Iosif Puchinskiy was born in 1922 in Uzda, Minsk. He began his formal art education in 1938 at the Vitebsk Academy, the art school founded by Marc Chagall. Mr. Puchinskiy’s studies were put on hold in 1942 when he was drafted into the Soviet Armed Forces, and fought in the Battle of Stalingrad. After World War II, Mr. Puchinskiy continued his education at the Minsk Art School, then the Belarusian Theatrical and Arts Institute. His rigidly structured painting courses were taught by Ivan Achremchyk, Vial Virko and Valentin Volkov. Mr. Puchinskiy had solo exhibitions in Belarus in 1948, 1972, 1982 and 1994, as well as in Budapest, Warsaw, Moscow and Rome. In December, 2004, Mr. Puchinskiy was featured in a solo exhibition at Kamp Gallery in Chicago, Illinois. He has illustrated over 120 books in his native land, and his works are in permanent museum collections in Belarus, Germany, Italy and Israel. Mr. Puchinskiy emigrated to the United States in 1994 and settled in Chicago in 1994. Mr. Puchinskiy passed away on December 16, 2007. He is greatly missed by his family, friends, and the art community. Translated from Chicago Russian Daily: Joseph Puchinskiy's work is more than a painting; it is a historical document attesting to the man's persistence in creating beauty in the difficult and fractured world of Soviet ideology.