http://www.idfa.nl/idfa_en_filmarchive_film.asp?filmid=1493 |publisher=International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam |year=2001 |accessdate=2007-02-12 |title=Sky-Blue Hometown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001105850/http://www.idfa.nl/idfa_en_filmarchive_film.asp?filmid=1493 |archivedate=2006-10-01 |deadurl=yes |df= }}</ref>

Aside from his own artwork, Shin also took up a teaching post at his alma mater, the Benkov Art School, despite the low salary; he became a mentor to his student Elena Lee, another Uzbekistani painter of Korean descent, whose work was featured in 2004 at an exhibition in [[Almaty]], [[Kazakhstan]].<ref name=Izvestia/><ref name=Choi/> He died August 18, 2006 in [[Tashkent]], [[Uzbekistan]]. He is survived by a wife and three sons.<ref name=Donga/>

== Documentary ==
{{Infobox Korean name|title=Sky-Blue Hometown|caption=The opening of ''Sky-Blue Hometown'', showing Shin against the background of a portion of ''Requiem''|img=|hangul=하늘색 고향|hanja=하늘色 古鄉|rr=Haneulsaek Gohyang|mr=Hanŭlsaek Kohyang}}
In 2001, Shin's life story was made into a documentary film ''[[Sky-Blue Hometown]]'', directed by [[Kim So-young]]. Kim stated that she was inspired to tell Shin's story after seeing ''Requiem'' displayed at the National Museum of Contemporary Art and reading articles in the domestic press about Koreans in Uzbekistan.<ref name=KoreaHerald>{{cite news|publisher=The Korea Herald|date=2003-03-18|accessdate=2007-02-11|title=Movie looks at Russian migrants|last=Soh|first=Joon|url=http://www.e-ju.net/bbs/zboard.php?id=pds&page=1&page_num=20&select_arrange=hit&desc=&sn=off&ss=on&sc=on&keyword=&category=&no=1148}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref> Through the film, she hoped "to convey the earnest wishes and lost dreams of the victims, rather than render a bleak ambiance of the hurt and resentment endured by Koreans as a minority race in the former Soviet Union and Central Asia at the present time." After completing the film, she was disappointed by the initial lack of domestic interest; though it won grand prize at the [[Seoul International Documentary and Film Festival]] and was honoured as the best Korean documentary at the [[Pusan International Film Festival]], local distributors remained uninterested in the film.<ref name=YIDFF>{{cite web|url=http://www.yidff.jp/2001/cat043/01c064-e.html|title=2001 Official Catalogue: Sky-Blue Hometown|accessdate=2007-02-10|date=2001-09-13|publisher=Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival}}</ref> ''Sky-Blue Hometown'' would go on to be invited to several international film festivals in 2001, including the [[Asian American International Film Festival]] in New York, the [[Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival]] in Japan, the [[International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam]], and the [[International Festival of Audio-visual Programs]] in Paris.<ref name=KoreaHeute/><ref name=IDFA/><ref name=FIPA>{{cite web|url=http://www.fipa.tm.fr/en/fipatel/2001/fip_01372.htm|title=Sky-Blue Hometown|year=2001|accessdate=2007-02-12|publisher=International Festival of Audiovisual Programs}}</ref> In November of the following year, it won the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema prize at the [[Taiwan International Documentary Festival]].<ref name=TaipeiTimes>{{cite news|url=http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/feat/archives/2002/12/16/187445|date=2002-12-16|accessdate=2007-02-12|publisher=Taipei Times|title=German filmmaker takes top prize at TIDF}}</ref> However, it was not shown in cinemas in Korea until 2003.<ref name=KoreaHerald/>

=== Credits ===
* Director: Kim So-young
* Production: Cine-Maya
* Screenplay: Kim So-young
* Photography: Nikolay Gerasimov
* Editing: Kim So-young
* Sound: Won-jong Soh
* Music: Duck Hyun, Jun-sung Kim, Young-jo Lee
* World Sales: Cine-Maya
* Screening copy: Korean Film Commission<ref name=IDFA/>

==Works==

=== Exhibitions ===
* 1990: Trechakopskaya Art Gallery, [[Moscow]]
* 1991: National Museum of Art, [[Tashkent]]
* 1995: National Museum of Art, [[Tashkent]]
* 1997: Korean National Museum of Contemporary Art, [[Seoul]]<ref name=SkyBlueHometown/>
* 2006: Korean Culture Day, [[Tashkent]]<ref>{{cite news|publisher=Jahon Information Agency|date=2006-10-11|accessdate=2007-02-10|script-title=ru:От вернисажа до Донгмака|url=http://jahon.mfa.uz/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=5094|language=Russian}}</ref>

=== Paintings ===
{|class="wikitable"
|+ Works in chronological order<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.chosun.com/gallery/shin/index.html |title=『수난과 영광의 한민족 유민사 -신순남 특별전』 |publisher=''Chosun Ilbo'' |accessdate=2007-02-11 |year=1997 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20050306071906/http://www.chosun.com/gallery/shin/index.html |archivedate=March 6, 2005 }}</ref>
!Title (Hangul and [[Revised Romanization of Korean|RR]])
!Translation
!Year of completion
!Size
!Comments
|-
|어머니와 딸<BR/>(''Eomeoniwa Ddal'')
|''Mother and daughter''
|1980
|Unknown
|
|-
|레퀴엠<BR/>(''Rekuiem'')
|''Requiem''
|1982
|44×3 metres
|
|-
|장미색의 눈<BR/>(''Jangmisaek'eui Nun'')
|''Rose-coloured snow''
|1985
|Unknown
|
|-
|수콕 메달들<BR/>(''Sukok Medaldeul'')
|''Sukok medals''
|1987
|240×170&nbsp;cm
|
|-
|하늘색의 고향<BR/>(''Haneulsaek'eui Gohyang'')
|''Sky-blue hometown''
|1988
|8×3 metres
|4 panels of 200×300&nbsp;cm
|-
|되살린 부채<BR/>(''Toesallin Buchae'')
|
|1989
|80×100&nbsp;cm
|
|-
|또다른 세계로-천국에서의 신혼<BR/>(''Ddodareun Segyero - Cheongukeso'eui Sinhon'')
|''To another world - newlywed in paradise''
|1990
|8×3 metres
|4 panels of 200×300&nbsp;cm
|-
|나와 아내<BR/>(''Nawa Anae'')
|''Me and my wife''
|1991
|Unknown
|
|-
|고려인<BR/>(''Goryeoin'')
|''Koryo people''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|-
|검은 용<BR/>(''Geomeun Yong'')
|''Black dragon''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|-
|전설<BR/>(''Jeonseol'')
|''Legend''
|Unknown
|52×3 metres
|26 panels of 200×300&nbsp;cm
|-
|자화상<BR/>(''Jahwajang'')
|''Self-portrait''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|-
|나와 나의 신부<BR/>(''Nawa Na'eui Shinbu'')
|''Me and my bride''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|- 
|수코크의 아이들<BR/>(''Sukokeu'eui Aideul'')
|''The children of Sukok''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|-
| 울음<BR/>(''Uleum'')
| ''Tears''
|Unknown
|Unknown
|
|-
|}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [http://www.sky-blue.co.kr/ Sky-Blue Hometown]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050306071906/http://www.chosun.com/gallery/shin/index.html Online gallery of Shin's work] hosted by the ''[[Chosun Ilbo]]''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Nikolai}}
[[Category:Soviet painters]]
[[Category:Koryo-saram]]
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:Uzbekistani painters]]
[[Category:20th-century Uzbekistani painters]]
[[Category:Soviet people of Korean descent]]