Vasily Konovalenko (1929 - 1989) was a man who led quite an extraordinary life. Born in Ukraine to a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother when Ukraine was under the heel of the Soviet Union.
As a young man he displayed pronounced artistic abilities, with particular skill as a sculptor. The 1930's were rough for young artistic types though, especially in that area of the world, what with the world wide depression, the famines throughout the USSR caused by the disastrous Stalinist 5-year plans, and of course, the Nazis.
Vasily survived WWII, which may not seem at all unusual as he was only 11 to 15 during the war, but do a little research and you'll discover that being a 11 to 15 year old boy in the USSR during WWII was fairly dangerous.
At the tail end of the war he was enrolled in a trade school (as all Soviet "citizens" were then required to be) but afterward somehow managed to get a position at the Stalin Theater for Opera & Ballet as a set designer, and then enroll in the art and architecture school at the Donetsk Polytechnic Institute.
By 1950 he was working in the Stalinist Regional Association of Artist as a sculptor, and seemed to be secure in his desired career as a creative artist.
However, he was drafted into the Soviet Navy, which threw a big wrench into his plans.
His service in the Soviet Navy was short lived however, as he was booted out after only 5 months for undisclosed medical reasons. The short while he was in the service had exposed him to the city of Leningrad (St Petersburg), and the long history of artistic appreciation that was an integral part of that cities cultural identity.
He moved to Leningrad after being dismissed from the Soviet Navy, and found work as the lead set designer for the Kirov State Academic Theater of Opera & Ballet (now known as the Mariinsky Theater), a position which inadvertently introduced him to the art of gem and mineral carving, and which, over the course of 16 years of employment there, allowed him to develop a unique talent for creating highly detailed small sculptures out of gemstones and minerals.
However...his desire to have those sculptures displayed at the State Russian Museum in Moscow led to him running afoul of a few particularly nasty high-ranking Soviet officials, as not only did he and his wife violate the required protocols of the being introduced up the ladder until they got to the actual official who could decide whether or not to display his work (they literally had just went around the seemingly endless levels of bureaucrats and showed up at the Moscow offices of the ones who could make the decision), but the subject matter of Vasily's sculptures, Russian folk life, was not in line with what the Communist Party deemed to be acceptable art.
Which lead to Vasily and his wife being booted out of Moscow and sent back to Leningrad with a Soviet equivalent of "Don't call us, we'll call you".
That discouraged Vasily for awhile, but two years later he & his wife tried again, this time returning to Moscow with the proper introductions and sculptures that were more in line with what the Communist party considered appropriate.
The result was success beyond the pale - his sculptures were viewed by powerful Soviets who approved a showing of his work at the State Russian Museum in Leningrad, and that showing was a huge success.
However...having Moscow-based Soviet bigwigs approve a show in Leningrad angered a few Leningrad-based Soviet bigwigs (Soviet bigwigs were constantly involved in power struggles and were constantly looking for ways to look good in the eyes of their superiors) The Leningrad-based Soviet bigwigs decided to make life hell for Vasily and his family, engaging the KGB to investigate him as a possible traitor to the USSR and as a criminal illegally trading in gemstones, minerals, gold & silver.
The Konovalenko's survived the charges and investigation due to the intervention of friends, but they had to leave Leningrad for Moscow, and had to turn over all of his sculptures to the state.
Needless to state, Vasily did not appreciate all that he and his family had to endure at the hands of the state, and decided to leave the USSR.
At the time (mid '60's to early '80's) the USSR had a program that would allow Russian Jews to emigrate to Israel. Vasily wasn't Jewish...but his wife was. They applied for the program and in 1981 they were approved for exist visas, which they used to get to New York City (Vasily's wife had a brother who lived there).
With the help of various friends, Vasily and his sculptures were soon in front of people who not only appreciated them, but would sponsor him to create more.
The sculptures, of course, would need to be put on display and one of the sponsors, a diamond merchant named Jack Ortman, had a client by the name of Alvin Cohen who was a trustee at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.
Mr. Cohen was shown the sculptures and agreed to arrange for an exhibition. It took a bit of time and work, but eventually, on March 15th 1984 at the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, for the first time outside of the USSR, Konovalenko's sculptures were seen by the public.
Over the next 5 years Alvin Cohen purchased all of the sculptures that Konovalenko's original New York sponsors had commissioned him to create (20 in all) and in 1999 (10 years after Konovalenko's passing on January 27th 1989), Mr. Cohen donated them to the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, where they remain on permanent display.
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