Prior to the Artists' Union of the USSR, there existed the Union of Soviet Artists (Союз советских художников, Soyuz sovetskikh khudozhnikov), which was founded by Alexander Grigoriev in Moscow in spring 1930.
It included Moscow and Leningrad artists along with former members of the AKhRR.
[3] The Union of Soviet Artists ceased to exist in 1932 following a government decision.
Following the resolution "On the Restructuring of Literary and Artistic Organizations" by the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) on 23 April 1932, unions of Soviet artists were established in the Union and autonomous republics, in krais, in oblasts, and in cities to supersede previous organizations.
[4] In Moscow they built the Central House of Artists which was opened in 1979.