Boris Arakcheev: Fall Migration

Boris Arakcheev (1926-2013) is one of the classics of the Belarus fine arts, a master of painting, a teacher, and an Honored Artist of Belarus. He received his professional education among the first graduating class of artists from the Belarusian Theatre and Art Institute (now known as the Belarusian State Academy of Arts), which opened in 1953 in Minsk.

He worked in all genres of fine art: landscape, still life, portrait and subject-themed painting on a variety of topics, including agricultural, industrial and military, which he knew firsthand, having himself been a participant in the Great Patriotic War.

For the 25th anniversary of the Victory, Boris Arakcheev, in collaboration with a group of artists L. Osedovsky, P. Krokholev, V. Lagun, created a monumental diorama "Minsk Cauldron", a canvas of 500cm x 1850cm x 600cm (16′5″ x 60′8″ x 19′8″), for the Belarusian State Museum of the History of the Great Patriotic War.

Arakcheev was a gifted teacher, he tried to pass on his experience and skills the next generations of artists, including his three daughters, who followed in their father's footsteps in art. For almost 40 years, he taught at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts (Department of Painting).

The current exhibition fully demonstrates the autumn splendor of nature, which the artist perceived so emotionally, sincerely enjoying the beauty and brightness of the golden season. The autumn motif for Arakcheev, who loved dense and rich colors, became an inexhaustible source of artistic inspiration. For him, autumn has always been a festival of color combinations, the harmony of natural forces at its apogee. And this festival, fortunately, was repeated every year, and each time the artist went to nature to capture the autumn beauty, so charming to the eye.

The geography of Boris Arakcheev's landscapes is quite extensive; he traveled a lot around Belarus and Russia and painted landscapes of fields, rivers, villages, and cities, Zaslavl, Logoisk, Krichev, Yaroslavl, Tutaev. The sights of Minsk, old courtyards dear to the artist's heart, parks, squares were captured by his talented brush. The artist often painted Minsk landscapes in watercolor.

During his long creative life, Boris Arakcheev created a huge number of works, the best of which have found their permanent address in state art and regional museums of Belarus, Russia, Ukraine, the USA, as well as in private collections in Belarus and various foreign countries.