Yuri Vasilyevich Volkov was a battle painter, veteran of the Great Patriotic War. Back in the pre-war time he graduated from the Simferopol Art School. Even at the time, Volkov showed a tendency to paint battle pictures, having won first place in children’s competition for the watercolour painting The Red Army Crossing the Sivash. On the eve of his 20th birthday, with the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, he was called into the army. Yury Volkov was twice wounded in battles, three times escaped from captivity. He defended his native Sevastopol and at the end of the war participated in the liberation of European cities from fascist invaders.
Yury Vasilyevich Volkov was demobilized in 1946. The wartime events left an indelible mark on his soul.
The canvas Feat of Five Sailors of the Black Sea Fleet was created in 1948. The painting depicts Soviet sailors fighting against fascist tanks. The forces are unequal, the bloodied Red Navy men show resistance with the last bit of strength but do not retreat.
On the front line, Yury Volkov did not leave painting, making from memory sketches of past battles during a lull in the fighting. A direct participation in the events allowed the artist to very accurately convey the entire hell of the wartime, which was especially acute in the first months of the war. The spectator on the physical level smells burning and smoke, hears explosions of shells and tank halls, revrudes and armored vehicles, cries of wounded soldiers. This terrible battle lasted for several hours. German troops were moving like a boundless wall, surrounding the defenders of Sevastopol from all sides. Following the thick belt of automatic riflemen, fascist ‘tigers’ were rushing into battle.
The central core of the picture is three of the five sailors who are fighting against advancing tanks. One of the fighters, supporting a wounded machine gunner, helps him to control the gun. The sailor in a bloody striped vest is acting as a gun layer with his last bit of strength. The fourth sailor is already killed - his lifeless body is clearly visible in the foreground of the picture. Among the ochre-grey mash of lumps of soil, helmets, torn overcoats and human remains, one does not immediately see the fifth fighter, who at that moment is throwing himself with a bunch of grenades under the wheels of an approaching tank.
The realist artist portrayed the dying soldiers as truthfully as possible, which is why the picture causes a flurry of emotions and feelings from the sense of human power and the great strength of spirit of these people. Yury Konstantinovich Parshin, Nikolay Dmitrievich Filchenkov, Ivan Mikhaylovich Krasnoselsky, Vasily Fedoseyevich Tsibulko and Daniil Sidorovich Odintsov posthumously became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
At the end of the war, near the village of Verkhnesadovoye, not far from the site of the great feat of the Black Sea Fleet sailors, they erected a monument to the heroes made of Inkerman natural white rock stone.
Yury Vasilyevich Volkov was demobilized in 1946. The wartime events left an indelible mark on his soul.
From then on, military themes and Crimean battles became fundamental in the artist’s work. The exploits that the characters of his paintings performed were well familiar to Volkov. The artist masterfully conveyed his memories and feelings through painting.
The canvas Feat of Five Sailors of the Black Sea Fleet was created in 1948. The painting depicts Soviet sailors fighting against fascist tanks. The forces are unequal, the bloodied Red Navy men show resistance with the last bit of strength but do not retreat.
On the front line, Yury Volkov did not leave painting, making from memory sketches of past battles during a lull in the fighting. A direct participation in the events allowed the artist to very accurately convey the entire hell of the wartime, which was especially acute in the first months of the war. The spectator on the physical level smells burning and smoke, hears explosions of shells and tank halls, revrudes and armored vehicles, cries of wounded soldiers. This terrible battle lasted for several hours. German troops were moving like a boundless wall, surrounding the defenders of Sevastopol from all sides. Following the thick belt of automatic riflemen, fascist ‘tigers’ were rushing into battle.
The central core of the picture is three of the five sailors who are fighting against advancing tanks. One of the fighters, supporting a wounded machine gunner, helps him to control the gun. The sailor in a bloody striped vest is acting as a gun layer with his last bit of strength. The fourth sailor is already killed - his lifeless body is clearly visible in the foreground of the picture. Among the ochre-grey mash of lumps of soil, helmets, torn overcoats and human remains, one does not immediately see the fifth fighter, who at that moment is throwing himself with a bunch of grenades under the wheels of an approaching tank.
The realist artist portrayed the dying soldiers as truthfully as possible, which is why the picture causes a flurry of emotions and feelings from the sense of human power and the great strength of spirit of these people. Yury Konstantinovich Parshin, Nikolay Dmitrievich Filchenkov, Ivan Mikhaylovich Krasnoselsky, Vasily Fedoseyevich Tsibulko and Daniil Sidorovich Odintsov posthumously became Heroes of the Soviet Union.
At the end of the war, near the village of Verkhnesadovoye, not far from the site of the great feat of the Black Sea Fleet sailors, they erected a monument to the heroes made of Inkerman natural white rock stone.
