Classics of Belarusian Art

For the history of fine arts in Belarus, the post-war period since 1947 is of great importance when, in the process of reviving peaceful life, educational institutions were restored, in particular the art school (now the Minsk State Art College named after A. Glebov) and a little later in 1953 the State Theater Art Institute (now the Belarusian State Academy of Arts). Artists who had gotten their education before the war in Moscow, Leningrad, Vitebsk were brought to Belarus as teachers; Valentin Volkov, Andrei Bembel, Alexey Glebov, and Vitaly Tsvirko were among those who had made immeasurable contributions to the art education.

Since that time, the flourishing of Belarusian professional fine art began thanks to a whole galaxy of talented painters, sculptors and graphic artists, which also included those who came to Belarus from other republics of the Soviet Union.

Our exhibition is a small but eloquent fragment of the post-war art. Boris Arakcheev, Fyodor Doroshevich, Evgeny Krasovsky, Evgeny Tikhonov, Valeria Zholtok, Boris Nepomnyashchy, Elena Shestovskaya, and Pyotr Krokholev are masters of realism, for whom the most important task in art was to reflect the truth of life in paintings. Not invented stories, not fantasies, but real objects and natural phenomena, which evoke the most sincere feelings and experiences, were depicted.

And, perhaps, the most important advantage of the post-war art was the life-affirming, creative content of the canvases, in which the joy of life was at the forefront.