The history of Uzlovsky lands and hard labor of miners are inextricably connected. Over the years, the district’s territory had about thirty functioning mines, forming part of the so-called Moscow lignite basin. As of today, there are no active colliers in Uzlovaya, but many works of Uzlovsky artists, depicting vistas of the mine country, remind of those times.
Of course, these works somewhat romanticize a miner’s labour. Thus, Bunkers, the painting of Alexey Rudakov, depicts the mine during winter. The painter scrupulously portrayed every single detail of the building, casting himself more in a role of a documentarian than a painter. Alexey Matveevich chose to avoid depicting the negative part of a coal mining, a huge fill of waste rocks called terricone, hiding it behind the cloudy sky and fog.
That makes sense because the painting was made in 1983, the time when any citizen of the USSR could easily forget about government contracts and exhibitions after depicting overly realistic scenery instead of social-realistic one.
Despite this, the fact that a miner’s labour is hard and dangerous is hinted by a set of colors chosen by the painter. The gray and sordid blue are primary colors of this painting, creating a feeling of anxiety for a viewer. The last thing is no surprise, as Rudakov worked in a coal mine for years and knows well about this hard labour.
Alexey Matveevich was born in 1921 in the village of Kolybelka in the Dmitryashevsky District of Voronezh Oblast. His family moved to Tula Oblast in 1932. After discovering he had a talent for painting, he graduated from the Yepifan Pedagogical Academy and then proceeded to work as an art teacher in the Kamensky District. The war have really turned the painter’s fate around.
After volunteering for the front line, Alexey Rudakov was injured, was taken prisoner and went through the scariest fascist death camps: Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dora. Following liberation, he returned to Uzlovaya and worked as a timberman. Later, he directed the village cultural center‘s fine arts club for several years. During the same time, he participated in city, region and all-Union exhibitions not only as a painter, but also as a woodcarver.
Alexey Matveevich died at the age of 77 in 1998. He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Brusyansky in the Uzlovsky District. The majority of the painter’s works are in private galleries. Uzlovsky Museum of Fine Arts and Local History has twelve more paintings of this painter apart from Bunkers.
Of course, these works somewhat romanticize a miner’s labour. Thus, Bunkers, the painting of Alexey Rudakov, depicts the mine during winter. The painter scrupulously portrayed every single detail of the building, casting himself more in a role of a documentarian than a painter. Alexey Matveevich chose to avoid depicting the negative part of a coal mining, a huge fill of waste rocks called terricone, hiding it behind the cloudy sky and fog.
That makes sense because the painting was made in 1983, the time when any citizen of the USSR could easily forget about government contracts and exhibitions after depicting overly realistic scenery instead of social-realistic one.
Despite this, the fact that a miner’s labour is hard and dangerous is hinted by a set of colors chosen by the painter. The gray and sordid blue are primary colors of this painting, creating a feeling of anxiety for a viewer. The last thing is no surprise, as Rudakov worked in a coal mine for years and knows well about this hard labour.
Alexey Matveevich was born in 1921 in the village of Kolybelka in the Dmitryashevsky District of Voronezh Oblast. His family moved to Tula Oblast in 1932. After discovering he had a talent for painting, he graduated from the Yepifan Pedagogical Academy and then proceeded to work as an art teacher in the Kamensky District. The war have really turned the painter’s fate around.
After volunteering for the front line, Alexey Rudakov was injured, was taken prisoner and went through the scariest fascist death camps: Auschwitz, Buchenwald and Dora. Following liberation, he returned to Uzlovaya and worked as a timberman. Later, he directed the village cultural center‘s fine arts club for several years. During the same time, he participated in city, region and all-Union exhibitions not only as a painter, but also as a woodcarver.
Alexey Matveevich died at the age of 77 in 1998. He is buried in the cemetery of the village of Brusyansky in the Uzlovsky District. The majority of the painter’s works are in private galleries. Uzlovsky Museum of Fine Arts and Local History has twelve more paintings of this painter apart from Bunkers.
