The forgotten student of an unknown teacher: the life and work of the Kuban graphic artist Alexander Mazin

The aim of the study is to reconstruct the biography of the Kuban graphic artist Alexander Romanovich Mazin (1909-1973), who created most of his works in the middle of the 20th century, through a retrospective analysis of his life and work. Based on the artist’s personal fund in the Slavic Museum of Local History, consisting of materials (linocuts, photographs, samples of printed materials, and personal belongings) donated by private individuals from 1985 to 2011, as well as relying on materials from private collections, published sources, and studies of Russian researchers, the author reconstructs the main stages of Mazin’s creative biography. Historical-systematic, historical-biographical and diachronic methods were used in the study. Brochures with the inscription of Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, a Soviet graphic artist of the twentieth century, and photos of the Russian scientist Aleksey Eisner found in the artist’s personal fund allowed reconstructing the facts related to the period of Mazin’s study at the Institute of Proletarian Fine Arts (Leningrad) in the early 1930s. Particular attention is paid to Eisner, who rendered personal assistance to the young artist. The author discovered and first introduced into scientific discourse Eisner’s portrait photograph-the only known image of him in adulthood today. The author presents the previously unknown events of Mazin’s life after training in Leningrad in the pre-war period, those during the years of war and Nazi occupation and during the restoration of the country’s economy after the victory. He also describes facts from Mazin’s private life, his personal qualities, the fates of his adopted children, the details of his creative biography in the 1950s-1960s, and events related to his death. The author concludes that Mazin’s fate is similar to fates of many provincial artists of the Soviet Union, who, for various reasons, were unable to fully use their potential and earn the lifetime recognition of their talent. Mazin’s works demonstrate his high skill; they are also significant as they reflect the main stages of the economic development of the South of Russia. Alexander Mazin can stand on a par with the brightest representatives of the artistic environment of Kuban in the middle of the twentieth century. His works are of undoubted importance for the local community, serving as an inspiring example to new generations of artists.