Art
Painting of a Russian village by Andreas Prediger who was born in Marienfeld in the Volga German Republic
Volga German iron cross in Marienberg (2006)
Artists
Andrej Prediger was born 1926 in Marienfeld in the Saratov region. In the famine of 1932/33 his two sisters and brother died of starvation. He was deported to Siberia in 1941 under Stalin's decree.
A photograph of her paternal great-grandmother, Mary Elisabeth Pauley, taken in Norka around 1890 inspired the artist Lydia M. Ruyle to create a lovely two-color lithograph titled "Babushka" in 1980. The photograph was given to Lydia's parents, Mr. and Mrs. David Miller, by relatives in Alma Ata during their 1967 trip to Russia. Mr. and Mrs. David Miller were two of the founders of AHSGR in 1968. The "Babushka" lithograph was sold as fund raiser for AHSGR in the early 1980's.
Lydia is an artist and scholar who has been pursuing Goddess research for several decades with my mind, body and spirit. As an artist, she creates icons, sacred images of the divine feminine from the many cultures of the world. Since 1995, the icons have become spirit banners which fly around the globe weaving the sacred energies of the divine feminine.
The Village of Krutetz
Elena V. Gallmeier is a Volga German who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts from Saratov Art College, a Master's Degree in Architectural Design from the St. Petersburg (Russia) Academy of Art & Design and post-graduate training at Bonn University in Bonn, Germany. Elena has worked as an architectural designer, artist and model maker in Europe and North America. Elena's art works are in private and government diplomatic collections in Europe, North America and Japan.
The Art of Jakob Weber
Painting of a Volga German village by Jakob Weber in 1929
Jacob Weber (Jacov Jacovlevich) was born on 7 August 1870, in the settlement of Golyi Karamysh (Balzer), in the rural area of Sosnovski, Karamysh District, Saratov Province. His parents were the descendents of German settlers from Saxony, invited to the Volga River banks in the 1760’s. Jacob Weber began to draw very early in life, but started to study art at a more mature age. In 1892, he moved to Saratov, where he became acquainted with famous Saratov painters, such as V. Borisov-Musatov, and V. Konovalov.
The artist Jacob Weber, the professional painter, already began his career before the revolution. He belonged to that generation of intelligentsia, which, though rather young in years, was nevertheless professionally mature enough to capture on canvass the mood of the new social and cultural order developing in Russia during that period. His life took him to great heights and utter depths, and is reflected in his passion for art.
In later years, Weber studied in Moscow, at workshop-studios of Constantine Korovin, at the Penza Art College. From 1902 to 1909, Weber became a student of painting at the St Petersburg Academy of Applied Arts. He was a constant participant of all art exhibitions, repeatedly won art awards.
In 1915, Weber settled in the village of Shcherbakovka (Muehlberg) on the banks of the Volga, and lived there until his arrest in 1937. From that time, his all-consuming passion became the theme of the "Highway of Russia" - the Volga. The river is portrayed in his paintings reflecting all its glorious diversity: in stillness, calm, storms, morning light, evening dusk, afternoon balm, enlivened with movement of numerous ships, barges, boats and at rest from all activity both in the twilight or sunrise.
Weber lived up to the characteristics accredited to him on his arrival at the Academy by K. Savitzki: " J.J. Weber ... by blood and passion, he is a landscape painter. He is a very talented, serious worker."
In 1927, in the Central Museum of the ASSRWD (Autonomous Volga German Republic) opened an Art Department, the basis of which was a collection of 10 paintings by Weber.
Weber was commissioned by the Engels Museum to paint murals or panels reflecting Volga-German life. Many of those paintings are on display today at the museum.
In 1933, Weber was the first and only to received the rank of "Deserving artist the Volga-Republic". During this period he paints a work commissioned by the museum: a genre-piece "Cooking Watermelon Honey". In 1937 the artist was arrested and is deported to Kazakhstan for 5 years, is stripped of his rank and award of his "Deserving Artist" was only rehabilitated in 1956. After his arrest and deportation to Kazakhstan, many of his paintings were lost, sold and destroyed.
In 1958, J. J. Weber died with dream of a one-man exhibition unfulfilled. Many of his paintings, figure studies, sketches are lost, or have been destroyed or are overseas, scattered in private collections and individual ownership. The task of the employees of the picture gallery is to collect as many of his works as possible. Now there are more than 40 works in the collection of gallery, many of which have only recently been restored.
Engels Regional Museum, which houses the most comprehensive collection of Jacob Weber's of over 40 works, held a celebration on 24th October 2005 to commemorate the artist's 135 birthday anniversary and to announce the 2006 publication of a book about Weber titled "Talent from the Volga" by V. G. Khoroshilova.
Source: The Engels, Russia Regional Art Museum website – Translated by Vera Beljakova-Miller.