Mykola Syadristy

The renowned micro-miniature master Mykola Syadristy — People’s Artist of Ukraine — was born in Ukraine in 1937. He studied at the Kharkiv State Academy of Art and Design and also earned a degree at the Kharkiv V. V. Dokuchaev National Agrarian University. Between 1960 and 1967 he worked as an agronomist in Transcarpathia, and from 1967 to 1974 as an engineer within the system of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. He was a sports champion of the former Soviet Union and a world champion in underwater sports.

Mykola Syadristy is a man of wide-ranging interests and extraordinary creativity. For nearly 50 years he pursued the art of micro-miniatures as a hobby. He made every micro-miniature by hand, using a unique technique for each piece. He is also the author of two famous books: 'Is a Flea Hard to Shoe?' and 'The Secrets of Micro-Technique'. The latter was reprinted several times and, as a bestseller, won first place in the competition for the most popular science book of the Soviet Union. He holds the title of People’s Artist of Ukraine.

The master's creative art gave rise to a new word: 'micro-miniature', which had never before appeared in encyclopaedias or dictionaries. His art has been exhibited on every continent and earned outstanding recognition among visitors in every country. His works are most widely presented at the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow, the permanent exhibition of the Pechersk Museum in Kyiv, and the Microminiature Museum in Andorra. The micro-miniature art and technique of Mykola Syadristy defy our imagination when it comes to bridging human ability, science, technology and the universe.

For decades Mykola Syadristy studied the history of totalitarian regimes: fascism, Nazism and communism. A large travelling exhibition on the communist terror of the 20th century, compiled from his private collection, was hosted by 20 regional centres in Ukraine as well as by Hungary and Greece. Mykola Syadristy is also the author of all the inscriptions on the National Museum's memorial to the victims of the Ukrainian famine (Holodomor).