Nikolai Ivanovich Getman or Mykola Ivanovich Hetman (, ), an artist, was born in 1917 in

Kharkiv Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and died at his home in Orel,

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

, in August 2004. He was a prisoner from 1946 to 1953 in forced labor camps in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

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 life of prisoners in the

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

in the form of paintings.

Early life

Getman had a difficult childhood in

, 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 Kharkiv, also known as Kharkov, is the second-largest List of cities in Ukraine, city in Ukraine.

Art College in order to become a professional artist. Three years later he was called up to join the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

, where he served until the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. 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 the

prison camps in

The Gulag legacy

During the eight years Getman spent at Taishetlag (

) 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"
The Victims of Communism Museum
provides access to all 50 of Getman's paintings together with explanations of their significance. 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 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 Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn. (11 December 1918 – 3 August 2008) was a Soviet and Russian author and Soviet dissidents, dissident who helped to raise global awareness of political repression in the Soviet Union, especially the Gulag pris ...

, author of The Gulag Archipelago. In June 1997, the private exhibition "The Gulag in the Eyes of an Artist" was displayed at the U.S. Congress in Washington, D.C.

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 Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

, 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 The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

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. He participated in several art exhibitions across the Soviet Union as well as in

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Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

and

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

The artist's plea

Getman was 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 Throughout the history of the Soviet Union, tens of millions of people suffered political repression, which was an instrument of the state since the October Revolution. It culminated during the History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953), Stalin er ...

. My paintings may help achieve this." A book with his paintings was published by

Jamestown Foundation The Jamestown Foundation is a Washington, D.C.–based non-partisan defense policy think tank. Founded in 1984 as a platform to support Soviet defectors, its stated mission is to inform and educate policy makers about events and trends, which ...

in 2001.''The Gulag Collection: Paintings of the Soviet Penal System by Former Prisoner Nikolai Getman'', By Robert Conquest, Nikolai Getman, Alla Rogers Translated by Katya Tann, Paul Tann, Illustrated by Nikolai Getman Contributor Helen Glenn Court, William J. Hebert, Published by Jamestown Foundation, The, 2001, , , 144 pages

Bibliography

* Getman, Nikolai: ''The Gulag Collection: Paintings of the Soviet Penal System'', The Jamestown Foundation, 2001, 131 p.,

Early life

The Gulag legacy

Other artistic activities

The artist's plea

Bibliography

See also

Footnotes

Further reading