Little is known about the plot of the engraving “The Feat of Khibinogorsk Skiers” from the collection of the Irbit State Museum of Fine Arts.

During the first three five-year plans, hundreds of artists were sent to the country’s construction sites, developing the theme of industrialization in the visual arts. In the 1930s, the polar town of Khibinogorsk became a place of pilgrimage in connection with a local large-scale industrial construction, which unfolded after Academician Fersman’s group had discovered a rich apatite deposit in the Khibiny Mountains. In addition to a small number of volunteers who dreamed of conquering the North, the Khibiny area was also welcoming “displaced citizens” — that is, political exiles, as well as prisoners who faced criminal charges, and paramilitary guards.

In 1932, the artist Pyotr Vasilyevich Novikov was sent to the Khibiny. He was fascinated by the large construction site, the nature and the mountainous landscape of the Far North. A year later, he used his own money to return to Khibinogorsk in order to finish an album of views of the town. “The main purpose of this visit is to create a huge series of paintings about the Khibinogorsk industrial construction and other facilities,” he noted in an interview with the “Khibinogorsky Rabochiy” newspaper. In 1934, students from the Leningrad Institute of Physical Education named after Peter Franzevich Lesgaft came to Khibinogorsk. Their task was to find out whether it was possible to set up a ski base of all-Union significance in the Khibiny. “The Lesgaft members were also entrusted with finding a place and building a ski jump. Ski jumping is a new sport in the USSR. Currently, there are only three ski jumps of all-Union significance in our country, ” wrote the newspaper “Khibinogorsky Rabochiy” on November 18, 1934.

The engraving “The Feat of Khibinogorsk Skiers” shows a group of people making their way through a mountain gorge and a snowstorm. It is amazing how the artist managed to capture strong gusts of wind which even bent the trees. At the same time, the skiers themselves are filled with courage and strength and are serious in their decision to complete the task assigned to them by the leadership. It is quite possible that it is the feat of the Lesgaft skiers that this lithograph depicts. As a result of this trip, Pyotr Vasilyevich Novikov created the lithographic series “Khibiny”, which became his milestone.