Volgograd Exhibits 'The Intimate Truth' by Lev Tyurin

Fans of his talent know artist Lev Tyurin mainly for drawings in which he depicted memories from his terrible, wartime Stalingrad childhood. These works have been exhibited multiple times in Volgograd at various exhibitions. However, the exhibition of Lev Sergeyevich«s paintings, which opened in the hero city on the 83rd anniversary of the defeat of Hitler»s troops at Stalingrad, has, according to its organizers, taken a completely different direction. This is the first personal exhibition of the artist«s paintings that has no direct relation to the Great Patriotic War.

He Could Not Frame His Paintings

The other day, Lev Tyurin, born on January 31, 1938, would have turned eighty-eight years old. But Lev Sergeyevich, not living to see our days, passed away about four years ago.

“And yet, it seems to me,” says the head of the Volgograd public organization «Children of Stalingrad», honored teacher of Russia, candidate of philological sciences Galina Yegorova, “that his soul rejoices at the event happening now in Volgograd.”

After Lev Tyurin«s passing, distant relatives inherited his apartment. It was simply stuffed with his various paintings at that time. After all, Lev Sergeyevich drew all his life. He drew and stored his works. He had no money for frames for them. He could not frame them or put them on display. Therefore, his paintings mostly just lay at home. The new owners of the artist»s apartment began to clear it of them with the intention to hand over Lev Sergeyevich«s artistic legacy for scrap paper along with the ordinary papers and newspapers left behind.

“Thank God,” Galina Yegorova said, “that we managed to save about two thousand works by Lev Sergeyevich in time. We bought forty black garbage bags from his relatives then for 6,000 rubles (about $65 at current rates). We sorted them for a long time afterwards. We found many wonderful linocuts by Lev Tyurin in them. We bought frames for them ourselves.”

Many drawings and linocuts presented at the exhibition opened in Volgograd are precisely from there, from those garbage bags. Also located here are Lev Sergeyevich«s paintings, executed in oil on canvas. They were gifted by him in his time to the public organization »Children of Stalingrad«. Since then, they have been stored in its office. Many of his drawings on military themes are also stored there to this day.

All this was drawn by the artist in the fifties — seventies, when Lev Sergeyevich was still young. He had poor eyesight by the end of his life, but he multiplied and preserved his drawings, making author«s copies from them. He even multiplied them on a photocopier and colored them. He wanted all this to remain, preserved in his native city.

Fame Came Late in Life

The main savior of these works by the Volgograd artist, Galina Yegorova, was well acquainted with him in her time.

“Lev Sergeyevich,” she recalls, “was a modest and poor man. A true artist-ascetic. He lived, one might say, like a monk. His everyday life was poorly arranged. But he had a special, Stalingrad core in his character. He did not smoke or drink. In childhood, during the war, Germans, for amusement, forcibly poured schnapps down his throat. The boy suffered a stomach burn from this. Since then, Lev Sergeyevich could not stand even the smell of alcohol. Even when doctors wiped his skin with alcohol before an injection, he would get stomach cramps.”

Lev Tyrin was, moreover, disabled. His legs were frostbitten in his Stalingrad childhood. One leg, in addition to this, was also twisted, because of which he could hardly even sit.

“But at the same time,” says Galina Yegorova, “Lev Sergeyevich was open, talkative when we communicated with him. And he could talk for eight hours straight!”

Once, together with another remarkable Volgograd artist Viktor Losev, Lev Tyrin sat repeatedly on the Central Embankment of Volgograd in the hope of selling at least something from his drawings to his fellow countrymen. But nothing came of it, no one bought their works. Then he went to work at a factory. Fame came to him when he was already eighty years old, after an exhibition of his Stalingrad cycle works, held at the Volgograd Youth Theater. Journalists, including those from out of town, capital media employees, simply gave him no rest then! Everyone wanted to talk with him and tell their readers about him, about his work. In just one week, seventeen thousand publications about Lev Sergeyevich and his paintings came out then.

Two Colors, Huge Effect

Among the many visitors at the exhibition opening came Larisa Ageyeva — the daughter of Valentina Chumachenko, a veteran of the Battle of Stalingrad, who passed away not so long ago.

“Lev Tyrin is our fellow countryman, a great artist. An artist who saw with his own eyes both the war and the post-war time,” she said. “In artistic creativity, I love graphics most of all. Therefore, I took a liking to Lev Tyrin«s linocuts. They have only two colors — black and white. And what depth is achieved with this! One must be a master to create such an image that attracts the eye.”

Another exhibition visitor, labor veteran, honorary worker of higher professional education, Volgograd resident Yelena Rudnyanskaya, was acquainted with Lev Tyrin through her work in the education authorities.

“I worked then,” she recalls, “at the faculty of primary education. There was a program for students where they had to study visual activity. At the same time, practice was also provided for them. We underwent it in the former Volgograd secondary school No. 109. Lev Tyrin gave lessons to the students there. Then he discussed their works with them. Moreover, he evaluated all drawings made by students only as «excellent». He explained this by saying that «people draw from the soul, and I should not upset them!»”

Now Yelena Ivanovna is retired. She participates in the work of a veterans« organization, composes poetry. Last year, she wrote a book of poems about the war, about the Battle of Stalingrad. Illustrations for this book became Stalingrad drawings by Lev Tyrin.

If Not for the War…

Yuri Torgashov, a retired colonel, veteran of state security organs, met Lev Tyrin when he worked as first deputy chairman of the Volgograd Regional Council of Veterans.

“Lev Sergeyevich,” he says, “was present then at our festivals, which we held in the Krasnoarmeysky district. The life he lived — practically exactly the same as my life. Except, perhaps, for only one thing: my older brother (he was also called Lyova) died. It was he who, together with my mother and grandmother, saved me from death during the Battle of Stalingrad. Therefore, we quickly came to a mutual understanding with Lev Tyrin. We had a lot to talk about with him.”

Lev Tyrin, according to Yuri Torgashov«s memories, was an amazing man. He always kept his experiences to himself and expressed them only in his paintings. This is visible in his work.

“He could not have a family either, since he himself long cared for two bedridden patients, his mother and grandmother. Until he buried them, fully fulfilling the mission of a son and grandson,” says Yuri Torgashov. “If not for the terrible Stalingrad childhood, Lev Tyrin would have become a completely different artist. He would have been a bright, lyrical artist. An artist bringing life to people. However, this was not destined for him…”

The exhibition of Lev Tyrin«s paintings will work in the center of Volgograd, in the exhibition hall at 6 Krasnoznamenskaya Street, until February 18 inclusive.