Artist Nikolai Mamontov in Ukhtpechlag (1936–1940): unknown page of creativity

Abstract

The article highlights a previously unknown period in the biography of the artist N.A. Mamontov (1898–1964), associated with his stay in the Ukhta-Pechora Correctional Labour Camp (Ukhtpechlag). As it became known from the memoirs of the artist M.S. Zhitnitsky, Mamontov, after his arrest in 1936, served time in the village of Chibyu (now the city of Ukhta), worked as an artist in the theatre and made copies of portraits of leaders and slogans in an art workshop. At the same time, paintings and drawings that are not related to the realities of camp life have been preserved in his legacy. Particular attention is paid in the article to portrait drawings of camp inmates from the 1937 album. Based on the materials presented, the author comes to the conclusion that the artists who lived and worked in the Soviet country did not always obey the requirements of the existing ideology in their work. Even those who like N.A. Mamontov were repressed and spent part of his life in prison. Until the end of days, Mamontov's work was nourished by the images of the art of bygone eras and the poetry of the Symbolists.