"The World of Two":
Nikolai Lyubchenko and Tamara Tanenkova "

The exhibition presents tapestries made jointly by N. Lyubchenko and T. Tanenkova, painting, graphics and batik by N. Lyubchenko, tapestries and batiks by T. Tanenkova. The exhibited works are part of the collections of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts, Kaluga Regional College of Music named after S. I. Taneev, Kaluga Regional Children’s Library, branch No. 13 of the city library and the collection of T. F. Tanenkova.

In a large team of Kaluga artists, one married couple always stood out: Nikolai Afanasevich Lyubchenko and Tamara Filippovna Tanenkova. Invariably attracted attention to their creative burning and amazing performance, it seemed to know no limit. They undertook to carry out any “official” orders, but at the same time offered such a reflection that they could only be surprised at the search for originality, which made a rather mournful melody sound at first glance with a powerful chord. Integral, well-thought-out compositions born in a successfully found color were born, poetic images arose.

Today, no one will dispute that it is the personality of each of these two artists that is associated with the formation and development of the Kaluga tapestry, easily recognizable, distinguished by its character from that which emerged from many other art centers of the vast country then. There is no direct answer to the question about the reasons for its differences, just like about the formal merits of a folk song that takes a soul. All this is achieved not only by professional skill, but, above all, by the involvement of the heart. Craft can be learned, but not everyone is given the ability to poeticize a seemingly mundane motive, one of those that seldom draw attention to itself. This is a world of poetic dreams in a picturesque reflection that can convey it to others.

It would be a mistake to assume that it is only a creative insight. Many years of mastery of skill and its application in difficult and often ungrateful work led to such achievements. Each artist had his own path, though not very easy, tempered character. Nikolai Lyubchenko began to dream of artistic creativity already in the hungry post-war years, when such studies did not bode either for material prosperity or for fame. A great happiness was the meeting in Romny with an amateur artist. Then there was training at the Krolevets vocational school, which gave knowledge on the execution of tapestries, the Moscow Higher Art and Industrial School (Stroganov). Tamara Tanenkova studied at the Kiev Art College of Applied Arts at the textile department, then at the same Moscow Higher Artistic and Industrial School. Since 1970, they lived and worked in Kaluga, participated in various exhibitions, and in 1980 became members of the Union of Artists of Russia. In 2008, Tamara Tanenkova was awarded the title of “Convicted Artist of Russia”.

The exhibition works in the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts at the address: st. Lenin, 103, from February 8 to March 15, 2019.