Title: Berdichev at time of Balzac and Ganskaya Artist: Balzak Largo Size: 16.5″ x 11.8″ in (42 x 30 cm) Material: watercolor on paperboard Year: 2003 |
Biography:
To write the biography of the person always it is hard. How to transfer personal sensations from the meeting with him and the dry facts of his biography?There is in front of me stately a sports kind a man with bright blue eyes, simultaneously serious and cheerful and speaks: “I am old already, I am 68 years old”, however eyes repeat: ”I am young and full of energy”.
Largo Balzaque was born in 1936 in Kiev. His mother and father, grandmother and grandfather lived in Kiev. Where its destiny as the builder and the sportsman. He has graduated from the Kiev engineer-construction institute, he has the master sports on skis, he came back in the favourite city where he has grown in small Dionis lane, near to Pokrovsk monastery.
Largo life is rich with events and abrupt changes.
First his construction was Karatau (Kazakhstan) factory where Largo with prisoners and subjected to repression built plant. After it he went to army service. He was in army in building sub-unit located in Siberia where in forty-degree cold he “increased the rocket power of Soviet union”.
After returning to Kiev, at mature age he has graduated from the Kiev state art institute.
When perestroika begun, he became the main expert on the fine arts of the Ministry of culture of Ukraine. Since 1994 until 2004 Largo has been the responsible secretary of the Union of advertisement makers of Ukraine. He has a Golden medal – it is a high reward of the Union of advertisement makers of Ukraine.
Now Largo is the teacher of the faculty of design, architecture and gardening landscape art of the State Academy of managerial personnel of culture and arts.
Some other works of Largo Balzaque:
Vidubetskiy Monastery | Nostalgy. Andreevskiy spusk |
Kiev of Balzaque and Ganskaya | Mariinskiy Palace |
Andreevskiy Spusk | Winter. Podol suite. |
Yaroslavov Val | The Street Pokrovskaya |
The first professional exhibition of works of Largo opened in 1989. At an exhibition have been submitted 60 works carried out in techniques of old masters, the greatest success has fallen to engraving “Walk along Laura”, ”Evening Lvov”, then the urbanistic direction in creativity of the artist became the main, there was more than 1530 personal exhibitions. Favourite techniques of the artist are “ metstso-tinto”, ”a dry needle”, a pen, a watercolor. Largo writes his watercolors on a special cardboard cromersatz in technigues “a la prima” this nothing can be corrected. He makes painting on one breath. Watercolor amazes ease and a transparency but behind ease there are a many days preparation: accurate draw by pencil, selection and reading of various materials on arñhitecture and histories of city, for this reason places in its pictures are recognized. It was Kiev, Munich, Bratislava and the small city Berdichev, watercolors are not similar as well as cities are unlike but spirit of centuries lives in pictures.
Kiev works by Largo it is a city of Konstantin Paustovsky and Michael Bulgakov, city of times Onore de Balzaque and Evelin Ganskaya. The quivering love is feeling in its each work.
Pictures by Largo are in museums of Washington, Vienna, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and, certainly, Ukraine, in many private collections on the Motherland and abroad. He always speaks: “It is not the main thing that the observer has recognizes city. First of all it is required to inform up to the observer imaginations and make such that observer has grown fond also of these old walls and churches, witness history. We know history badly and love it even less”.