/ / News
07.09.2012

Belarus President takes part in Mikhail Savitsky’s art gallery opening

MINSK, 7 September (BelTA) – President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko took part in the opening of a gallery of People’s Artist of Belarus Mikhail Savitsky on 7 September, BelTA has learned.

Located at 15 Svobody Square, the building was erected in the 18th century. It has been chosen to house the gallery by the artist himself. Following his approval the premises have been rebuilt to become a dual-use museum facility that combines an art gallery and an exhibition to highlight the history of the building.

Four chambers on the first floor have been restored as a small parlor and a big one, a study, and a library. The exhibition dedicated to the art of Miklhail Savitsky is located in nine chambers of the second floor and on the third floor of the wing. It comprises the works acquired from the artist and those lent by the artist’s family and Belarusian museums. The gallery showcases replica interiors of the workshop and the study of Mikhail Savitsky as well as personal belongings, awards, photos, letters, books with autographs and so on. A total of 98 works by Mikhail Savitsky are on display at the gallery.

Alexander Lukashenko took a tour of all the chambers of the gallery and was pleased with the efforts to create the gallery. The President liked the artist and had talked to him many times.

The head of state also talked to Belarusian artists, pupils of Mikhail Savitsky. Alexander Lukashenko believes their works should be on display in one of the chambers of the gallery. Famous Belarusian artist Igor Barkhatkov, who is a pupil of Mikhail Savitsky, gifted a picture of a Belarusian landscape in summer to Alexander Lukashenko.

In memory of his visit the President of Belarus left a note in the distinguished visitors’ book. “With a feeling of agitation I visited the gallery of Mikhail Andreyevich Savitsky, a man I knew well and respected a lot, an artist, whose vision was internationally recognized,” the note says. “May the gallery of works by this prominent son of Belarus serve the spiritual enrichment of the people, filling hearts with pride for our talented nation that has bestowed the mankind with this Master”.

Mikhail Savitsky is a Hero of Belarus, a USSR People’s Artist, a Belarus People’s Artist, an honored citizen of Minsk, a corresponding member of the USSR Art Academy, a laureate of the USSR State Prize and the BSSR State Prize. During the Great Patriotic War he was 20 years old and participated in the battle for Sevastopol, was captured, and went through the concentration camps Dusseldorf, Buchenwald, and Dachau. The memories have been reflected in a cycle of his pictures. Mikhail Savitsky’s art legacy comprises over 170 works. Titled as Figures on the Heart, the series of 16 pictures was dedicated to concentration camp prisoners and is an unparalleled masterpiece as far as the complexity and the scale of the artistic task are concerned.