Art of Belarus

Unique collections of paintings, books, folk art can be seen not only in famous museums and galleries. Small cultural centres keep rarities that the capitals never even dreamed of!

Pray to Vetka icons

On the border of the Bryansk and Gomel Regions, a town lurks, which is called ‘a small branch of Moscow.’ Tens of thousands of Old Believers fled here in the 17th century after the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon of Moscow. They brought the most expensive — icons and books from the capital city.

Mother of God, Christ, John the Baptist
Photo by BELTA

The inhabitants of Vetka kept rare wealth in their families until the middle of the 20th century. And in the seventies, Fyodor Shklyarov put together a unique collection. It is presented in the house of the merchant Groshikov on Red Square (yes, there is one here) and is considered the largest collection of Old Believer icons and books in the world. Here is the Apostle with the dedicatory inscription “Granted by the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Mikhaíl Fyodorovich of All Russia...”, and genuine books printed by Ivan Fyodorov in the second half of the 16th century. The faces of the saints amaze with the brightness of colours and unusual covers.

See Vitebsk through the eyes of Chagall

In different years, world-renowned Ilya Repin, Chaim Soutine, Kazimir Malevich lived and worked in the city on the Dvina. Nevertheless, Vitebsk is associated with Marc Chagall. Childhood memories, meeting his future wife Bella, opening an art school and even working with agitators — all this formed the basis of brilliant success in Paris.

The Marc Chagall Art Centre
Photo: www.sputnik.by


Despite the fact that the fabulously expensive paintings by Chagall with views of his native city scattered all over the world, Vitebsk also pleasantly surprises fans of the avant-garde artist. The house on Pokrovskaya Street, where the future genius grew up, has been preserved here. There are cornflowers blue details everywhere (Mark Zakharovich adored the blue colour). You can admire his works in the art centre on the high bank of the river. The place for the exposition was not chosen by chance — a characteristic red house is depicted in one of the artist’s most famous paintings Above the City.

Plunge into the ‘Paradise of the Drawn’

Russians have Khokhloma, Gzhel and Zhostovo painting, and Belarusians have Malyavanka. From the end of the 19th century, painted carpets were found in almost every hut and were considered a sign of the good taste of the owners. Artists from the people embodied on them scenes from everyday life and scenes from the world of fairy tales and legends.

Alena Kish, In the Garden of Eden
Photo by Vitaly Pivovarchik
 
One of the largest collections of Malyavanka is in the Zaslavl Museum. The work of the primitive artist Alena Kish is the gem of the collection. Saturated with an abundance of details and colours, the canvases amaze with a flight of fantasy. Blooming gardens attract, then a serene maiden on the waters stretches her hands, or even a striped tigon smiles, throwing up his fluffy tail to the sky. Once upon a time, Belarusians gave ‘paradise Malyavankas’ to each other on holidays, but now they can only be seen in museums.

Go into space with Drazdovich

Belarusian da Vinci — this is how Yazep Drazdovich was called by his contemporaries. The artist did not focus on the contemplation of the surrounding world, he studied history and astronomy with pleasure. The result — amazing portraits of famous Belarusians of the past and a cycle of ‘space’ canvases. 

Yazep Drazdovich,Above the abyss, 1931
Photo: www.drazdovich.by

Drazdovich not only fantasised about the question ‘Is there life on Mars?’, but boldly depicted nature, cities and inhabitants of Venus, the Moon and Saturn. Big-eyed and barefoot creatures in white shirts, in the Belarusian manner, meet spring and rejoice in the sun — the master saw aliens in his dreams like this, and then embodied them in paintings. You can go on a journey to the stars in the museum in Germanovichi (Vitebsk Region).

Impress with what they wanted to steal

Brest is not only a ‘gateway to Europe’, but also an iron curtain from it. There remains a huge amount of confiscated art that smugglers are trying to take out. In the late eighties, the values found a ‘home’, and now anyone can look at them. There are no other such art collections in the CIS.

Photo: www.brokm.by

The Brest Hermitage occupies ten halls of a two-story mansion. Jewelry, paintings, books, coins, vases, sculptures. Behind the glass, Faberge products, ancient Caucasian belts and daggers in silver frames gleam. There are also paintings by Aivazovsky and Vrubel. In addition — more than four hundred icons, among which there are images painted by Palekh and Mstera masters.
It’s a pity that smugglers often treated the exhibits in a barbaric way. Diplomats tried to take out the St. Blaise of Sebastea hagiographical icon by sawing it into six parts.

By Sofia Arsenyeva