Paintings depicting Belozersk churches

Belozersk churches painted by contemporary artists

The art collection of the Belozersk Regional Museum of Local Lore was actively formed in the 1990s. In that time paintings from the collection of Moscow architect Mikhail Kudryavtsev (graphics by Demyan Utenkov, Vladimir Smirnov, Sergey Kharlamov) were donated to the museum. In 1993, a Russian plein air was held in Belozersk after which the collections received works by Vladimir Korbakov, Vladimir Latyntsev, Alexander Komendantov, Yuri Voronov, Viktor Sedov from Vologda, Semyon Voronov from Moscow, and Valentin Zhdanov from Perm. In 1994, more than 50 graphic, pictorial and sculptural works were transferred from ROSIZO, including works by famous masters Vladimir Korbakov, Alexander Panteleev, Viktor Sedov, Myuda Mechev, Yuli Vechersky, Anatoly Lapshinov and others. In the 2000s, after the opening of the art department, the collection began to replenish with paintings by Belozersk artists Yevgeny Ministrov, Yevgeny Timoshkin, Yury Bukhalov, Tatyana Serova, Nina Klubkova, Igor Nikolaev, Leonid Shustikov. The last major receipts of works of art occurred in 2006 from ROSIZO and after the plein air of students and teachers of the Surikov and Repinsky art schools. In total, the art collection of paintings and graphic works includes 445 works of the 19th –  21st centuries.

The collection includes landscapes, portraits, still life and story paintings. How diverse is the geography of the authors – Belozersk, Lipin Bor, Cherepovets, Veliky Ustyug, Vologda, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Orenburg, Perm, Czechoslovakia – so diverse are the themes of their works. Rural and urban views, images of famous monasteries and small towns of Russia, portraits of the country's leaders, war veterans, and rural workers. Many paintings are dedicated to the history of our country, including the Great Patriotic War. There are fairy-tale themes and literary works in the paintings.

Particularly noteworthy are works depicting the temples of the town of Belozersk.

They can be divided into three groups:

1. Historical reconstruction

2. Through the eyes of contemporaries

3. Memory drawings

Historical reconstruction

The artists restore historical events in their paintings. Famous Vologda painter Vladimir Korbakov, inspired by the stories about the heroic pages of our region, created The Legends of Belozeriye in 2000. The squad, dressed in armor "greatly armored and the horses are military equipped under them," goes to Moscow to fight the horde of Mamai. Centuries and epochs intertwined on the canvas: a squad of the 14th century, the Kremlin with earthen walls of the 15th century, the snow-white walls of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the 17th century and the bridge of the 19th century. In fact, they are legends and facts of the ancient and famous Belozeriye!

Studying archival sources, comparing the architectural elements of temples of different eras and towns of Russia, the artists recreate the appearance of ancient temples. So, the drawings (The Ancient Town) by architect Mikhail Kudryavtsev show the town of Beloozero of the 16th century: a wooden palisade-fence, pavements, the Assumption Church with arched gables, its domes with a wooden crenellated plowshare and walls with slit-like windows. This is exactly how our first temple looked like according to the documents; in subsequent centuries it was rebuilt (The Ancient Town).

The first group of reconstructions includes works of Viktor Podgorny, an artist from Vologda. In the early 2000s, he worked on his major Our Past. The View of the Artist project. According to eyewitnesses, he presented the photographs with the appearance of the lost temples of the Vologda region, including the Belozersk churches lost in the 1930-1960s. Viktor Podgorny’s works are made in the mixed technique.

1. The Legends of Belozeriye, painting, by Vladimir Korbakov, Vologda (2002)
2. Blessing, engraving, by Yevgeny Ministrov, Belozersk, Vologda region (1980)
3. Seeing off the Belozersk Squad to the Field of Kulikovo, engraving, by Yevgeny Ministrov, Belozersk, Vologda region (1980)
4. The Ancient Town, drawing, by Mikhail Kudryavtsev, Moscow (1990)
5. The Ancient Town, drawing, by Mikhail Kudryavtsev, Moscow (1990)
6. The Transfiguration Cathedral, The Church of St. Basil, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
7. The Church of St. George, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
8. The View of the Churches of Peter and Paul, St. George the Victorious, the Nativity of Christ, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
9. The Church of the Resurrection of Christ, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
10. The Church of Saint Nicholas, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
11. The Churches of the Intercession of the Virgin and Elijah the Prophet, painting, by Viktor Podgorny (2002)
12. The Church of the Savior on the Hill, painting, Viktor Podgorny (2002)

Through the eyes of contemporaries

The next group is the largest one. It presents almost all the temples of the town made in such techniques as oil painting, tempera, linocut, watercolor. Basically, the artists worked in a realistic manner. There are sketches and finished paintings here. Solving different goals such as to show the panorama of the town, the majesty of the Kremlin, the ancient architecture, the measured and special character of the province, the artists depict our churches in different ways, each in their own manner. So, in The Earthen Walls painting of Yuri Voronov, only the bulbs of the Transfiguration Cathedral are visible behind a high earthen rampart with a runaway path. On the plein-air Bathing Evening in Belozersk sketch of Alexander Golyshev, the domes of the Assumption Cathedral appear white behind the roofs of the bathhouses, the smoke coming from them, and green bushes. In The Embankment in Belozersk painting by Vladimir Latyntsev, the foreground is given to the usual evening life of the town, and the Church of the All-Merciful Savior stands in the background. Such paintings as Near the Transfiguration Cathedral by Viktor Sysoev, The Bell Tower of the All-Merciful Savior by Chu Zien Truong, The All-Merciful Savior by Vladimir Vetrogonsky, The Church of Elijah the Prophet in the Town of Belozersk by Olga Sokolova, The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Belozersk by Vladimir Korbakov focus on the temples, they are the main characters and dominants. The artists focus on decorative features: the tiles of the Church of the Savior, the ploughshare plates on the dome of the wooden church. The My Town panoramic work of Tatyana Serova is saturated. But the Church of the All-Merciful Savior is not lost in the town quarter. The artist specially expands the space to display the Belozersk sights. Landscapes with the ruins of temples in the paintings of Belozersk artists Yevgeny Timoshkin (Ruins), Nina Klubkova (Paraskeva Pyatnitsa) are sad and sorrowful.

The Assumption Cathedral

1. The Assumption Church by P.I. Savinov (1973)  
2. The Assumption Church by Yevgeny Ministrov (1960-1980)
3. The Town of Belozersk by Yury Voronov (1993)
4. The Eternal, the right part of the Between Two Ages treble painting by Nikolay Fedosov (2000)
5. Belozersk in Winter by Yury Bukhalov (2004)
6. The Bathing Evening in Belozersk by Alexander Golyshev (2006)

 The Transfiguration Cathedral

1. The Transfiguration Cathedral by Yevgeny Ministrov (1960-1980)
2. Belozersk by N. Nenarokov (1981)  
3. The Transfiguration Cathedral by Alexander Komendantov (1993)
4. The Stone Bridge by S. Voronov (1993)
5. The Earthen Walls by Yury Voronov (1993)
6. Near the Assumption Cathedral by Viktor Sysoev (2005)
7. The Evening Twilight by Oleg Zhuravlev (2006)

 The Church of Elijah the Prophet

1. The Church of Elijah the Prophet by Yevgeny Ministrov (1960-1980)
2. The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Belozersk by Vladimir Korbakov (1993)
3. The Church of Elijah the Prophet in Belozersk by Olga Sokolova (1999)
4. The Church of Elijah the Prophet by Yevgenia Schipakina (2006)
5. The Belozersk Motive by Oleg Zhuravlev (2006)  

The Church of the Savior on the Hill

1. Ruins by Yevgeny Timoshkin (2004)

The Church of the All-Merciful Savior

1. The View of the Canal by N. Getmanov (1950)
2. The Church of the All-Merciful Savior by Yevgeny Ministrov (1980-1990). Print, paper, lino print, color
3. Belozersk by N. Nenarokov (1981)
4. The Town on the Shore of White Lake by Valentin Zhdanov (1993)
5. The Church of the All-Merciful Savior by Alexander Komendantov (1993)
6. The Embankment in Belozersk by Vladimir Latyntsev (1993)
7. The Day Seen Through the Hustle of Inaction by I. Nokolaev (1995)
8. My Town by Tatyana Serova (2000)
9. The All-Merciful Savior by Vladimir Vetrogonsky (2001)
10. Winter in Belozersk by Tayana Zorina (2001)
11. The View of the Embankment in Autumn, sketch, by Yury Bukhalov (2003)
12. The Quiet Evening by Ye. Nikolskaya (2006)
13. The Bell Tower of the All-Merciful Savior by Chu Zien Truong (2006)

The Church of the Epiphany

1. The Church of the Epiphany, engraving, by Yevgeny Ministrov (1960-1980), Belozersk, Vologda region, 34.3 х 25.1 cm
2. Between Two Ages, treble painting, its left part called From the Past, by Nikolay Fedotov (2000), canvas, oil, oil painting. Cherepovets, Vologda region, 98 х 73 cm
3. The Church by Yu. Bykova (2006)

 The Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa

1. Paraskeva Pyatnitsa by Nina Klubkova (2004). Canvas, oil, oil painting. Belozersk, Vologda region, 38 х 48 cm

The Chapel of the Kirillo-Novoezersky Monastery

1. On the Market Place, engraving, by Yevgeny Ministrov (1985). Belozersk, Vologda region, 42.3 х 28.5 cm

 Memoirs drawings

The third group includes drawings by amateur artist Gennady Puchkov from St. Petersburg. During the war, Gennady was a teenager and lived in Belozersk. Decades later, he created a cycle of memoirs drawings. These are some kind of stories about the life of children during the war and impressions. His  drawings tells us how the wounded arrived in Belozersk, ships sailed along the Mariinsky water system, a Siberian division passed, how students helped people who went to war, i.e. simple and everyday concerns of the inhabitants of the rear. The artist uses pencils, watercolor, felt-tip pens, colored pencils, ink. He draws small details very carefully, pays attention to all depicted items.

The catalog represents a part of the art collection. All items are divided into three logical groups. Each group has its own structure for presenting information. We hope that the catalog will be in demand, it will be of interest to researchers and lovers of ancient monuments of the Russian North and fine arts.

Gennady Puchkov’s collection of drawings

1. Snow Melting in Belozersk. The School where Sergey Orlov Studied (the Transfiguration Cathedral) (1994). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 22.3 х 32.5 cm. Photo 1
2. The Surgery Day in the Hospital (the Church of the Nativity) (1990s). Paper, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 21.2 х 29.7 cm.  Photo 2
3. Belozersk. The Corner of Sovetsky Prospekt and 3rd Internatsionala Street (the Assumption Cathedral) (1990). Cardboard, paper, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 24.3 х 18.9 cm
4. The Ice Air Field (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil, All-Merciful Savior) (1988). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 17.9 х 22.4 cm. Photo 3
5. The Bypass Canal (1985). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 15.9 х 23 cm
6. The Sergey Orlov Monument in Belozersk 03.11.1994 (the Transfiguration Cathedral) (1994). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, color pencils, mixed technique. 18.9 х 11.8 cm.  Photo 4
7. To Sergey Orlov’s Poem “Rain” (1995). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 16.6 х 22.1 cm
8. Freedom. The Church of the All-Merciful Savior (1995). Cardboard, Paper, gouache, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 18.6 х 24.5 cm.  Photo 5
9. The Earthen Walls in Winter 1941 (the Transfiguration Cathedral and the Church of St. Basil) (1990). Cardboard, Paper, gouache, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 18.1 х 24.1 cm. Photo 6
10. Drawing to Sergey Orlov’s poem “After Rain” (the Church of the Savior on the Hill) (1985). Cardboard, gouache, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 22.9 х 16.1 cm.  Photo 7.  Photo 8
11. The Old Harbor (1994). Paper, gouache, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 14.9 х 20.7 cm
12. The New Wounded Arrived (the Church of St. Basil) (1995). Paper, water color, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn. 13.5 х 20 cm.  Photo 9
13. The Churches of the Town (1990). Paper, color pencils, pens, felt-tip pens, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 24.5 х 18.0 cm.
14. The Downtown in the Evening (1990). Paper, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 14.6 х 21.2 cm
15. Belozersk. The Downtown (the Church of the All-Merciful Savior) (1994). Cardboard, water color, felt-tip pens, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 15 х 25.5 cm
16. On Ivanovskaya Street (the Church of John the Precursor) (1990s). Paper, Cardboard, mixed technique. 14 х 20 cm.  Photo 10
17. The Lower Gallery (the chapel) (1954). Cardboard, paper, felt-tip pens, color pencils, water color, mixed technique. 14 х 20 cm
18. The Bypass Canal (the Church of the All-Merciful Savior) (1993). Paper, water color, ink, hand-drawn. 14 х 19.5 cm. Photo 11
19. The Old Manor House (the Transfiguration Cathedral) (1985). Paper, water color, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn. 26 х 18 cm. Photo 12
20. In the Town Street (the Church of Peter and Paul) (1964). Paper, water color, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 18.5 х 24.5 cm. Photo 13
21. March. The Churches in Belozersk (1995). Paper, cardboard, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 15 х 25 cm. Photo 14
22. The Gallery (the Church of the All-Merciful Savior, the Church of Peter and Paul) (1995). Cardboard, water color, gouache, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 15 х 25.5 cm. Photo 15
23. The View of the Church of Ivan (1995). Paper, gouache, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 19.4 х 28.2 cm. Photo 16
24. Sovetsky Prospekt between Fevralskaya Street and Pionerskaya Street. Cobbling (the Assumption Cathedral) (1954). Cardboard, gouache, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 18.5 х 30 cm. Photo 17
25. Night over the Citadel (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil) (1994). Cardboard, ink, gouache, water color, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 24 х 14.5 cm
26. The Weedy Pond within the Earthen Walls (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil) (1995).  Cardboard, gouache, felt-tip pens, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 14 х 19 cm. Photo 18
27. The Veranda in Sergey Orlov’s House. The Wet Porch (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil) (1994). Cardboard, gouache, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 19.7 х 26 cm
28. The Bridge to the Inner Town (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil) (1995). Cardboard, gouache, color pencils, felt-tip pens, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 23.5 х 14.5 cm
29. The Early Morning (the Church of St. Nicholas, the Church of the Nativity) (1993). Paper, gouache, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 21.5 х 28 cm
30. The Outskirts (the Transfiguration Cathedral) (1985). Cardboard, gouache, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 15.5 х 26;  23 х 34 cm
31. The Weedy Pond within the Earthen Walls (the Church of the All-Merciful Savior) (1990). Cardboard, gouache, hand-drawn, ink, mixed technique. 23.2 х 33,5 cm. Photo 19
32. The Winter Avenue (the chapel) (1994). Cardboard, gouache, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 20.5 х 25.5 cm
33. The Fire Tower (the Assumption Cathedral) (1994). Cardboard, gouache, color pencils, mixed technique, ink, hand-drawn. 17 х 27 cm.  Photo 20
34. Yamskaya Village (the Church of Paraskeva Pyatnitsa) (1993). Paper, cardboard, gouache, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 18 х 24 cm. Photo 21
35. The Hospital in High School 1 in Winter 1942 (the Church of the Nativity) (1990). Paper, cardboard, water color, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 13.5 х 20 cm. Photo 22
36. The Hospital (the Assumption Cathedral, the Church of the Epiphany) (1975). Paper, cardboard, water color, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 13.5 х 20 cm. Photo 23
37. High School 2 (the Transfiguration Cathedral, the Church of St. Basil) (1995). Cardboard, gouache, water color, color pencils, ink, hand-drawn, mixed technique. 12 х 19 cm. Photo 24