Назва музея Адрас месца, дата
To Whom It May Concern
Not so long ago while visiting the museum, I paid attention to the paintings by Ferdynand Rushchyts (Ruszczyc), the world-known artist born in Belarus. I was extremely disappointed that the museum shields attribute him as “the Polish artist”. It is not true.
I am Belarusian and know that the outstanding painter Ferdynand Rushchyts was born in his family estate of Bahdanau, which is not far from Valozhyn (Belarus). The artist spent all his childhood and youth in the Belarusian capital — Minsk. Rushchyts studied at the Minsk Classical Gymnasium for seven years and graduated from it in 1890. At that time, he attended Kuzma Ermakov’s painting lectures as well (who was a Russian artist, and a student of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts).
After graduating from the Minsk Gymnasium, Rushchyts entered the Faculty of Law of St. Petersburg University. But he changed the university to the Academy of Arts, where he studied from 1892–1897 with Ivan Shishkin and Archip Kuindzhi. Since then, he has been in the capital of Belarus during vacations. In his diary, he calls his parents' house in Minsk his native nest. We read the following lines: "I'm back in Minsk. (…) The warmth of a native nest, which is so lacking in the world, warms me up. After two days, I started painting again (…)".
Ferdynand Rushchyts became the most famous master of the Belarusian landscape at his time. His paintings, drawings, and sketches that brought him fame were created in the vicinity of his native Bahdanau and Minsk. Landscapes and the life of the Belarusian people were reflected in his work, and the traditions of Belarusian realistic painting were manifested. The artist’s creativity was directly related to the formation of the Belarusian national-romantic landscape of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His works influenced the further development of the landscape genre in both Polish and Lithuanian art.
The artist himself was a patriot of Poland, he did not separate his manner from the Polish cultural tradition, but he had a complex "kresy" identity. The artist's daughter Yanina Rushchyts claimed that her father always considered himself "local", emphasizing his Belarusian roots.
Canvases by Rushchyts have been repeatedly exhibited in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Vilnius, and Paris. He remained in history as an outstanding teacher. Ruszczyts was a professor at the School of Fine Arts in Warsaw and the Krakow Academy of Arts, and took an active part in the revival of Vilnius University.
We can’t deny that Ferdynand Rushchyts got his first great success at home, in his native town of Minsk. During his life, Rushchyts gained great fame as a painter, theater artist, graphic artist, and printing designer.
Moreover, the artist was the chairman of the Commission for the Protection of Ancient Monuments, traveled Belarus a lot, and sketched the ruins of castles and distinctive monuments of antiquity. Today, the artist's canvases adorn museum collections in Poland, Lithuania, Russia, and other European and American collections.
Ferdynand Rushchyts spent his last years in the Belarusian village of Bahdanau, where he died on October 30, 1936, and was buried there. We can say that Rushchyts directly contributed to the creation of the professional art school of Belarus, managing the art department of Vilnius University; dozens of Belarusian artists were his students, most of whose biography and creativity are connected with Belarus.
The artist repeatedly emphasized his attachment to his native land, Belarus, where he received his first art education, and took an active part in the cultural life. Thus, it is fair to call him a Belarusian artist connected with the artistic tradition of Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.
I hope that the works by Rushchyts in the museum and many other museums globally will be identified properly.
I will be glad to receive an answer to my proposal.
Sincerely yours,