The war at sea, on ground and in the sky, this is how The Memories of the War, the personal exhibition of the artist Nykolai Belousov, can be conventionally defined. It is opened on August 23, 2012 in the Center of Culture and Art. The exhibition is timed to the liberation of Kharkiv from Nazi invaders. And this day is especially important for the author, as it is since August 1943 Nikolai began to draw the War.
When the War started, Mykola Belousov was a teenager. He and his family traveled to the evacuation, but once Kharkiv was liberated, he returned to his hometown and started working at the Serp-i-Molot Factory as a toolmaker.
‘Actualy, we repaired the shotup equipment,’ Mykolai Belousov says. ‘I often went to the front line as a member of the front line teams, and we repaired on the spot what we could.’N
He showed artistic talent before the War. In 1940, he even won the children’s art competition which was held at the Rot Front Cinema (the task for children was to illustrate the heroism of the people, as reflected in the patriotic films), and the artist’s set of the paints, brushes and sketchbook was presented to little Mykola as a prize.
Certainly, the first days of the War, when the unsuspecting civilians, quietly traveling in a cart drawn by a horse, suddenly came under air bombardment of German aircraft, the mass death of our volunteers who had not yet managed to get a gun, and the brutal military battles inevitably affected the subtle soul of the young artist. He immediately began to translate his feelings on paper, and he still remembers and paints that war.
The current exhibition presents the pictures that are over 60 years old, and they were painted the last year. Here are the air battles, tank battles, sinking ships. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a triptych, created four decades ago, named At Sea, on Ground and in the Sky. Now the scenes of the Battle of Kursk are still present in the artist’s paintings.
‘God grant me a bit more time (as I have come to my nineties), and I would like to create a traveling exhibition for the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Kharkiv and Ukraine from the Nazis, combining photos, archival materials and my pictures on the war, starting from the Battle of Kursk, the Battle of Prokhorovka, in the Kharkiv area and up to Kiev, and to bring this exhibition along the way: Kursk-Kharkiv-Bilogorod, and to the capital of Ukraine,’ the artist speaks on his plans.
However, Nykolai Belousov’s works are not limited to the militaristic subject. He has a series of landscapes, still lifes, paintings of the quiet life scenes.
‘I’ve been born away by flowers in my day. I’ve spent a sum from each paycheck to buy vases, we’ve had the whole house in these vases, my wife grumbled, but tolerated,’ Nykolai says. ‘But my wife was skeptical as for hobbies of the War. She used to say, well, who needs this now. And somehow my exhibition in Merefa opened, I took my Zina. All was well organized: lots of flowers were there (a lot of people came to the opening ceremony, and they all carried bouquets), and the words of gratitude, and a chic cocktail party. I said to her: you see, people need it.’
Nykolai Belousov has lived in perfect harmony six decades with his wife, several years have passed since she is not with him, but when he talks about her, his eyes are filled with a bright sadness. This clear children’s note comes through in his paintings. And even portraying deadly battles, the artist gives himself as an incurable optimist, he does not plunge the viewer into despair and horror. On the contrary, after the exhibition leaves the feeling of hope for a victory over the enemy, for peaceful life, for the triumph of good.
The exhibition will run till September 23, at the small exhibition hall of the 1st floor at the Center of Culture and Art, Pushkinskaya Street 62, Kharkiv.
The exhibition hall is open 10.00 to 17.30, closed on Sundays.
We remind that in June this year, Mykola Belousov took part in the exhibition for Euro 2012, which was held in the Kharkiv Center of Culture and Art.
The permanent page of the article is here.