By Veronika Kozlovskaya
The museum, located inside the fortress barracks, is hosting an exhibition of paintings depicting ordinary military men and commanders, victorious tears and the sorrow of loss. The General Consul of Russia to Brest, Nikita Matkovsky, noted at the opening, “This cultural project is devoted to Victory Day. It’s the first time that paintings from the Grekov Studio of Military Artists have been on show in Brest. This Russian and Belarusian legacy appears all the more poignant for being displayed within Brest Fortress.”
The show features 24 pictures by 18 artists — including Alexander Ananiev, Andrey Drozdov, Oleg Yezdakov, Yevgeny Korneev, Valery Mokrushin, Vladimir Pereyaslavtsev, Nikolay Prisekin and Pavel Ryzhenko. Canvases are dedicated to the 1812 War and the Great Patriotic War, as well as the modern army and fleet. Most were created over the past decade.
Studio member Honoured Artist of Russia Pavel Ryzhenko (who painted Paris: 1814) admits that it can be difficult to transport his large canvas but that he is honoured to participate in the present show. “I’ll remember the fortress all my life. It’s soaked in the blood of its defenders and encourages us to love the huge country which stretched from Brest to Vladivostok,” he says.
The opening ceremony gathered heads of all diplomatic missions working in Brest, in addition to city and regional authorities, and artists. Mikhail Konkov — who heads an exhibition hall at Brest’s Public-Cultural Centre — believes that everyone’s soul ‘yearns’ for realistic art. Meanwhile, Art Museum Director Vasily Gulyaev promises that pictures by other Russian, Ukrainian and Polish artists will soon be exhibited at the hall.
