Raisa Uladzimirauna Kudrevich

Background

Raisa was born on the 2nd of April 1919 in Minsk City, Belarus into the family of famous artist U. M. Kudrevich and Volga Ivanauna.

Education

In 1937, Raisa graduated from a ten-year school in Minsk and entered the second year of Vitebsk Art college, which graduated in 1941.

Career

R.Kudrevich evacuated to the village of Kanuevka, Alekseevsk district, Kuibyshev (Samara) region and worked in the fields there. Later she taught art and drawing in the secondary school of the village of Martynovka, Buzuluk district, Chkalov (Orenburg) region. In 1943-1945, R. Kudrevich lived in Kemerovo and worked as an art inspector of the arts department in the regional executive committee. There, in 1943, she participated in the exhibition "Kuzbass - to the Front Lines". She showed paintings "Bread to Pasrtisans" and "We Will Revenge".

In 1945, R. Kudrevich returned to Minsk. The first work by Raisa Kudrevich created in 1946 and admitted to the museum at the same year is the small sketch "Road". Shortly afterwards, there appeared a large painting by her about joy and hope. For the first time the canvas "To the Native Collective Time", 1948 was showed during the exhibition of Belarusian artists in Moscow in early 1949 and was highly appreciated.

The theme of "leisure hours" in the life of young villages was represented in the canvases "Accordionist Is Walking",1956; "Belarusian Ditties", 1959-1960. Raisa Kudrevich found new plot devices and different coloristic options in those works. She still remained the master of detailed composition in paintings. She developed mise-en-scenes both in traditions of classical multi-figure paintings and with the use of techniques and aesthetics of cinematography.

The painting "Belarusian Ditties" was exhibited 10 times in a little more than 10 years, including the All-Union Exhibition in Moscow, then in other Russian cities, and also in Findland, Poland, Italy. Its latest display took place in 1944 in Vitebsk at the exhibition for the 75th anniversary of Vitebsk artistic school.

The apotheosis and conclusion of this series of works in her creative career is "Newlyweds Are on the Way", 1961. Extension of this keynote group of works is the paintings dedicated to other sides of women, to other characters, the topic of labour is adressed in them: canvas "First Metting".

Starting from 1960s and over three decades R. Kudrevich made a cruise around Europe, touristic and creative visits to Italy, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, travelled around Belarus, the Soviet Union.

The painting "New Address", 1967 is one of the sunniest works by Raisa Kudrevich. Her characters are young girls who have arrived to a new place of work and life on Komsomol assignment. The canvas "Before the Concert",1967 is the last work of the second period in Raisa Kudrevich`s creative career made on the brink of her 50th anniversary. It marked the beginning of a new period. She preserved her former manner of impressionistic realism in carnations (painting of the face and body) but started to paint the rest more generally, decoratively and flatly thus allowing herself to emphasize the flexible, free lightness of characters as if to express their future dance while depicting them at relative calm. One of the first works, where the new pictorial and figural system in the creative career of R.Kudrevich showed in full, was "Spring. 1945" created in 1970 to the 25th anniversary of the victory. Over the following years she kept creating canvases of mostly optimistic tone, such as "Light Rain in May", 1971; "Haying Time", 1976; "When Gardens Bloom", 1978 and others. Drama was not totally strange to the creative work of R. Kudrevich. She dated it to the more or less distant past: "Tribute to the Daughters of the Fartherland", 1973. Dramatic aspects are present also in portraits, including self-portraits.

The creative collaboration of Raisa Kudrevich and her husband Adolf Gugel continued for almost three decades. Their first painting, the historical portrait "Nikolai Ostrovsky, 1956-1957. Their second joint work: "Kastus Kalinouski", 1958. They also created: "Appassionata", 1963; triptych "The Symphony of Revolution", 1967-1968; "Grenada", 1969, etc.

In different years, she was the chairman of the trade union of the Union of Artists, twice a deputy of the Minsk City Council.

Achievements

• A number of paintings by R. Kudrevich and her father U. Kudrevich were left in the collection of the Kemerovo Art Museum. In 1944, they participated in the exhibition of Belarusian art in the Tretyakov Gallery dedicated to the 25th anniversary of the BSSR (Belarus). In 1945, the exhibition opened in Minsk in an extended format.
  
  Raisa left numerous artistic evidences of her journeys, mainly, in watercolours.

Works

• painting

  • Bread to Partisans

  • We Wiil Revenge

  • sketch "Road"

    1946

  • canvas "To the Native Collective Time"

    1948

  • canvas "Dear Friends"

    1952

  • canvas "Accordionist Is Walking"

    1956

  • canvas "Belarusian Ditties" (1959-1960)

  • Newlyweds Are on the Way

    1961

  • First Meeting

    1961

  • New Address

    1967

  • Before the Concert

    1967

  • Pushkin in Mikhailovskoye

    1951

  • First Rehearsal

    1963

  • Spring.1945

    1970

  • canvas "Light Rain in May"

    1971

  • canvas "Haying Time"

    1976

  • canvas "When Gardens Bloom"

    1978

  • canvas "Spring in Serabranka"

    1983

  • Tribute to the Daughters of the Fartherland

    1975

  • Appassionata

    1963

  • triptych "The Symphony of Revolution" (1967-1968)

  • Grenada

    1969

  • Eternal Glory

    1977

  • To the Partisans of Belarus

    1984

• portrait

  • portrait Kastus Kalinouski

    (The painting was created for the 120th anniversary of Kas...)

    1958

  • portrait Nikolai Ostrovsky (1956-1957)

  • Girl

    1956

  • Sashok (Portrait of the Son)

    1959

Membership

She was a member of the Board of the Union of Artists, the Audit Commission of the Union of Artists, the Bureau of the Painting Section, the Board of the Art Fund, the exhibition committee of the Ministry of Culture.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• R. Kudrevich combined outstanding talent, professionalism, persistent optimism, active stand in life.
  
  I. M. Panshina: "One of the main characteristics of Raisa Kudrevich is her deep and consistent optimism distinguished by spontaneity, sincerity and honesty".

Interests

• Artists

  V. A.Serov, K. A. Korovin

Connections

Raisa was married to Adolf Samuilavich Gugel.

Father:

Uladzimir Mikalaevich Kudrevich (1884-1957)

He was a director and actor, a rare storyteller, guitar player and singer. U. Kudrevich organized and became the first chairman of the local department of the Artist`s Union. His personal exhibition of 130 works took place in Kemerovo.The plot was inspired by her father`s activities. In 1919-1923, he was in charge of the Western Railway Club in Minsk and of an art studio.

Mother:

Volga Ivanauna (1884-1955)

husband:

Adolf Samuilavich Gugel (1915-1999)

teacher:

A. A. Astapovich

He taught R. Kudrevich art in school.