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Our family returned to our former apartment. There were neighbors in it - we occupied two rooms. There was one family of neighbors – the Elberts. The head of the family used to be my father’s colleague at Oblpotrebsoyuz (Regional Consumer Association). After the war my father continued working in Oblpotrebsoyuz. He got a job at the same organization but he didn’t hold management positions. Mamma didn’t work: she was a housewife. We were fond of studies. However, there was a change in policy towards the Jewish people. There were few Jews at school. I was the only Party member in our school and I was elected secretary of the Komsomol group.
The school was established to prepare students to go to Art Institute. Therefore, the same lecturers taught in the Institute and at school. They knew their students and their capabilities. In 1946 there was small competition to enter the Institute. This was a special Institute, homework was of special importance. My public activities took much of my time. Once I was even editor of the Institute wall newspaper. Our newspapers were 30-40 meters long yes, yes, visualize! These were mostly pictures. Students were very industrious then. They were mature people, they knew the cost of life. Mikhail Grigorievich Lysenko, People’s Artist of the USSR, was my teacher. He was the leading sculptor in Ukraine. He was an invalid and he could do very little with his hands. He had assistants that helped him. For example, the monument to Schors in Kiev was made by his assistants. He made sketches and gave advice and supervised their work.
The attitude towards the study of foreign art was very strict. I remember, during the first years of our studies even to mention impressionism was forbidden. Modern post-impressionism was excluded from the circle of our attention. We neither saw nor knew all this. This was servility before the west.
I graduated the Institute at Gelman’s shop. He was a Jew. Muravin from Moscow was also Jewish, he suffered during the struggle with cosmopolitism, and as a result, he lost his job at the Institute. His name was Muravin Lev Davidovich. Those who were at the head of this struggle against cosmopolites did a lot of harm to Muravin. Muravin was very educated, perhaps the most intelligent of all professorship at the department of sculpture and he was the most talented one. But still, he was suppressed and had never been awarded any titles or honors for his work. I was a grown up person and could see the background of what was happening around. We could feel that different attitude towards the Jewish people in the air. My father also knew it at his work.
The school was established to prepare students to go to Art Institute. Therefore, the same lecturers taught in the Institute and at school. They knew their students and their capabilities. In 1946 there was small competition to enter the Institute. This was a special Institute, homework was of special importance. My public activities took much of my time. Once I was even editor of the Institute wall newspaper. Our newspapers were 30-40 meters long yes, yes, visualize! These were mostly pictures. Students were very industrious then. They were mature people, they knew the cost of life. Mikhail Grigorievich Lysenko, People’s Artist of the USSR, was my teacher. He was the leading sculptor in Ukraine. He was an invalid and he could do very little with his hands. He had assistants that helped him. For example, the monument to Schors in Kiev was made by his assistants. He made sketches and gave advice and supervised their work.
The attitude towards the study of foreign art was very strict. I remember, during the first years of our studies even to mention impressionism was forbidden. Modern post-impressionism was excluded from the circle of our attention. We neither saw nor knew all this. This was servility before the west.
I graduated the Institute at Gelman’s shop. He was a Jew. Muravin from Moscow was also Jewish, he suffered during the struggle with cosmopolitism, and as a result, he lost his job at the Institute. His name was Muravin Lev Davidovich. Those who were at the head of this struggle against cosmopolites did a lot of harm to Muravin. Muravin was very educated, perhaps the most intelligent of all professorship at the department of sculpture and he was the most talented one. But still, he was suppressed and had never been awarded any titles or honors for his work. I was a grown up person and could see the background of what was happening around. We could feel that different attitude towards the Jewish people in the air. My father also knew it at his work.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Grigoriy Yakovlevich Husid