The Artists' Union of the USSR (Russian: Союз художников СССР, romanized: Soyuz khudozhnikov SSSR) was a creative union of the Soviet artists and art critics embracing the Republics of the Soviet Union. The Union was founded started in 1932 to supersede the AKhRR. The integral Union was instituted in 1957. By January 1, 1976 the Union included 14,538 members. In was officially disbanded at its 8th Congress in January 1992 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, with its rights distributed over the corresponding unions in the post-Soviet states.