1922 - 2006 Soviet Ukrainian painter Member of the USSR Academy of Arts. People’s Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1985). Honored Artist of Ukraine. Winner of the Prize of the Crimean Autonomous Republic. Honorary Academician of the Crimean Academy of Sciences. Tolochko was born on October 22, 1922, in Melitopol, Zaporozhye region of Ukraine into a shoemaker’s family. Already in his early childhood he painted with pleasure. The first teacher of painting was the school teacher of drawing Andrei Ivanovich Korolkov. At the age of 15, the watercolor portrait of the hero Dzhambul was sent to the All-Union exhibition in Moscow, and the young artist was awarded with a diploma. In 1940, he was drafted into the Red Army and served in Central Asia. Viktor Tolochko fought on the Central Front. He had several serious wounds, was buried alive with an injured leg in the Kursk Bulge and was rescued by a friend who identified him with a glittering golden lyre, which he was awarded back in school for his participation in a musical circle. On the obelisk in the village of Teplylkoe the name Tolochko VI is indicated. Victor was a scout. He alone captured After the hospital, he returned to the unit and flew on the attack aircraft as a radio gunner. For courage and heroism was awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st degree, the Order of Glory 3rd degree, the Order of the Red Star, medals “For the capture of Koenigsberg” and “For victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.” In 1946 to 1950, he studied at the Kharkov Art School. In 1957, he graduated from the Kharkov Art Institute in the workshop of A. Kokel. After graduation, he was appointed as the director of the Museum of Ukrainian Art in Yalta, which then occupied the halls of the Vorontsov Palace. In 1963, he built an art workshop in Yalta and returned to creative work. In 1970, he moved to Donetsk and in 1973 became head of the Donetsk branch of the Union of Artists of Ukraine. Later, he returned to Crimea. The last 30 years of his life he lived and worked in Yalta. He worked in the genre of landscape painting and still life. The artist died on April 13, 2006 in Yalta. In May 1999, he was included in the almanac, The Life of Remarkable People of the Crimea. The works of the painter are widely represented in many public and private collections in Ukraine and abroad. He is listed on page 320 of Matthew Bown's, A Dictionary of Twentieth Century Russian Soviet Painters.