Working in Kyrgyzstan in the 1960s and 70s, A. Bekdzhanyan introduced conditionally decorative techniques of Armenian plasticity into his portrait works ("Head of a Girl," 1972, chamotte; "Djamila," 1970, wood). In the 70s and 80s, the sculptural portrait was represented by D. Zholchuev ("Male Portrait"), V. Zukhin ("Portrait of Professor Kruglov"), and R. Shikova ("Study. Portrait of Composer Maldybaev," 1979, chamotte).
The potential for fruitful work in the field of portraiture is evidenced by the first creative applications of the young sculptor Arstan Sharshkeeve. His "Self-Portrait" (1980, chamotte) is marked by an individual artistic intonation and a pronounced willful beginning. Here, the sculptor's aspiration for a full-blooded realistic form is evident. Sharshkeeve successfully captured the image of the first Kyrgyz revolutionary, Chekist, and selfless fighter for the establishment of Soviet power, T. Zhukeiev-Pudovkin. In dealing with the figurative composition, the sculptor freely employs techniques of realistic mastery and feels the density of the sculptural form. The image he created is strict, masculine, internally tense, and corresponds to the people's perception of a legendary personality.
The art of the sculptural portrait, represented by the work of several established and emerging sculptors, develops quite multifacetedly, combining the tasks of creating typical and individualized images, enriching the artistic representation of a person in the context of the social and spiritual life of our time. Here, heroic images of people from the revolutionary era, the Civil War, and the Great Patriotic War are vividly presented (T. Zhukeiev-Pudovkin, Ya. Logvinenko, Ch. Tuleberdiev, etc.), as well as the best expressers of the labor valor of the people (Kainazarov, Dzh. Musabekov, G. Nurmanbetov, E. Turdubayev), and representatives of the creative intelligentsia (Ch. Aitmatov, A. Saliev, M. Ryokulov, B. Kydykeeva). A number of works by T. Sadykov ("Portrait of a Student," "Portrait of Professor M. Mirrakhimov," "Academician K. Otorbaev"), Z. Khabibulin ("Isken," "Gulya," "Female Portrait," "Pasha"), V. Shestopal ("Cholpon," "Sculptor O. Manuilova"), A. Mukhtudinov ("Dairymaid Aisha"), D. Kheidze ("Portrait of Tolubai Jalilov"), and A. Sharshkeeve ("Self-Portrait") speak of the fruitful development of the chamber-psychological line of the sculptural portrait, and the sculptors' keen attention to the uniqueness of faces, characters, emotional states of people, and the world of their feelings and experiences.
The refinement and variety of compositional techniques in plastic solutions, the penetration into the specifics of material processing, evident in the best portrait works, are the result of the increased mastery of sculptors, most of whom have reached the threshold of creative maturity.
Noting the achievements of Kyrgyz easel plasticity, showcased at the I All-Union (Moscow, 1983) and inter-republican regional (1983) sculpture exhibitions, as well as at several major all-union and republican exhibitions, it should be noted that in this area, there has been a certain decline in the creative activity of sculptors over the past decade compared to the threshold of the 60s and 70s. This is largely explained by the excessive workload of the small group of sculptors with orders for the creation of monumental and monumental-decorative works. However, the accumulated mastery, the pressing need of life to embody in eternal materials specific heroes and the ethical ideal of Soviet society, as well as significant achievements and broad creative searches in this direction by the multinational cohort of Soviet sculptors, are strong incentives for a new turn of the sculptors of the republic towards easel sculpture, revitalizing and raising all its genres.
