Extended biography

Petr Nikolaevich Maltsev (23 February 1926 - 28 August 2010) was born in the village of Maslovka, Chuhuiv district, Kharkiv region, Ukraine. From 1931, the site of Maslovka village has been occupied by a military firing range.

He was born into a peasant family. His father, Nikolai Grigoryevich (1900-1978), had two years of schooling at a church parish school. By finding employment at the construction of the Kharkiv Tractor Plant, he saved himself and his family from certain death by starvation during the famine of 1932-33 - one of the darkest chapters in Ukrainian history, known today as the Holodomor. He later served in World War II and was discharged due to a wound.

His mother, Natalya Pavlovna (1905-1989), had completed gymnasium and devoted herself to raising their children: son Petr and two daughters, Antonina and the younger, disabled Alexandra. She survived the war with her children without leaving the Chuhuiv region, in the occupied and practically front-line zone of the villages of Bashkirovka, Lebyazhe, the settlement of Kochetok, and the town of Chuhuiv. Both parents were Baptists and led a modest, ascetic way of life.

From childhood, Petr's inclination toward drawing was clearly evident. Having begged a pencil stub and a scrap of paper from soldiers (the Chuhuiv region had always been a military district) he would draw whatever he had seen, compose fanciful subjects, and was very fond of drawing epic heroes. He saw the surrounding world through a singular prism, capturing the full diversity of nature's colours and shades.

Childhood and War

Petr Maltsev grew up against the backdrop of collectivisation and the Holodomor of 1932-1933. He met the war in the village of Bashkirovka, on the outskirts of Chuhuiv. By adding a year to his age, he managed to be conscripted into the army in July 1943, thereby escaping death by starvation or by bombing in the front-line zone. Having completed the school for junior commanders in November 1943, he was sent to the front.

He took direct part in combat operations for more than half a year, participating in the battles for the liberation of Eastern Europe and in the assault on Berlin. He was wounded and treated in a military hospital in Linz, Austria. From 1943 to 1950 he served in the army as a senior sergeant and commander of an artillery piece, receiving various combat decorations, including the Order of the Patriotic War, Medal for Courage, Medal for Combat Service, Medal for the Capture of Berlin, and others.

Artistic Path

After the war, Petr Maltsev returned to his homeland in the Kharkiv region - the historic land of Slobozhanshchyna. From 1950 to 1955 he worked as an artist at an arts and crafts factory in Kharkiv, studying concurrently at an art studio under instructors S.M. Besedin, E.N. Tregub, and V.M. Nasedkin.

He married Praskovya Grigoryevna Milanko (1932-2014), a mathematician - holder of three honours diplomas of higher education, including a distinction diploma from the Physics and Mathematics Faculty of Kharkiv State University. She additionally qualified as a teacher of technical drawing and art history, and worked concurrently as a teacher at the Chuhuiv Children's Art School. Her quiet dedication made possible everything that followed.

Their sons: Yuriy (born 1968), an economist and entrepreneur; and Alexander (born 1972), a qualified teacher of drawing and technical drawing and a sports coach, currently working as a fitness trainer.

From 1956 to 1965 Maltsev worked as an artist at the Kharkiv Art Fund, participating in exhibitions for which he was awarded certificates of honour and a Diploma (1961-1964). In 1962 he enrolled at the Ukrainian Printing Institute named after Ivan Fedorov in Lviv (now the Ukrainian Academy of Printing), at the graphic arts faculty, studying under the noted graphic artist Kasian. In 1968 he completed the institute with the qualification of graphic artist.

The Repin Art School

In 1966 Petr Maltsev was appointed director of the Chuhuiv Children's Art School named after Repin - Chuhuiv being the birthplace of the great Ukrainian-born painter Ilya Repin - where he worked for nearly forty years. He was never a member of any political party.

When Maltsev took over, the school was on the verge of closure, graduating only 3-4 pupils per year. Under his leadership, more than 100 pupils studied annually, with yearly graduations of 20-30 persons. Exhibitions of pupils' work were displayed throughout Kharkiv region and at international exhibitions in Algeria, England, Italy, and Japan. The school was awarded the Venetsianov Medal for its achievements.

For Maltsev, the school was never simply an institution. It was a lifelong conviction - that every child is capable of seeing beauty, and that this capacity, once awakened, shapes a person for life. His words, remembered by his former pupil Roman Mikhailov, say it best: "A human being is a child of the sun. We are made of sunlight. So learn to paint the sun."

Legacy and Recognition

Over the course of his creative career, Petr Maltsev produced approximately one thousand works, a considerable number of which were given as gifts and now reside in galleries, museums, and public institutions across Ukraine and beyond.

In 2001 he became a member of the National Union of Artists of Ukraine. In 2005, by Decree of the President of Ukraine, Petr Maltsev was awarded the title of Honoured Worker of Culture of Ukraine for his significant personal contribution to the cultural development of the country and his active public work.

By resolutions of the city and district councils, he was awarded the titles of Honorary Citizen of the City of Chuhuiv and Honorary Citizen of Chuhuiv District.

On 23 February 2011, on the anniversary of his birth, a memorial plaque in honour of Petr Maltsev was unveiled on the building of the Chuhuiv District Cultural Centre, where the art school had been housed for many years. The Chuhuiv City Plein Air, an annual gathering of artists from Chuhuiv, Kharkiv and across the Kharkiv region, bears his name.

Publications and Press

The following publications appeared in the regional and local press of Chuhuiv and Kharkiv region over more than four decades.

1974 - Journal Prapor, No. 11: "Portrait of a Contemporary" (M. Chernova)

1976 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 02.11.1976: "In the World of the Beautiful" (Z. Volik)

1978 - Regional press, July 1978: "An Uzbek Became a Ukrainian's Brother" (M. Onishchenko)

1979 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 24.02.1979: "The Work of Young People" (G. Yudin)

1979 - Sotsialistychna Kharkivshchyna: "A Variegated Palette" (P. Ponomareva, researcher at the Kharkiv Art Museum)

1981 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 11.03.1981: "Here They Teach the Love of Beauty" (S. Goncharova)

1982 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 03.07.1982: "Comprehending Life" (P. Grigoryev)

1982 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 22.05.1982: "I.E. Repin Lived Here" (Z. Volik)

1983 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 10.12.1983: "We Nurture a Love of Beauty" (V. Zakharov)

1984 - Krasnoye Znamya, 05.06.1984: "The Work of Artist-Teachers" (S. Yevtushenko, senior researcher at the Kharkiv Museum)

1984 - Krasnoye Znamya, 03.07.1984: "The World Through Children's Eyes" (V. Zaporozhets)

1984 - Sotsialistychna Kharkivshchyna, 10.06.1984: "Artist-Teachers Report" (V. Putyatin)

1985 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 06.11.1985: "Meeting with Veterans" (V. Chernobai)

1986 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 15.02.1986: "A Creative Report" (A. Kirilyuk, researcher at the I.E. Repin Museum)

1986 - Vechirny Kharkiv, 28.06.1986: "A Museum in a District Centre" (G. Chirkin)

1986 - Journal Klub i khudozhestvennaya samodeyatelnost, No. 5, March 1986: "A Field of Activity for Children's Hands"

1996 - Slobozhansky Kray, October 1996: "The Art of Teaching Art"

1998 - Krasnaya Zvezda: "A Jubilee for the School of Art" (S. Shumeiko)

1999 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 24.02.1999: "With a Teacher's Heart, with an Artist's Talent" (S. Goncharova, editor-in-chief)

1999 - Krasnaya Zvezda: "To Think, to Feel, to See" (A. Sazonova, head of the picture gallery) - on the occasion of the 155th anniversary of the birth of I.E. Repin

2000 - Demokratychna Chuhuivshchyna, 13.05.2000: "Pain..." (V. Maksimov)

2000 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 24.05.2000: "At the Exhibition of Paintings by P.N. Maltsev"

2000 - Krasnaya Zvezda, 13.05.2000: "Chuhuivshchyna and Its People in the Canvases of Artist Maltsev" (S. Goncharova)

2000 - Krasnaya Zvezda, July 2000: "The Art School - the Pride of Chuhuiv" (S. Goncharova)

2016 - Vestnik Chuhuivshchyny, 27.02.2016: "In Memory of My Father" (Yu.P. Maltsev)