The studio of military artists named after Grekov showed its achievements
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Members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, led by its chairman, editor-in-chief of the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets Pavel Gusev, visited the Grekov Studio of Military Artists. Director of the creative organization Tatyana Samarskaya gave a tour of the workshops and showed projects of monuments that the artists are currently working on. Among them are a large-scale sculptural relief dedicated to the War of 1812, a monument to the commanders of Long-Range Aviation Vasily Reshetnikov and Pyotr Deinekin, and a project for a monument based on the film “The Dawns Here Are Quiet.”
The building of the Military Artists Studio on Soviet Army Street is easily recognizable by the large panel with a battle plot on the facade and sculptures around the building, specially built for the artel of military artists half a century ago. The creative organization, created according to the behests of the Soviet battle painter Mitrofan Grekov, will celebrate its 90th anniversary next year. Now 36 craftsmen work within its walls. Tatyana Samarskaya showed members of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation how they work now.
“Our artists don’t wait for inspiration, everything is military-style—the muse comes on command,” jokes the Studio director. – There is a task – we carry it out. Every year our artists create about 300 paintings and 60 sculptures. That is, one artist produces about ten works a year. Artists receive fees for projects that are approved by the commission. We have 36 authors on our staff, and four of them are women, which was not the case in Soviet times.
From the lobby with photographs of all the military artists who work in the Grekov Studio, we find ourselves in a picturesque hall. In the center is a large-scale painting depicting work on an even larger canvas, which could be seen at an exhibition at the Historical Museum last year. We are talking about the canvas “Victory Parade” with a height of 535 cm and a width of 1945 cm, which was created on the basis of a historical photograph taken from the roof of the State Historical Museum on June 24, 1945 and depicting the Parade of the winners in the Great Patriotic War. Nine artists from the Grekov Studio worked on this painting, which is now in the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation, for a whole year. At the end of the work, the artistic director of the Studio, Mikhail Poletaev, painted a picture about how the “Victory Parade” was created. Artists are depicted with photographic precision, but some authors appear in the “frame” several times. The viewer seems to be following the masters as they move in space and time around the monumental canvas, and sees the history of the creation of the painting in “rewind.”
Next to this picture is a canvas depicting the Russian military in Syria. The Greeks wrote it from outdoor photographs taken in a “hot spot”. Part of their creative work involves traveling to war zones where they can see events with their own eyes, so that when they return they can transfer the story into sculpture or canvas. Some studio members are now on a business trip in the Northern Military District zone. But the Greeks write not only military stories, they work in different genres. “This landscape was painted in Kabardino-Balkaria. We have so many landscapes that it would be enough for a large exhibition: we can show Russia from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad,” comments Samarskaya.
The next room is sculptural. Work is in full swing here on the monument “And the Dawns Here Are Quiet.” Craftsmen sculpt a monument from sculptural clay on a high rotating platform, and some elements from special plasticine. The performer of the role of Lisa Brichkina, Elena Drapeko, has already come to the Studio – she liked the sculpture.
Behind it is the largest work, 13.5 meters long and 9 meters high. Sculptor Lyudmila Semikopenko is working on a three-tiered panel dedicated to the War of 1812. The lower tier with the image of the Battle of Borodino and the council in Fili has already been cast in bronze and placed in the atrium of the National Defense Management Center of the Russian Federation. The second is here, at work. A frame of reinforcement protrudes from the clay model, which is gradually overgrown with a “mass”.
— Is it difficult in a men’s team? — I ask Lyudmila.
“Yes, but sometimes I win, but not due to feminine charm,” the sculptor answers. — Sometimes we argue about organizational issues, who will take on this or that part of the technical issues regarding molding, delivery of materials, and others.
Lyudmila does not have a military rank – she is from the younger generation of Greeks. But all the authors who have been working here since Soviet times have titles. After the founding of the Studio, many talented military personnel found themselves creative there and honed their battle painting skills. With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, most artists went to the front and upon their return were able to convey all the horrors of the war in their works. It was here that many authors of famous war posters, such as Nikolai Zhukov or Viktor Klimashin, worked. Artist Alexander Sytov, who has been working in the Grekov Studio for more than 40 years, remembers many of them. He holds the rank of lieutenant colonel. On the second floor, like other studio members, he has a small separate workshop. Now he is working on two portraits for us – the commanders of the War of 1812 and the commanders-in-chief of the Allied armies in Berlin. His colleague Sergei Troshin is painting a Suvorov Military School ball in the studio opposite.
Between the workshops you can find a series of large portraits of cultural and artistic figures – here Mayakovsky, Lomonosov, Pushkin. 30 years ago, at the time of the shelling of the White House, these paintings were on display there and witnessed historical events. The restorers then took a lot of bullets out of the frames and sealed up a lot of holes in the canvases. And still the traces remained. Only Pushkin was not affected.
We took a look into the workshop where history is being written. The results of the work of the Greeks can be seen in different parts of the country and the world. The Studio has its own gallery in Patriot Park, for which the artists are now creating new sculptures. And their works can be found in the Central Museum of the Armed Forces, museums of the Ministry of Defense in St. Petersburg and in the Russian Army Theater, located next to the Studio.
Newspaper headline:
The military artel showed its achievements
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