Stalingrad Artist's Paintings Rescued, Exhibited in Volgograd

From February 2 to 18, the first exhibition of 200 works by Volgograd artist Lev Tyurin, who told the world about the horrors of wartime Stalingrad, will be held in Volgograd. The priceless paintings were saved by volunteers from a pile of wastepaper collected in a garbage bag.

Lev Tyurin was born on January 31, 1938, in Stalingrad, at 53 Kozlovskaya Street. His father worked as a ship mechanic on a Volga boat, and from 1941, in a new specialty at the Barrikady plant. His mother, Zoya Nikolayevna Tyrina (Troyanova), graduated from a vocational school and worked as a draftswoman at the Stalingrad railway administration.

As a boy, Lev Tyurin witnessed all the horrors of war and later, as an adult, described them in the book «Pictures of My Stalingrad Childhood», which received the international prize «Imperial Culture — 2018,» and depicted them in paintings.

Lev Tyurin graduated from the Grekov Rostov Art School and the Fedorov Ukrainian Printing Institute in Lviv. The artist worked in linocut technique and painted pictures in watercolor and oil.

He died in his apartment in the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd in 2022.

The Volgograd artist is famous for paintings dedicated to the horrors of wartime Stalingrad. After the author«s death, his works were on the verge of destruction, and Lev Tyurin»s name was on the verge of complete oblivion.

As told by Galina Yegorova, a member of the «Children of Wartime Stalingrad» association who was closely acquainted with Lev Tyurin, during his lifetime the artist kept the paintings in his apartment. After his death, a relative appeared who wished to inherit the artist«s apartment.

— Some nephew wanted to inherit the housing. We helped him in court to prove that he was the nephew, — says Galina Yegorova. — But we had an agreement with him that he would give all the paintings to us, our association. But when he took possession of the apartment and started tidying up, for some reason he collected all the paintings together with wastepaper in a large black bag, as if for garbage, and intended to turn them in for wastepaper. I found out about this and asked him: «Well, how much will you get for them if you turn them in?» He answered: «6,000 rubles (approximately $60 at current rates).» I gave him those 6,000 rubles and took the paintings. From this wastepaper, we retrieved about 2,000 watercolors and graphics.

Part of the works was restored and framed by volunteers using donations.

— To frame each painting costs about 4,000–5,000 rubles (approximately $40-$50 at current rates). Many artists responded to participate in the restoration. We have prepared 100 canvases for the exhibition, — says Galina Yegorova. — These are already peaceful works by a talented artist, memories of childhood and post-war Stalingrad. It so happened that during his lifetime, Lev Sergeyevich was a poor artist, little-known. But his works are worthy pieces of art that should live and that the city«s residents should know.

During his lifetime, Lev Tyurin was not accepted into the Union of Artists. After his death, the people who took responsibility for the artist«s memory promise to restore and preserve his legacy for future generations.

— At the Ministry of Culture, they promised us that when the Culture Center is in the Department Store in 2027, it will be possible to place all the works there. But for now, we will preserve the paintings with our own efforts in order to transfer them all there, — says Galina Yegorova.

The exhibition of works will be held at the exhibition hall at 6 Krasnoznamenskaya Street from February 2 to 18. The opening will take place on the day of the 83rd anniversary of the victory in the Battle of Stalingrad at 13:00.