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Background history
The drawing presents an unknown young man and is connected with the existence of the camp designed for Soviet prisoners-of-war – Stalag 318/VIII F (344) Lamsdorf – in the years of World War II. The community of the Soviet POWs, numbering over 200 thousand, was the largest national group isolated in this camp. They are commemorated merely by a few objects remaining there. In view of this, the drawing featuring an anonymous man, which is one of the 78 sketches made in the camp by Georgy Ivanovich Danilov, like the other works of this artist, is a unique item which was created in extremely hard conditions of the camp reality. However, their exceptional value stems from the fact that they, in particular, show the faces and silhouettes of the Red Army soldiers who were detained in Lamsdorf. In this way, they make a valuable complement to the limited photographic documentation relating to the Soviet POWs. Unfortunately, it has not been possible even until today to establish the personal data of any of G.I. Danilov’s companions in captivity, whose portraits he made. Despite the passing of time and conducting successive studies on POWs and POW systems during World War II, these people still remain unknown witnesses to history. Apart from their value as documents, the sketches do possess an artistic value as well. The artist, before he found himself in captivity, had studied at the Moscow Institute of Fine Arts for two years. While in the camp, G.I. Danilov painted colorful picture postcards or reproductions of masterpieces of great masters of European painting, such as Diego Velázques or Peter Rubens, for the German guard personnel. The silhouette of G.I. Danilov himself, whose vicissitudes that had been shrouded in mystery were gradually revealed for many years thanks to determination and dedication on the part of our Museum employees, is also not without significance here. Over the fifty years of the existence of our institution, the artistic output of G.I. Danilov became the basis of many actions taken up by the Museum. The works by the artist were reproduced for the first time already in 1964, before the Museum acquired the status of an independent institution. The publication appeared under the auspices of The Museum of Martyrdom of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice and was entitled Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf. The first non-serial publication dealing with the vicissitudes and output of G.I. Danilov was The Catalogue of Collections. Georgy Ivanovich Danilov. Portrait Sketches, prepared by Joanna Filipczyk and brought out in 1999. The book made a presentation of the artist’s works in a complex way, at the same time presenting the history behind the sketches, their way into the Museum’s collections, as well as the post-war vicissitudes of their author, including also the history of his contacts with our Museum, which commenced in the 1960s. Next, G.I. Danilov was written about in, among others, the information guide Artistic Creativity in Prisoner-of-War Camps (1969), twice in the periodical Sketches from the History of the Camps in Lamsdorf/Łambinowice (1870-1946), edited by Edmund Nowak and published in 2006. Moreover, the drawings by G.I. Danilov made the subject of a few exhibitions prepared by the Museum, among others, “Artistic creativity in POW camps”, “Artistic work of G.I. Danilov” and “Georgy Ivanovich Danilov. Portrait sketches”.
Prepared by: Dorota Musiał
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Drawing by Georgy Ivanovivh Danilov
Source of acquisition
The portrait sketches were presented to the Museum by Stanisław Zaniewski, the Head of the Village of Łambinowice, who – shortly after the end of World War II – found them in the hospital barrack in the area of the former Stalag 318/VIII F (344) Lamsdorf. Upon the establishment of our institution, he immediately brought the drawings to the Museum, thanks to which they made a pillar of the museum collection.
Description of the item
A portrait of man – the oval face shown en face, high forehead, the hair combed back, a few days’ stubble, visible outline of the collar. The sketch is made in pencil on a sheet of paper of 30cm long and 21cm wide, preserved in a good state.
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