To Win on the Bloodless Front!

Volodymyr Serhiiovych Kutkin was a Ukrainian graphic artist, painter, and People's Artist of Ukraine. Born on November 12, 1926 in Zhytomyr, in 1938 he entered the Taras Shevchenko Kyiv Art School. His studies were interrupted by the war. In 1948, he entered the Kyiv State Art Institute, Faculty of Graphics. But in 1950, he was arrested on charges of Ukrainian nationalism and sentenced to 8 years of imprisonment. In 1955, after his release, he resumed his studies at the Kyiv Art Institute (in O. Pashchenko's workshop). Starting in 1957, he participated in art exhibitions. A member of the Union of Artists of Ukraine from 1961, Kutkin worked in the field of easel, book graphics, and monumental and decorative art. In 1967, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR, and in 2001, People's Artist of Ukraine. Among his works are the graphics "T. Shevchenko" (1961, 1964, 1984, 1986), "Prince Igor" (1986), "Self-portrait" (1987, 1997, 1998), "Lesya Ukrainka" (1989), and "Hunger. 1933" (1988), the paintings "Quiet Evening" (1997), "Landscape with White Lilies" (1998), and "Holy Shores" (1999), and others. He died on March 10, 2003 in Kyiv. His works are kept in the National Art Museum of Ukraine (Kyiv) and in many museum and private collections in Ukraine and abroad.