Background
Shovkunenko was born in the city of Kherson, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (in the Kherson Oblast of present-day Ukraine).
Shovkunenko was born in the city of Kherson, in the Kherson Governorate of the Russian Empire (in the Kherson Oblast of present-day Ukraine).
Imperial Academy of Arts.
Shovkunenko was a graduate of the Grekov Odessa Art school in 1908 and the Saint St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1917. He taught at the Odessa Art Polytechnic from 1926-1929 and at the Art Institute from 1929-1935 and later at the Kiev State Art Institute from 1936-1963. Shovkunenko painted many portraits, including some of prominent Ukrainian cultural figures (such as Pavlo Tychyna, Mykola Lysenko, and Oleksandr Bohomolets) and also he painted landscapes of Ukraine, Moscow and other areas.
He took part in the exhibitions of the Society of South Russian Artists from 1913-1919 and was a member of the Kostandi Society of Artists from 1924-1929.