How did Gabriel Gluck paint “Loggers”?

14

July

2018

Interesting Facts

“Loggers” of Gabriel Gluck is one of the most famous paintings created by a Transcarpathian artist. It was this work that in 1958 the artist was awarded a large silver medal at the World Exhibition in Brussels.

This work is known by numerous art lovers. Today it is stored at the National Art Museum in Kyiv. The history of its creating is actually very interesting. Here are some facts about the famous “Loggers” by Gabriel Gluck:

1. The artist was working on “Loggers” for three years.

2. In order to make the canvas as realistic as possible, Gluck was living on the logging units eyeing his future heroes.

3. Before creating the painting, the artist made several sketches, dozens of etudes and some versions-drawings.

4. Under the complete version of “Loggers”, there is another picture. From the left and right the author “sewed” the fragments, and thus it appeared more air and transparency on the canvas.

5. The final version of the “Loggers” was created in Dubrynychi village, Perechyn district of Transcarpathia, in 1954.

6. In the year of its creating, the painting was presented at the exhibition at the Transcarpathian Art Museum. Later, it was exhibited in Lviv, Kyiv, and Warsaw. It remained in Moscow –

purchased by the Tretyakov Gallery.

7. The painting was destined to return to Ukraine: Tretyakov gallery sold the work to the Kyiv National Museum. As the grandson of the artist Oleksandr Aleksandrov said, those days there was a kind of distribution of art works between the republican museums. And thus "Loggers" got to the capital of Ukraine.

8. In 1958, the painting was exhibited in Brussels, it was highly appreciated by all visitors. Although, the artist was not present at the ceremony.

9. G. Gluck did not like to recall the story of the presentation of the award in Brussels. It is said that the artist was awarded... at home, in Uzhhorod. Once the representatives of the local Union of Artists together with its head Vasyl Svyda came to his house on Zhupanatska street, opposite the Transcarpathian Regional Art Museum. They were talking about something and when leaving they told him: “Here is something for you from Kyiv”. The member of the union just pulled the award out of the pocket and handed him – like a piece of paper.  The artist was both glad and sad because he could not attend the ceremony –  it was that kind of time.

P. S. In 1951, G. Gluck received an international award. In 1951, his work “Loggers Defending Peace” was awarded at the Venice Biennale. Before, the painting was noted in Kyiv and Lviv at the Decade of Ukrainian Literature and Art. However, at home, the painting was strongly criticized. Thus, on 26 July 1951, “Zakarpatska Pravda” newspaper, under the authorship of H. Pokhaznikov, published a critical article. It said: “Only an indifferent formalist can paint a Soviet man in such a way... There is no joy from work ...”. It was impossible not to pay attention to such an article those days – the newspaper was almost the only source of information in the region. There is a suggestion that the true authors of the material were I. Chendei and A. Kotska. It is said that such criticism influenced Gluck very much. However, he did not give up. It encouraged him to create a monumental picture.

It is interesting that Gabriel Gluck never criticized his colleagues. His favourite phrase was: “There is something good in every work. You need to see it.”

Prepared by Denys Fazekash
The author is grateful to the family of Gabriel Gluck for helping to prepare the material