Getman's painting of Nagaevo, Magadan's port Nikolai Getman (Russian: Николай Гетман, Ukrainian: Микола Ґетьман), an artist, was born in 1917 in Kharkiv, Ukraine, and died in Orel, Russia, in 2004.[1] He was a prisoner from 1946 to 1953 in forced labor camps in Siberia and Kolyma, where he survived as a result of his ability to sketch for the propaganda requirements of the authorities. He is remembered as one of few artists who has recorded the horrors of the Gulag in the form of paintings (see also drawings by Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya). Map of Ukraine with Kharkiv highlighted. ...
Oryol or Orel (Russian: ) is a city in Russia, administrative center of Oryol Oblast. ...
A labor camp is a simplified detention facility where inmates are engaged in forced labor. ...
Siberian federal subjects of Russia Siberia (Russian: Сиби́рь, common English transliterations: Sibir, Sibir; possibly from the Mongolian for the calm land) is a vast region of Russia and northern Kazakhstan constituting all of northern Asia. ...
The Kolyma (pronounced kah-lee-MAH) region is located in the far northeastern area of the Russian Federation. ...
Gulag ( , Russian: ) was the government body responsible for administering prison camps across the former Soviet Union. ...
Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya (Евфросиния Керсновская) (1907— 1994) spent 12 years in Gulag camps and wrote her memoirs in 12 notebooks, 2,200,000 characters, accompanied with 680 pictures. ...
Early life Getman had a difficult childhood in Ukraine, often close to starvation, but from the very beginning was able to develop his natural artistic talents. After graduating from technical college in 1937, he attended the Kharkiv Art College in order to become a professional artist. Three years later he was called up to join the Red Army, where he served until the end of World War II. Shortly after his return, he was arrested for participating in anti-Soviet propaganda as a result of a caricature of Stalin one of his friends had drawn on a cigarette box. He was convicted in January 1946 and sent to Siberia. Map of Ukraine with Kharkiv highlighted. ...
For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ...
Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki TÅjÅ Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...
“Siberian†redirects here. ...
The Gulag legacy During the eight years Getman spent at Taishetlag (Siberia) and Svitlag (Kolyma), he started to develop his plan to record the horrors of the camp conditions in the form of paintings. While he could not paint openly in the camps, he took careful note of all that transpired. Even when he started to paint after his release in 1953, he still had to do so in secret as he would otherwise have been convicted once again, perhaps even sentenced to death. In his own words: "I undertook the task because I was convinced that it was my duty to leave behind a testimony to the fate of the millions of prisoners who died and who should not be forgotten."[2] “Siberian†redirects here. ...
The Kolyma (pronounced kah-lee-MAH) region is located in the far northeastern area of the Russian Federation. ...
Getman's painting of Magadan Hills (Golgotha) The Jamestown Foundation provides access to all 50 of Getman's paintings together with explanations of their significance.[3] Their impact is especially effective in providing visual representations of the conduct of the camps, the harsh working conditions, the severe climate and the fate of the prisoners themselves. The Jamestown Foundation (founded 1984) is an American think tank whose mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends which are current strategic importance to the United States. ...
The Gulag paintings were not shown until 1993 at a private exhibition in the gallery of the Russian Artists' Union in Orel. In 1995, there was a special ceremony in the Turgenev Theatre in Orel where a Getman exhibition entitled "The Gulag in the Eyes of an Artist" was opened in the presence of the artist and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, author of The Gulag Archipelago. Alexandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (Russian: , IPA: ; born December 11, 1918) is a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. ...
The Gulag Archipelago. ...
In June 1997, with the support of the Jamestown Foundation and Getman's own wish to bring his paintings to the West, the private exhibition "The Gulag in the Eyes of an Artist" was displayed at the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C. The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States of America. ...
For other uses, see Washington, D.C. (disambiguation). ...
Other artistic activities In 1953, after his release, Getman worked as an artist in the House of Culture in Yagodnoe in Magadan Oblast. In 1956, he took part in an exhibition of the works of artists from Siberia and the Kolyma region and became a candidate for the USSR Union of Artists in 1957. In April 1963, he took part in the Second Congress of the USSR Artists' Union in Moscow, and in 1964 became a member of the USSR Artists' Union. He helped organize the Magadan Artists' Union and became director of the Magadan section of the Arts Foundation of the RSFSR from 1963 to 1966. In 1976, he moved from Magadan to Orel, where he had a studio in the local branch of the Russian Artists' Union. During this period he was also required to paint a number of portraits of political figures. Magadan Oblast (Russian: , Magadanskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), in the Far Eastern Federal District. ...
Union of Artists of the USSR (Russian: Союз художников СССР) was a creative union of the Soviet artists and arts critics embracing the union republics. ...
For other uses, see Moscow (disambiguation). ...
State motto: Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Workers of the world, unite!) Official language None (Russian in practice) Capital Moscow Chairman of the Supreme...
He participated in several art exhibitions across the Soviet Union as well as in Germany, Bulgaria, Finland and The Netherlands. Motto: Je Maintiendrai (Dutch: Ik zal handhaven, English: I Shall Uphold) Anthem: Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Capital Amsterdam1 Largest city Amsterdam Official language(s) Dutch2 Government Parliamentary democracy Constitutional monarchy - Queen Beatrix - Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende Independence Eighty Years War - Declared July 26, 1581 - Recognised January 30, 1648 (by Spain...
Getman's painting of a transit camp in Vanino, on the way to Kolyma
The artist's plea Getman is quite clear about his goal: "Some may say that the Gulag is a forgotten part of history and that we do not need to be reminded. But I have witnessed monstrous crimes. It is not too late to talk about them and reveal them. It is essential to do so. Some have expressed fear on seeing some of my paintings that I might end up in Kolyma again—this time for good. But the people must be reminded...of one of the harshest acts of political repression in the Soviet Union. My paintings may help achieve this."[4]
Nikolai Getman died at his home in Orel, Russia, in August 2004.
External links Dr. George Robert Ackworth Conquest (born July 15, 1917), British historian, became one of the best-known writers on the Soviet Union with the publication, in 1968, of his account of Stalins purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror. ...
The Wall Street Journal is an influential international daily newspaper published in New York City, New York with an average daily circulation of 1,800,607 (2002). ...
Bibliography - Conquest, Robert: The Great Terror: A Reassessment, Oxford University Press, May 1990, hardcover, ISBN 0-19-505580-2; trade paperback, Oxford, September, 1991, ISBN 0-19-507132-8
- Getman, Nikolai: The Gulag Collection: Paintings of the Soviet Penal System, The Jamestown Foundation, 2001, 131 p., ISBN 0967500915
- Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Isayevich, The Gulag Archipelago, Harper & Row, 660 pp., ISBN 0-06-080332-0.
Dr. George Robert Ackworth Conquest (born July 15, 1917), British historian, became one of the best-known writers on the Soviet Union with the publication, in 1968, of his account of Stalins purges of the 1930s, The Great Terror. ...
Alexandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (Russian: , IPA: ; born December 11, 1918) is a Russian novelist, dramatist and historian. ...
See also Eufrosinia Kersnovskaya (Евфросиния Керсновская) (1907— 1994) spent 12 years in Gulag camps and wrote her memoirs in 12 notebooks, 2,200,000 characters, accompanied with 680 pictures. ...
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