Sketches from life drawn by Soviet artists during Great Patriotic War

The article is devoted to the sketches from life drawn by the Soviet artists who as the eyewitnesses had сaptured what they saw and came through at the front line and in the rear areas during Great Patriotic War. Numerous sketches demonstrate the entirety and depth in presenting the war; many of them became a basis for the future pieces of graphic and painting art. The article is devoted to the sketches from life drawn by the Soviet artists who as the eyewitnesses had сaptured what they saw and came through at the front line and in the rear areas during Great Patriotic War. Numerous sketches demonstrate the entirety and depth in presenting the war; many of them became a basis for the future pieces of graphic and painting art. Aim of the article is ascertaining of the main range of the sketches plots and demonstrating of their graphical features. Sketches from life do reflect various edges of the life during war; they are characterized by swift and sharp vision, truth, and laconism. The author analyzes the way of expressing the war in the landscape (images of battlefield and frontline city areas, burned down villages, and frontline roads), telling the stories about fighting (infantry attacks, landing assaults, crossing of rivers), everyday life and work at war (digging of trenches, cleaning of snow, loading of ammunition, repair of equipment in the battlefield), and daily routine at the frontline. Especial subjects in the article are landscape sketches of besieged Leningrad - they combine a documental level of expression and emotionality. Sketches from life include a large gallery of portraits of soldiers and officers, private soldiers and heroes who fought and won that terrible war. Typical images of the tried-and-true soldiers, young warriors and commanders represented in portraits are reviewed in the article. The portrait sketches do embody not only individual features of each specific human but also common features of the war generation Soviet people - patriotism and sense of duty, confidence in their just cause and vital force.