Birth of a Giant

Mykola Kuzmych Bendryk was a Ukrainian artist, painter, graphic artist, and Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR (1978). He was born in the village of Olhynka (now Volnovakha district, Donetsk region) on April 26 (May 9), 1914. Bendryk studied at the Institute of Proletarian Fine Arts in Leningrad under V. Yakovlev, I. Shukhmin, I. Brodskyi, P. Utkin, and K. Rudakov. He took part in World War II and worked as a teacher at the Lviv Institute of Decorative and Applied Arts. Since 1935, he participated in regional, all-Union, and foreign exhibitions. His personal exhibitions were held in Moscow (1939,1977), Kyiv (1974, 1978, 1983, 1985), Donetsk (1935, 1956, 1967, 1977, 1980, 1985), and Mariupol (1957, 1959, 1963, 1969-1970, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1984). Since 1956, he lived and worked in Mariupol. Selected works include "Old Teacher", "Still Life with Lemon", "Self-Portrait" (various versions), "Partisan Hrach", and others. He died on February 17, 1994 in the city of Horodnya (Chernihiv region). According to his will, most of his creative assets were transferred to the Mariupol Museum of Local Lore, and later exhibited at the A.I. Kuindzhi Art Museum.