The Tambov Regional Art Gallery houses the ceramic composition called “Finnish Beatniks”. The work was created by Tatyana Georgiyevna Welzen.
Tatyana Georgiyevna Welzen (1930–1968) was a talented artist who worked in the field of monumental and indoor sculpture, as well as in small-scale sculpture. After graduating from the Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, she joined her husband and sculptor Sergey Yefimovich Lebedev to work in Saratov, and then in 1960, she moved to Tambov. Back then, the art critic Valentina Anokhina-Kozlova wrote the following, “When she arrived in Tambov, Tatyana Welzen, given her high-spirited attitude to life, became engaged in the activities of the local branch of the Union of Artists. She continues to work with even greater enthusiasm on the theme of a young contemporary that she chose. Energetic and impetuous by nature, she is in constant search of new images and ideas. She makes long trips around the districts of the region, visits many collective and state farms, and as a result, at one of the regional exhibitions she exhibits portraits named ‘Pig Tenders’ and ‘Workers’, as well as a portrait of Nina Zheltikova — a cheerful and vibrant milkmaid from the Comintern collective farm.”
The main place in the work of the sculptor Tatyana Welzen, ever since the early period of her independent artistic career, was occupied by a multi-figure composition. This type of her work was in full swing between 1963 and 1967. The characters of her sculptures have the ability to evoke a joyful and uplifted feeling. Depicted in their ordinary working environment (the sculptor implies it by using one characteristic detail) and dressed in cumbersome and baggy overalls, they still radiate their inner grace and charming restraint.
In the autumn of 1966, Tatyana Welzen decided to try working with ceramics and made a special trip to the long-established center of Russian ceramics — the village of Gzhel near Moscow, where she had the opportunity to meticulously study all the subtleties of this complex technology. Most of the ceramic works, created by Welzen upon her return to Tambov between the end of 1966 and 1967, belong to small-scale sculpture.
The amazingly atmospheric composition “Finnish Beatniks” stands out among others. This work displays candidness, generalized techniques, warmth and humor.
Tatyana Georgiyevna Welzen (1930–1968) was a talented artist who worked in the field of monumental and indoor sculpture, as well as in small-scale sculpture. After graduating from the Repin Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, she joined her husband and sculptor Sergey Yefimovich Lebedev to work in Saratov, and then in 1960, she moved to Tambov. Back then, the art critic Valentina Anokhina-Kozlova wrote the following, “When she arrived in Tambov, Tatyana Welzen, given her high-spirited attitude to life, became engaged in the activities of the local branch of the Union of Artists. She continues to work with even greater enthusiasm on the theme of a young contemporary that she chose. Energetic and impetuous by nature, she is in constant search of new images and ideas. She makes long trips around the districts of the region, visits many collective and state farms, and as a result, at one of the regional exhibitions she exhibits portraits named ‘Pig Tenders’ and ‘Workers’, as well as a portrait of Nina Zheltikova — a cheerful and vibrant milkmaid from the Comintern collective farm.”
The main place in the work of the sculptor Tatyana Welzen, ever since the early period of her independent artistic career, was occupied by a multi-figure composition. This type of her work was in full swing between 1963 and 1967. The characters of her sculptures have the ability to evoke a joyful and uplifted feeling. Depicted in their ordinary working environment (the sculptor implies it by using one characteristic detail) and dressed in cumbersome and baggy overalls, they still radiate their inner grace and charming restraint.
In the autumn of 1966, Tatyana Welzen decided to try working with ceramics and made a special trip to the long-established center of Russian ceramics — the village of Gzhel near Moscow, where she had the opportunity to meticulously study all the subtleties of this complex technology. Most of the ceramic works, created by Welzen upon her return to Tambov between the end of 1966 and 1967, belong to small-scale sculpture.
The amazingly atmospheric composition “Finnish Beatniks” stands out among others. This work displays candidness, generalized techniques, warmth and humor.
