In memory of Albin Gavdzinskyi. To the centenary
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The small village of Chlechne (later it will become Novaya Kakhovka) along the left bank of the Dnieper is coming to life. A hydroelectric power plant is being built nearby. Engineers, architects, and builders come here from all over the Soviet Union. Read UP.Kultura in Telegram. Among them is Albin Gavdzinskyi, a young artist from Odessa unknown to anyone, who came to the construction site voluntarily without a business trip or invitation. Take with you an easel and paints to draw from nature one of the largest structures of communism. For the sake of the opportunity to witness the construction of the Kakhovskaya HPP and capture it on canvases, Albin Gavdzinskyi neglected the unique offer to study at the Riga Art Academy, where he was recommended as one of the best students of the Odesa Art School. Young artist from Odesa, Albin Gavdzinsky, at the construction of the HPP “I was a completely free artist, so as not to miss the thread of events and record stunning moments: the work of dredgers, caravans of dump trucks, fireworks of welding works… I was impressed by the scale of the construction, history was being made before my eyes. I took himself the role of an artistic chronicler, although he was not authorized or seconded by anyone. Sometimes, driven by enthusiasm, I helped girls unload crushed granite…”, the artist recalled 60 years later in one of the interviews. Painting by Albin Gavdzynski Many people wondered why the young man wanders between the house and Kakhovka, devoting his time and talent to construction. But as he said himself, he rushed there “following the call of his heart, absolutely not expecting dividends.” When it became really difficult, he returned home, where he earned food, and then went to Kherson region again, where he plunged headlong into work. Albin Gavdzinskyi Once, unable to bear the separation, the artist’s wife herself went to the construction site to look for a husband. She came to the pier and asked everyone she saw about him. And she found on the shore, behind the easel, Albin Gavdzinsky was painting! He worked there for six years – from the laying of the first stone to the start of the last unit. Painting by Albin Gavdzynskiy “The attitude towards nature was barbaric. The normal cycle of life of animals, birds, fish was disturbed everywhere… No one paid attention to it, everything went to one goal – the construction of a dam”, – the artist discreetly answered journalist Inesia Atamanchuk when asked about construction realities. This conversation took place a year before his death. Painting by Albin Gavdzinskyi If not all, then most were aware of the catastrophe that the construction of the hydroelectric power station entails, which flooded the historical area of Velikiy Lug and dozens of villages. But since it was impossible to prevent this, architects, builders and artists used the formula of film director Oleksandr Dovzhenko, who believed that where we destroy, we build. And it must be done with love for the Ukrainian south and Ukrainian traditions, which was also a challenge for Soviet times. Eventually, they will all call themselves romantics. And Oleksandr Dovzhenko himself appears in the same romantic image in the portrait of Havdzinsky’s brush. On it, the film director seems to merge with the new city and the wide Dnieper. Portrait of Oleksandr Dovzhenko After the completion of the construction of Novaya Kakhovka and the hydroelectric station, the artist’s work included several hundred canvases! Gavdzinsky gave 237 of them to Nova Kakhovka right away, and gave another 27 paintings when the picture gallery began to bear his name during the time of Ukraine’s independence. All works have value not only from the point of view of painting, but also from a historical perspective, since the artist depicted the chronology of construction in great detail. From his paintings, you can see what, how and when it was built. Moreover, from the works we can assess the appearance of the area and the condition of some cultural monuments. For example, the Vytautas Tower, the oldest medieval structure in the south of Ukraine, laid by the prince in the 15th century. Historians even arranged quests, looking for the points from which Gavdzinsky painted all his canvases. The Vytautas Tower in Gavdzinsky’s painting Gavdzinsky last visited Nova Kakhovka at the anniversary of the city’s art gallery in 2007, already in the status of People’s Artist, whose paintings are in the collections of the Kyiv Museum of Fine Arts, the Odessa Art Gallery, the Dnipropetrovsk Art Museum, as well as in private collections in Germany, Japan, Spain, Canada, USA. Then the 84-year-old artist wanted to see the consequences of the fire in the Palace of Culture, which happened six months before his visit due to a short circuit. The building was decorated under the eyes of Gavdzinsky himself in the 1950s by the boychukist artist Hryhoriy Dovzhenko, who put all his talent into every panel created by his hands. After opening the door and seeing the very walls that remained of the Palace, Gavdzinsky frowned. “If Hryhoriy Dovzhenko had lived, he would have died here a second time,” said the artist, and he could not hold back a stingy tear from the burn that opened before his eyes. Burnt Palace of Culture in Nova Kakhovka With a pang in my heart, I can’t help but apply these words to Gavdzinsky himself. Last year, the Russian occupiers ransacked the city’s art gallery and took all the artist’s canvases to an unknown destination. Will it be possible to return them? We know from history that the probability is small. And viewing digitized samples will never replace seeing canvases live. Although when I look at them even online, all these boats emerging from behind the branches in the fins, fishermen with fishing rods on the pier or barges furrowing the Dnieper – everything comes to life before my eyes, bringing me back home to Novaya Kakhovka for a moment. Read also: Architect Oleksandr Dovzhenko: how an outstanding director filmed the HPP and built Nova Kakhovka
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