# Alena Kish
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{{Short description|Belarusian primitivist painter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alena Kish
| image = Alena Kish only known picture 01.png
| caption = Only known picture
| birth_name =
| birth_date = c. 1889
| birth_place = [Ramanau](/source/Ramanau), [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire)
| death_date = 1949 (aged c. 60)
| death_place = [Slutsk](/source/Slutsk), [Byelorussian SSR](/source/Byelorussian_Soviet_Socialist_Republic), Soviet Union
| other_names =
| known_for = carpets
| education =
| employer =
| occupation = artisan
| spouse =
| partner =
| children =
| parents =
| relatives =
| signature =
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Alena Kish''' ({{langx|be|Але́на Андрэ́еўна Кіш}}, {{Circa}} 1889 – 1949) was a [Belarus](/source/Belarus)ian [primitivist](/source/primitivist) painter from the surroundings of [Slutsk](/source/Slutsk).
==Life==
Alena Kish was born around 1889 in the village of [Ramanau](/source/Ramanau), near [Slutsk](/source/Slutsk). After losing her parents during [World War 2](/source/World_War_II), she moved with her siblings to the settlement of Hrozau to live with her sister. As a nomadic artist, she traveled from village to village, painting in exchange for a fee, food, or shelter. During the 1930s and 1940s in Belarus, Kish created her iconic painted carpets despite the villagers’ focus on survival. While working, she often sang folk songs. She is recognized as the creator of a unique visual genre: artistically painted carpets, known globally as the traditional Belarusian Malyavanyya dyvany or Malyavanki.
After World War 2, her work gained popularity as villages were rebuilt, and homes sought new decorative elements. By the late 1940s, her painted carpets were highly valued, marking the most productive period of her life. However, as demand diminished with the arrival of manufactured goods, Kish struggled to sustain herself. In 1949, she was found drowned in a river. While it may have been an accident, some findings suggest she committed suicide due to financial hardship.[Katsaryna Lutsevich. [https://budzma.org/news/belaruska-alena-kish-i-krainka-maryya.html Беларуска Алена Кіш і ўкраінка Марыя Прымачэнка: што яднае дзвюх мастачак?] Budzma (In Belarusian). 13 November 2022. Retrieved 2024-12-29.] Her income from handcrafted designs dwindled as manufactured goods became more widely available in the area.
She gained recognition as an artist at the end of 1970s, three decades after her death. A collection of her surviving works is preserved in the Museum of [Zaslawye](/source/Zaslawye).[Беларуская энцыклапедыя: У 18 т. Т. 8: Канто — Кулі / Рэдкал.: Г. П. Пашкоў і інш. — Мн.: БелЭн., 1999.]
The works by Alena Kish were presented in 1999 in [Moscow](/source/Moscow) at the 1st International Festival "Intermuseum". The works of Alena Kish have been featured on a national postage stamp[{{Cite web|url=https://nn.by/?c=lr&i=210920|title=Непрызнаная мастачка Алена Кіш, райскія дываны якой праз дзясяткі год пасля яе смерці ратавалі з-пад кароў у хлявах|website=Наша Ніва|date=14 June 2018 |language=be|access-date=2020-01-06}}] and in an exhibition in [Minsk](/source/Minsk) in 2013.
In 1984, Alena Kish was featured in the World Encyclopedia of [Naive Art](/source/Na%C3%AFve_art) by [Oto Bihalji-Merin](/source/Oto_Bihalji-Merin)'','' published in [Yugoslavia](/source/Yugoslavia). She was one of the few female artists among 800 names representing 50 countries, including renowned figures such as [Henri Rousseau](/source/Henri_Rousseau) (France), [Ivan Generalich](/source/Ivan_Generali%C4%87) (Croatia), [Niko Pirosmani](/source/Niko_Pirosmani) (Georgia), [Katerina Bilokur](/source/Kateryna_Bilokur) (Ukraine), [Maria Prymachenko](/source/Maria_Prymachenko) (Ukraine), and others.[{{Cite web |title=A song about life in paradise: the intimate art of Elena Kish |url=https://www.nlb.by/en/news/through-the-pages-of-the-belarusian-calendar/a-song-about-life-in-paradise-the-intimate-art-of-elena-kish/ |access-date=2024-12-29 |website=National Library of Belarus}}]
The works of Alena Kish have inspired numerous contemporary artists and fashion designers, including the Belarusian eco-brand Historia Naturalis. Alena Kish has been highlighted in the book "She was" by contemporary Belarusian female artists dedicated to reclaiming and celebrating the talents and achievements of women in Belarusian history.[{{Cite news |title=«Женские подвиги легко стираются из памяти»: как создавалась книга «Она была», которая возвращает беларусской истории ее героинь |url=https://womenplatform.net/region/zhenskie-podvigi-legko-stirayutsya-iz-pamyati/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240911205033/https://womenplatform.net/region/zhenskie-podvigi-legko-stirayutsya-iz-pamyati/ |archive-date=2024-09-11 |access-date=2024-12-29 |work=Women Platform |language=en-US |url-status=live }}]
thumb|Kish's work at an exhibition in Minsk in 2013
==References==
==External links==
* {{cite web|url=https://nn.by/?c=lr&i=210920|title=Алена Кіш: гісторыя самагубства і пасмяротнага прызнання|trans-title= Alena Kish: a story of suicide and posthumous recognition|publisher=[Nasha Niva](/source/Nasha_Niva)|language=be|date=2018-06-10|accessdate=2018-06-10}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kish, Alena}}
Category:19th-century births
Category:1949 suicides
Category:1949 deaths
Category:Year of birth uncertain
Category:People from Slutsk district
Category:People from Slutsky Uyezd
Category:Belarusian painters
Category:Suicides by drowning
Category:Artists who died by suicide
Category:Suicides in the Soviet Union
Category:Belarusian women painters
Category:20th-century Belarusian painters
Category:Feminism in Belarus
Category:Textile arts of Belarus
Category:Naïve painters
Category:20th-century women textile artists
Category:20th-century textile artists
{{Belarus-painter-stub}}
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Alena Kish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alena_Kish) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alena_Kish?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.