The Great Patriotic War redoubled interest in the national history. The historical genre was greatly popular in the Soviet art in the post-war decades. One of the epochal artworks created in the Tatar Soviet Republic was the canvas The Signing of a Decree Establishing the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic by V.I. Lenin. The joint painting by Haris Yakupov and Lotfulla Fattakhov was completed by the thirtieth anniversary of Tatar’s autonomy.
The two artists had their paths crossed as early as childhood. Lotfulla was orphaned as a child and adopted to the large Yakupov family. The young men enrolled in the Kazan Art School together and both volunteered to go to war before graduation. They fought in the Great Patriotic War to the end never ceasing to paint on the frontline. After the war, the friends went to Moscow to study under a renowned painter Boris Ioganson.
The two artists had their paths crossed as early as childhood. Lotfulla was orphaned as a child and adopted to the large Yakupov family. The young men enrolled in the Kazan Art School together and both volunteered to go to war before graduation. They fought in the Great Patriotic War to the end never ceasing to paint on the frontline. After the war, the friends went to Moscow to study under a renowned painter Boris Ioganson.
In addition to large paintings, Yakupov and Fattakhov illustrated folk fairy tales, and did caricatures for a satirical publication Chayan.
In their joint painting, the artists for the first time tackled the Lenin theme as a major theme in the Tatar national history. The picture shows Tatar representatives as members of a delegation of laborers from the former Kazan province arriving in the Kremlin. The delegation includes workers, peasants, and members of the Russian and Tatar intelligentsia of the 1920 Soviet Tatarstan.
The focal point of the picture both in terms of its message and composition is the figure of Lenin. The woman across from him is a leading worker involved in major decision making on a par with men. She wears her headscarf in a typical Tatar fashion – that is how women in Tatarstan used to tie the ends of headscarves behind the back of their necks since the 19th century. The clothing of the old man excitedly listening to the leader is also suggestive of his nationality: a Tatar sleeveless gown on top of a shirt and a traditional skullcap. The appearance of the young delegates implies that those are recent warriors who proved their loyalty to the Soviet power in battle.
The painting is in the style of the Russian school of realism. Yakupov and Fattakhov were awarded the State Stalin Prize of 3rd degree for the painting.
In their joint painting, the artists for the first time tackled the Lenin theme as a major theme in the Tatar national history. The picture shows Tatar representatives as members of a delegation of laborers from the former Kazan province arriving in the Kremlin. The delegation includes workers, peasants, and members of the Russian and Tatar intelligentsia of the 1920 Soviet Tatarstan.
The focal point of the picture both in terms of its message and composition is the figure of Lenin. The woman across from him is a leading worker involved in major decision making on a par with men. She wears her headscarf in a typical Tatar fashion – that is how women in Tatarstan used to tie the ends of headscarves behind the back of their necks since the 19th century. The clothing of the old man excitedly listening to the leader is also suggestive of his nationality: a Tatar sleeveless gown on top of a shirt and a traditional skullcap. The appearance of the young delegates implies that those are recent warriors who proved their loyalty to the Soviet power in battle.
The painting is in the style of the Russian school of realism. Yakupov and Fattakhov were awarded the State Stalin Prize of 3rd degree for the painting.
