Self-taught artist, self-taught artist, orthodox artist.
Anatoly Petrovich was born on October 15, 1933 in the village of Penki. His family consisted of 4 people: his father Peter Kuzmich, mother Marina Ivanovna, brother Victor Petrovich. The family lived poorly. The parents worked at the collective farm. Anatoly Petrovich finished 5 forms of the Serpova school, but then the war interfered. His father died in 1944. And little Tolya liked drawing very much. He used coal from the stove instead of pencils and paints, and simple planks instead of canvas. Tolya was taught to draw by Ivan Grigorievich nicknamed Kudroy, a stranger without home, without family, Tolya probably reminded him of his own children left without a father. It was said that he was from the dispossessed. It was he who instilled in Anatoly a love of drawing. Anatoly did not succeed with his studies at the Academy of Folk Art in Moscow, the time was hard, post-war, the family was large, he had to abandon his studies and go to work. But Anatoly Petrovich retained his love for drawing for life. From 15 years Anatoly began working in the collective farm Red Sickle. There he worked all his life as a tractor driver. Anatoly Petrovich entered Moscow Correspondence University of Arts at the Central House of Folk Art named after N.K. Krupskaya, Faculty of Fine Arts. Where he graduated 2 courses in 1966 and 1970. Always loved to draw. Drawing on wrapping paper and old canvas, on the lids of parcel bins and leather folders, on whatever he could get under the arm. At first he painted rural landscapes, then began to paint Orthodox churches, which were at that time in almost every village. A lot of pictures devoted to the village. Serpovoye, painted the rivers Serp and Tsna, tried his hand at genre scenes, and of course, took an active part in the restoration of the Church of the Resurrection Slovushego in Serpovoye. Later, having toured the whole Morshan district on a motorcycle, Anatoly painted all the churches, the Nikolo-Cherneevsky monastery, the estate of Count Vorontsov-Dashkov. He wrote more than 40 paintings on various subjects: there are graphic portraits of fellow villagers, colorful landscapes of his native Tambov region, but a special place in the work of the artist - self-taught takes the church. Anatoly Petrovich, a man of deep faith, loved to paint old churches, wrote icons, took part in the restoration of the Serpov church, painted its walls on church subjects. Thanks to Anatoly Petrovich, we have an idea of the lost sanctuaries of the Penkovo and Davydovo churches, and from the huge canvas given to the school museum, the Church of the Resurrection of the Word looks at us in its original beauty. As the villagers remember, the tractor drivers gather in the field for lunch. They take out not cunning stuff. Anatoly Petrovich brings a burdock and puts a sausage wrapped in paper on it. He sits on the tractor's track, smoothes the paper on his knee. Then a pencil stump is in his hands, and in a few minutes, a graphic sketch on the wrapping paper. We owe him memories of kulachki, the first tractor, Shrovetide and a country wedding. His genre pictures "Rural wedding", "Fist fights in Al. Borki", "The first tractor", "Road to the market", "Russian troika", "Autumn landscape" are also impressive. Anatoly Petrovich was the participant of many art exhibitions, for what he was repeatedly awarded by Certificates of Honor of the administrations of the region and the district, diplomas of different degrees and valuable gifts. A talented artist Anatoly Petrovich Melkhov died July 27, 2005. He was buried in the village cemetery in the village of Penki. He was buried in the cemetery in the village of Penki. His talented works, which are stored in the Melkhovs' family archive, the museum of the Serpov school, in the Morshan district library.