A good tradition of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus is the presentation of the most striking and successful exhibition projects that took place in the museum, in its Magiliou branch “The Museum of Vitold Byalynitsky-Birulya”. The exhibition “When We Were Children” was no exception. The exhibition will feature over 70 works of painting, graphics, sculpture, decorative and applied arts, photography of Belarusian masters of the 20th–21st centuries and the art of the 20th century Russian graphic artist Evgeny Katzman from the collection of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.
The exhibition project “When We Were Children”, using expressive images, illustrates the early life of a person – from birth to adulthood; that endless joy, love, hope, credulity, grace, playfulness and daydreaming so typical of a happy childhood. Belarusian masters of the 20th–21st century reflect their personal childhood experiences in their works and demonstrate the idea of childhood defined by the time when they lived and created, the time of the childhood of their own children. This is the world of objects, sounds, names and events that shaped the worldview of several generations. The thematic exhibition covers the period from the early 20th century to the first quarter of the 21st century – from a 1903 portrait by Yudal Pen to the 2019 sculptural composition by Volga Orsik, from the 1963 porcelain figurine by Mikhail Bialiaeu to the 1980s photographic series by Vadzim Kachan, mostly representing the image of the Soviet childhood in the 1950s and 1960s.
On the poster:
Mikalai Kazakevich. 1934–2021
Youth. 1971
Oil on canvas