The Voice of Russia ( PICTORIAL ART DURING THE GREAT PATRIOTIC WAR [ Exhibition 2. GRAPHIC ARTISTS DRAW SCENES OF WW II ] )

GRAPHIC ARTISTS DRAW SCENES OF WW II

Art drawing positioned itself at the frontline every time a threat loomed over this country. It was present everywhere - in books and newspapers, on city streets and squares, aboard a ship and in the enemy rear. The two words - "art drawing" - were used in reference to biting satire, highly pathetic pictures of the war effort, portraits of belle lettere characters, and sketches of everyday life.

World War II left a deep imprint on the artists. It demanded that they work to the best of their ability. An artist might be expected to produce in the space of one night a comic strip and a poster. A piece of linoleum cut right out of the floor would be turned into an engraving, sent without a delay to the printing press to be either distributed among the fighting units or airdropped in the enemy rear.

Artists saw the most important events. They joined regular troops and guerrilla detachments and lost no time on occupied territory. Their sketches and hastily made paintings turned into fully accomplished and emotionally charged works of art.

They saw World War II as a period of special significance. Art which always aimed to give a second chance to reality has built an enduring monument to the courage and moral integrity of the Soviets. The war dealt many a blow on the community of Soviet artists. Many artists marched away with the Home Guards and many failed to come home. Many perished in besieged Leningrad.

They did stunning things in the genres of book design and historical illustration.

V.V.Shcheglov, an illustration to the novel The Young Guards by Alexander Fadeyev		A.D.Goncharov, Alexander Nevsky.
V.A.Favorsky, Minin and Pozharsky		N.M.Avvakumov, A portrait of Alexander Suvorov.

An exhibition of works by Leningrad-based artists produced a big impression on the Muscovites, in 1942. The exhibits told the truth about the life of Leningrad in the horrible winter of 1941 and 1942.

A.F.Pakhomov, Going for water to the Neva River		A.F.Pakhomov, At ground zero
A.F.Pakhomov, German POW's in Leningrad		A.F.Pakhomov, Fireworks in Leningrad
G.A.Nissky, At the Leningrad highway

Portraits of the war years betray the artists' interest in the inner world of those they painted, in their physical and psychological characteristics.

V.G.Litvinenko, Loving and proud		A portrait of the Hero of the Soviet Union S.A.Osipov
E.Einman, A Red army man		L.G Roiter, A traffic police woman officer

They did many landscapes in the war years. Now that mortal danger was looming right over their heads, artists developed a keener perception and finer sense of detail. They showed the empty streets of places that refused to look like their home cities, marching troops and tank formations instead of gaudily dressed passers-by, antiaircraft guns on the roof of a neighboring house, blood-drenched dirt, anti-tank ditches and bomb craters, the land which became so dear to their hearts simply because it came under threat. They made no end of drawings of their dearest motherland.

V.I.Kurdov, A front road

V.V.Bogatkin, Moscow is invincible

A.A.Deineka, The outskirts of Moscow

Ye.A.Kibrik, A Stalingrad drawing

D.A.Shmarinov, Coming home

V.F.Mironenko, The Germans have passed by

Everything for the front! Everything for a victory! That slogan of the war effort brought artists to dig trenches and build defense installations, join guerrilla detachments and teams of industrial workers. And to draw, to do more and more drawings...

M.I.Pikov, Work on a defense line

A.M.Laptev, Defense installations in Moscow

I.A.Sokolov, To the enemy rear

V.I Kurdov, A guerrilla march formation

Artists took an in-depth view of the frontlines, front routine, and front developments. The sketches they made at the front are documents of the war years.

K.I.Finoghenov, All to the last man

K.I.Finoghenov, An attack

D.A.Shmarinov, The Nazi horde

V.V.Bogatkin, Unter den Linden on May 2, 1945

V.S.Bibikov, The end of a Nazi pirate

D.K.Mochalsky, Inside the Reikhstag

L.F.Golovanov, Victors come home

The art of caricature reached its peak. Cartoonists were hired by newspapers and magazines, and made drawings for leaflets and posters. What can be described as well-meant caricatures were in vogue.

B.Ye.Yefimov, A mouse trap

A.V.Kokorin, A page of the front diary

Kukryniksy, The spring of 1945

Kukryniksy, Full-speed destruction

Drawings that show what Soviet people did at the front and in the rear make up a chronicle of World War II. They are invaluable from the point of view of Soviet and world art.

The book "The Great Patriotic War As Seen By Soviet Graphic Artists" was used in preparation for the exhibition. Cf. M.Z.Kholodkovskaya, The Great Patriotic War As Seen By Soviet Graphic Artists, published by the Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1948.