Document for the Medal of People's Performance Artist of the USSR , #0110, awarded to Soviet Uzbek actor, documentary film maker and film director Malik Kayumov (Малик Каюмович Каюмов), 1985.
The document is a 3" x 4" hard booklet bound in navy blue leatherette, issued on 10 December 1985. The front cover has a beautiful gold impression of the Soviet state emblem and inscription "People's Performance Artist of the USSR". There is a color image of the medal on the inside cover and a placeholder for a photo of the recipient opposite the main (citation) page. The main internal page states that the title was bestowed by a Supreme Soviet decree on 1 July 1967. The following page once again shows the name of the recipient and states that he was issued a medal without a serial numb
The document is a 3" x 4" hard booklet bound in navy blue leatherette, issued on 10 December 1985. The front cover has a beautiful gold impression of the Soviet state emblem and inscription "People's Performance Artist of the USSR". There is a color image of the medal on the inside cover and a placeholder for a photo of the recipient opposite the main (citation) page. The main internal page states that the title was bestowed by a Supreme Soviet decree on 1 July 1967. The following page once again shows the name of the recipient and states that he was issued a medal without a serial number. As far as we know, this is a common feature of all People's Performance Artist medals: even though they had a provision for the serial number, the space always remained blank. All the medals are alike, and therefore any document can match any medal.
The document is in excellent condition. The exterior is pristine; the inscription on the cover is very bright. The binding is perfectly tight. The internal pages show only the faintest stain on the title page and a slight crease to the top corner, not very obvious or detractive.
Established in 1936, the title of People's Performance Artist of the USSR (Narodnyi Artist in Russian) was the highest level of recognition in all areas of performing arts including cinematography, drama, opera, and ballet. It was exceptionally difficult to earn: even some of the most popular and beloved Soviet movie stars never reached this coveted degree, having to be content with lesser titles such as people's performance artist / honored performance artist of various Soviet republics. Most available sources agree that the title of People's Performance Artist of the USSR was bestowed upon 1006 people in total. Not all of them received the medal: it was introduced only in 1985 and henceforth issued only to the bearers of the title who were still alive. It is noteworthy that Malik Kayumov - who was one of the early recipients of the title - received the document with a very low serial number 0110, perhaps in recognition of his seniority among the bearers of the title and his status of a veteran of the Patriotic War.
Malik Kayumov (born Abdumalik Abdukayumovich Kayumov) was born in 1912 in Tashkent, Russian Empire and lived until the ripe age of 98. He died in Moscow in 2010. He tied his life with film making since 1929 as an actor in the first ever Uzbek movies. In 1932 he finished three years of the State Institute of Cinematography in Moscow and became a cameraman. During WW2, he served as a frontline cameraman with the Second Belorussian Front from January 1942 until March 1945, after two battle wounds had made him an invalid.
After the war, Kayumov continued as a documentary film maker, earning the titles of The People's Performance Artist of Uzbek SSR (1965), The People's Performance Artist of the USSR (1967), the State Prize of the USSR (1981), and Hero of Socialist Labor (1990). Over his long career in film making, his films brought him more than a dozen Soviet and international awards, including gold medals at the New York World Fair and International Film Festival in Venice, and a multitude of diplomas of various film festivals. He was also awarded with the Order of the Red Star (1943), Order of the Badge of Honor (1940), Order of the Red Banner (1944), two Orders of the Red Banner of Labor (1959, 1971), two Orders of Lenin (1980, 1990), Order of the Patriotic War (1985), and several medals.
Ample information about this extraordinary man can be found on Wikipedia and a number of other Russian and English language Internet sources.
Please note that we have included photos of Malik Kayumov, found on the csdfmuseum.ru site, purely for illustrative purposes. They are not included with the document.
Please note that the penny in our photo is for size reference.
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