«Once in my early childhood a traveling trader was passing through our village. In his trunk he had some pencils. I asked him: “What do you want for a pencil?” and he said that he wanted hoofs and horns. I remembered how they were baking soap and ran behind a barn to bring him those hoofs and horns, and that’s how I got my first pencil. I could not know then that my fate was inside that pencil. A Neighbor girl, Manka, brought some copy book paper from school for a coin I got from my mother. I started to draw everything I saw from a window of our cabin and my art career began. I am still drawing as if with the same pencil and I remember my mother, our village, the old trader, and Manka, who now lives in Serdobsk.»

Dates in life and work

«
1926 (November 8) – Born in Ivanovka, Saratov Region. In early childhood I traded hoofs and horns for the first pencil of my life. My father, carpenter Alexander Efimovich, sharpened it with his axe and I drew everything I saw from a window of our cabin.

1933 – Moved with my parents to Dzerzhinsk, was drawing and exhibiting at the Palace of Culture and the House of Young Pioneers.

1939 – First newspaper article in “Gorkovskiy Commune” about my participation at an art exhibition in Dzerzhinsk. Worked as a lathe machinist at “Zarya” factory. Was painting wall murals and theatre decorations at Palace of Culture. Worked at art studio and at home.

1943 – Drafted to the Red Army. Served in the town of Kirov, was making cut away drawings of engines, cannons, shells, grenades for military training classes. Worked on paintings and murals. Exhibited water color landscapes at an Exhibition of Military Artists in Borisov. Published drawings and posters in “Glory to Motherland” newspaper. Studied in art studio at The Belorussian Publishing Agency in Minsk. Illustrated books, magazines, made drawings for newspapers. Participated at exhibitions of Belorussian book graphic art. Created wood and plaster sculpture installations.

1950 – Discharged from military duty and moved to Leningrad. Was admitted to the Graphic Department at The Repin Academy of Arts. Later transferred to the Battle Art Studio at the Department of Painting under Professor Frenc. Worked on paintings for Belorussian Military District and illustrated books for Belgosizdat.

1956 – Graduated from The Repin Academy of Arts. Admitted to the Leningrad Union of Artists. Worked on paintings for Brest Fortress Museum. Had a one-man show of painting and graphics in Minsk and Borisov. Worked on children books for “Childrens’ Literature” publisher in Leningrad. Participated in national and Leningrad exhibitions.

1960 – Joined the Union of Soviet Artists. Lived and worked in my apartment on Vasilievsky Island in Leningrad. Participated in all-Union and Regional exhibitions of paintings and book illustrations. Worked for publishers in Moscow and Leningrad drawing books, text books, diafilms, and picture books. Painted landscapes and fairy tales for Leningrad Art Foundation.

1987 – Retired pensioneer. Painted portraits, landscapes, still lifes. Participated at exhibitions.

1995 – Continued to finish earlier-started paintings.
»

 
Victor Boundin passed away on May 3, 2000.