Gauryla Kharytonavich Vashchanka (1928–2014) belonged to that generation of painters whose art had formed in post-war years. His paintings, professionally and skillfully performed, depict the memories of his childhood, the beauty of Belarusian nature, the historical past and present days of the country.
The artist was born in the village of Chykalavichy, Bragin District, Gomel Region, in a peasant family. As a small boy he lost his father, who had been arrested in 1937. During the Great Patriotic War, he and his mother and older brother joined a partisan unit. In 1945, he entered the Kiev School of Applied Arts. He remembered warmly and gratefully his teachers, the known artist T. Yablonskaya (she taught painting) and professor M. Prakhov (he lectured art history). In 1948, Gauryla Vashchanka completed his studies and started to work as an artist at Dovzhenko Film Studio. In 1949, he became a student of the department of monumental painting of the Lvov Institute of Applied and Decorative Arts. His teachers were the known artists R. Selsky, I. Gutarev, I. Bakshay.
In 1955–1960, he taught at Republican Art School in Kishinev. Combining teaching with creative work, he painted landscapes, portraits and still life; he was also a designer of a pavilion at the All-Union Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh) in Moscow.
Gauryla Vashchanka. "From Time Immemorial" (1981).
In spring 1956, the first personal exhibition of Gauryla Vashchanka opened in Kishinev. In 1957, he was admitted as a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR and became a laureate of the festival of Youth and Students of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1960, the artist was awarded the Medal “For Zealous Labor”. In the same year, Gauryla Vashchanka took part in a congress of Belarusian artists, where he met the known painter, U. Stalmashonak.
In 1961, at the invitation of the artist he went to Minsk and started to work at Belarusian State Theatrical and Art Institute (the Belarusian Academy of Sciences since1991). He headed the department of arts and crafts (1961–1963), after its re-organization he was head of a studio of the department of painting (1966–1975) and head of the department of monumental and decorative arts (1975–1995). In 1965, Gauryla Vashchanka became an associate professor and a professor in 1980. He contributed to the education of creative youth and trained more than 200 artists, many of which have gained popularity both in Belarus and abroad.
Gauryla Vashchanka. "Open Space" (1978).
In his first years in Belarus the artist painted mostly landscapes and still life. His paintings “Bread” and “Cyclamens” (1966, for the latter he was awarded the VDNKh USSR Bronze Medal in 1969), “Nemiga” (1967), “Apple Tree” (1968) show a good taste, the sense of color and a careful consideration for the composition. An important part of the artist’s work was dedicated to Palesse. His paintings “Palesse Song” (1968), “March” (1973), “Over the Pripyat River” (1988), “Grandfather’s Mill” (1996) and others are remarkable for expressiveness, prefect perspective and balance of figures; they amaze with an exquisite pictorial melody and original colors. In 1975, the painter was awarded the VDNKh USSR Golden Medal for the canvases “My Palesse” (1971), “Oil Industry Workers of Palesse” (1973), “Mother’s Wings” (1975).
Gauryla Vashchanka. "Novogrudok District" (1985).
A series of canvases is dedicated to the events of the Great Patriotic War, which the artist went through in childhood: “From the Soviet Informburo” and “The Unsubdued” (1967), “The Ballade of Courage” (1974; the Silver Medal named after M. Grekov, 1975), “Break-Through” (1982) etc. For the latter, as well as for the paintings “May My Land Live in Peace” and “July Honey” (1982) GAURYLA Vashchanka was awarded the BSSR State Prize in 1984.
In the paintings “Calamity” (1989), “Radiation” (1990), “The Star of Polyn” (1996), “Chernobyl Requiem” (1998), “The 26th of April” (2001), “Farewell” (2002) and other, the artist depicted dramatic events of the Chernobyl disaster.
Gauryla Vashchanka dedicated a series of paintings to the historical past and outstanding people of Belarus, such as the triptych about Kalinovsky’s uprising “For the Land and Freedom” (1983), and also “The Battle of Grunewald” (1985), “To Our Descendants” (1990–1995), “Queen Bona” (1997), “Noble Dignity” and “Constantine Astrozhsky” (1998), “Renaissance (1999), “The Ghosts of Galshansky Castle” (2000), “The Legend of Nesvizh” (2001), “Leo Sapega in Galshany” (2002), “The Grand Duke Wizard” (2006) etc.
Gauryla Vashchanka. “Radiation” (1987).
The painter created the portraits of the Belarusian enlighteners Euphrosyne of Polotsk, Cyril of Turov, Symon Budny, Vasil Tsyapinski, the first printer Francysk Skaryna, the writers Yanka Kupala, Yakub Kolas, Vasil Bykov, Vladimir Korotkevich, the cultural figures Mikhail Ptashuk, Vladimir Prokoptsov, Vladimir Mulyavin and others, which, along with external similarity, remarkably reflect the inner life of a person.
Gauryla Vashchanka is the author of a wide range of artistic creations. The paintings “Opus 37” (1993), “The Theater of Absurd” (1997), “Catharsis” (2000) show him as a thinker, concerned about the fate of society. The series of canvases “Wings” (1994) is filled with philosophic reflection over mysteries of existence. The paintings “Dialogues” (1995), “A Pray of the Chalice” (1999), “The Savior” (1999–2001), “Angel” and “The Chalice” (2006), “The Mystery of the Garden of Gethsemane” (2009) are focused on religion. These works teach a viewer to be moral, spiritual, virtuous and spiritually beautiful.
The artist’s talent manifests with special intensity in monumental and decorative arts. The scope of a concept, integrity, humanism, an accurate system of forming space are characteristic to the panel “Flight” (1963, the Palace of Culture of Textile-workers in Minsk) and monumental paintings “The Land of Svetlogorsk” (1972, the Palace of Culture of Chemists in Svetlogorsk), “Enlighteners” (1976, The Teachers’ House in Minsk), stained-glass windows in the Cinema House (1971–1974, now the Church of Saints Simon and Helena) and the movie theater “Moskva” in Minsk (1980, co-author M. Vashchanka). His monumental encaustics decorate the airport “Minsk-2” (paintings “Palesse”, “Novogridok District”, “Raubichy” and “Synkovichy”, 1988) and the National Library of Belarus (“Over the River Sozh”, “Memory”, “Sacred Places” and “The Fortress Temple”, 2007).
Gauryla Kharytonavich Vashchanka was awarded the title of the Honored Figure of Arts of Belarus in 1977 and the People’s Artist of Belarus in 1988. In 1995, he received the Medal of Francysk Skaryna. In 2013, he was elected as the Honored Citizen of Gomel. GAURYLA Vashchanka was chosen as the Person of the Year 1992 and the Person of the Century by the International Biographical Center of Cambridge, and the Person of the Year 1994 by the American Biographical Institute. The works of Gauryla Vashchanka are kept in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, the Museum of Contemporary Arts in Minsk, the State Tretiakov Gallery, the National Art Museum of Ukraine, the National Art Museum of Moldova, the National Art Museum of Bulgaria, the collections of the International Confederation of Artist Unions, the Belarusian Union of Artists, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and private collections. In 2002, the personal art gallery of Gauryla Vashchanka opened in Gomel. The artist donated some dozens of his canvases, watercolors and studies of monumental works for the gallery’s foundation.
For more information about Gauryla Vashchanka and other outstanding people who contributed to the science, culture and spiritual heritage of Belarus, as well as the most important events in the country’s life, historical, cultural and natural monuments, see the factographic database “Belarus in Persons and Events”.
