The Gallery Now Presents Another Favorite artist....
Nikolai Getman
Nikolai Getman was born in December 1917 in Russia. He studied art at the Kharkov Fine Arts Institute. His topic of study was Socialist Realism. This area of study focused on using art to promote Soviet Propaganda.
He then served in World War II, parachuting behind Natzi lines to defend his country. But not long afterwards, he would become the prisoner of the same country he had risked his life to defend.
One day he had invited a couple of fellow artists over. One of those artists, a friend of his, in a conversation was discussing the horrible Nazi Propoganda the Nazi army was distributing. By way of explanation, he drew a simple sketch of one of the cartoons they were using on a cigarette carton.
Less than a month later, Getman was asked to come to the State Security Office. Once inside he was accused of drawing Anti-Soviet propaganda. He tried to explain that it was not his, and furthermore had only been a demonstation of his friends observations, but to no avail. He was sentenced to ten years "corrective labor" in a Soviet Labor Camp called "The Gulag".
Millions of Soviet Citizens died in this camp. Getman was spared only because he was able to convince the officials that ran the Gulag that he was more valuable to them as an artist than as a dead man. So he painted works for them, portraying workers happily fullfilling their daily duties, but at night he secretly painted the Gulag as it really was.
As his reputation as an artist grew, he was given a private studio, where he continued to paint haunting portraits inspired by the harsh realities of the life and the deaths he saw amoung his comrades in the Gulag. He continued to paint these in secret, however, not daring to show them even to his wife.
It wasn't until the 1990's that he came forward to display them. Due to the poor reception in the Soviet Union, the Jamestown Foundation assisted Getman in arranging to display his work here in America. Immediately Historians appreciated the value of his work. Although there are many tales of the immense sufferings of the Gulag, official records are scarce, and visual records are non existance.
This may be the only way for people to really see, really feel, really know what happened there. For example in the work "Bread Ration For the Dead" Getman passionately portays a frail man, worn and frostbitten, hungrily eating a small portion of bread. In the background, just within view lies the feet of a comrad who has died. The painting tells the story of a group of people so hungry, that they delayed reporting the death of a close friend just to get one extra ration of bread! When asked was it really that bad, Getman said simply "Yes". I think that says it all.