On February 7, 2020, O.O.Osmerkin Art-Memorial Museum hosted the opening of the exhibition “VolodymyrFedorov: the artist and time” to the 100th anniversary of the artist.
    The exposition of the exhibition consists of paintings and graphic works of the famous fellow artist Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Fedorov(07.02.1920 – 25.08.1986) from the museum collection “Modern Ukrainian Fine Art” and also unique original photographs and documents of the artist that were given to the museum by his widow Nina Heorhiievna Fedorova.
    Artists, journalists, museum workers, and teachers of Art School named after O.O.Osmerkin came to the opening of the jubilee-themed exposition that was held on the day of birth of the talented painter.
    Many of those present personally knew Volodymyr Fedorov and his wife. Merited Journalist of Ukraine Bronislav Kumanskyi told how he got acquainted with Volodymyr Fedorov when he worked in the art gallery, and also about the difficulties the artist experienced when he has been creating the painting “Flight of peace”, that unfortunately remained unfinished.
    Famous artist and pedagogue, member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine, the head of the Visual Arts Department of the Children School of Arts Yurii Vintenko not only shared his memories about Volodymyr Fedorov but also presented the museum funds with a unique drawing – a double portrait, created on February 10, 1949, by his father who later become Merited Artists of Ukraine, Borys Vintenko and Volodymyr Fedorov. On the album paper, the artists depicted each other in the graphic technique of Indian ink and pen. In such a way Volodymyr Fedorov examined a young artist Borys Vintenko who had just graduated from college. The drawing was torn apart and the portraits were kept separately at both authors. After many years, when the artists had already died, the wife of Volodymyr Fedorov Nina Heorhiivna gave half of the drawing to Yurii Vintenko to recreate its original form.
    The exposition of the exhibition can boast another gift received by the museum. A painting by Volodymyr Fedorov “Suburbs of Svitlovodsk” at the end of the 1960s – the beginning of the 1970s was handed to the museum by Tetiana Khrapova – an experienced museum worker, who worked in the Local History Museum and Art Museum, and in our museum too. During the exhibition opening, Tetiana Dmytrivna said warm words about Nina Heorhiivna Fedorova, the wife, friend, and first of all muse of the artist, who presented her with this painting in 1994. Nina Heorhiivna was born in the town of Novoheorhiivsk, which was flooded by Kremenchuk Reservoir at the end of the 1950s, and a new Svitlovodsk was built nearby. A large industrial center of the Poltava region – Kremenchuk, a native town of Tetiana Dmytrivna, is located not far away.
    Olena Klassova, the chief custodian of the Museum of Musical Culture named after Karol Shymanovskyi told everyone about the friendship of her father, a well-known stamp collector, Adolf Zvarysh with a painter Volodymyr Fedorov. They were not only just friends but also had a lot in common – they lived on one street and their grandmothers worked in the houses of the Neuhaus and Shymanoskyi families and took piano lessons.
    The leading researcher of the museum, Merited Artist of Ukraine Andrii Nadezhdin emotionally characterized the work of the artist as a bright representative of socialist realism – the whole epoch in visual art that broke the lives of many artists. He quoted the modern art historian Mariana Musii: “Accusation of artists in loyalty to the authorities nowadays if not efficient because some created conformist paintings because they couldn’t create anything else, while others – to have an opportunity to create something else”.
    Most of the great heritage of Volodymyr Fedorov currently is kept in Regional Art Museum where the jubilee exhibition was opened. Oleh Yurchenko, the head of the Department of Tourism, Local History, and Information Work of the museum invited everyone present to visit the exhibition. He also mentioned that it is only the first of the planned exhibitions of works of a talented painter Volodymyr Fedorov.