On construction of the first five-year plan
Construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric station
The first Five-Year Plane (1928-1932) and the second Five-Year Plane (1933-1937) were decisive for country. They had large scale of construction. The White Sea-Baltic Canal, Magnitka, Turksib, and the Stalingrad Tractor Works were only a small part of the largest construction projects of that time. A separate line in this list is one of the most grandiose projects of the first Five-Year Plan - the construction of the Dnieper hydroelectric station. In spite of the unprecedented scale of construction and titanic difficulties, the DnieproHES was built on time and started up in October 1932. It was not just a grand constructing, but a peculiar symbol of the great power of the then still young state.
Pavel Redin was a contemporary of this legendary construction. He created a series of paintings dedicated to this event. In those paintings you can see the whole history of construction. Many of the paintings in this series were exhibited at the artist’s anniversary exhibition.
In Zaporozhye newspapers of that time, articles were published on this event, and also were described the artist's paintings and his work on them. You can familiarize with these newspaper articles under the links: 'Hour with Redin' and 'Music of colors'.
Dnieper rapids
In this place will be built 'Dneproges' -
firstborn of plan of the State Commission
for Electrification of Russia (GOERLO)
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
14¼ x 21¾ in.
Exploration of the Dnieper's banks
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
21¾ x 10¾ in.
The first builders
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Diggers. Construction of
forebay's embankment
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 11¾ in.
Komsomol’tsy-dneprostroevtsy
Brigades of foremost people
Gouache on paper
1965
11¾ x 35½ in.
Hammer man
Sketch
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 12½ in.
Sawing logs
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
18 x 10¼ in.
The first bull
of the dam
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 11 in.
Concrete worker
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 7¾ in.
Morning of construction
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 10¼ in.
Winter of 1931
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 11 in.
Girls concreters
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
18¼ x 11¾ in.
Swallows
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
14½ x 19½ in.
Night shift
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 17¾ in.
Concrete workers
Record concrete
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 11 in.
A moment of rest
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
19½ x 14¼ in.
Digger
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
10½ x 17¼ in.
Winter panorama of the construction
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Dnieper in
the concrete shell
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
24 x 17 in.
This painting is in the collection of
Zaporozhye Regional Art Museum
Komsomol to Dnieprostroy
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
17¾ x 25½ in.
In the average
span of the dam
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
21¾ x 10¾ in.
The Dnepr river is blocked
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Work is in full swing
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
23¾ x 14½ in.
Work replenishment
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
16½ x 23¾ in.
Winter.
The left bank of the Dnieper
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
16½ x 23¾ in.
Weekdays of construction
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
23¾ x 14¼ in.
Girls concreters
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
The large concrete
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
16½ x 23¾ in.
Installation of helix
in the engine room
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
16¼ x 23½ in.
Spring of 1931
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
23½ x 16½ in.
On the left bank of the Dnieper
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
14½ x 20¼ in.
The first water flow from a dam
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
A look in height
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
23¾ x 15¾ in.
Maxim Gorky with builders of Dnieprostroy
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Gouache on paper
1964-1965
15¾ x 23½ in.
Maxim Gorky on the construction of
the Dnieper Hydroelectric Station named after Lenin
Oil on canvas
1984
35½ x 45¼ in.
Dnieper hydro power plant named after Lenin
Oil on canvas
1964-1965
35½ x 82¾ in.
Komsomol members of the first five-year plan
Brigade of concrete workers of Eugene Romanko
Invitation of the neighboring brigade
to socialist emulation
Oil on canvas
1987
31½ x 47¼ in.
Komsomol to Dnieprostroy
Picture
Charcoal
1956-1957
23½ x 11¾ in.
Concrete workers
Oil on canvas
1987
33½ x 33½ in.
Industrial Giants of Zaporozhye
The construction of Dnieper hydroelectric station was the energy base for the construction of large industrial enterprises in Zaporozhye: the Coking plant, the Chemical Plant, the Repair and Mechanical Plant and the Zaporizhstal plant, one of the largest metallurgical enterprises at that time. This plant was built in an incredibly short time - less than 3 years, and began work in November 1933. Currently, Zaporizhstal is the largest city-forming plant in Zaporozhye.
Pavel Redin has repeatedly visited this plant and wrote the “industrial landscapes” of this industry giant: blast furnaces, open-hearth, factory yard. One of Redin's works, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the Zaporizhstal plant, depicts the meeting of three prominent statesmen on the building site of the future giant: Sergo Ordzhonikidze, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin and Vlas Yakovlevich Chubar. This meeting took place in 1932 at ceremonial events dedicated to the launch of the first electric smelting furnace.
The yard of factory
Oil on canvas
1967
23½ x 55¼ in.
Blast furnaces of Zaporozhye
Metallurgical Plant 'Zaporozhstal'
Oil on canvas
1967
49¼ x 37½ in.
This painting is in the collection of
Zaporozhye Regional Art Museum
Weekdays of factory
Oil on canvas
1962
25½ x 61 in.
Sketch for the painting
Industrial giants of Zaporozhye
Gouache on paper
11¾ x 35½ in.
Mikhail Kalinin, Sergo Ordzhonikidze
and Vlas Chubar on the construction of
the factory "Zaporizhstal". November, 1933.
Oil on canvas
1983
31½ x 47¼ in.
Agriculture of the USSR
After general collectivization in the early 1930s, agricultural activity in the country was carried out only collectively by agricultural artels (collective farms) or agricultural enterprises (state farms). The heyday of collective farm construction came in the 1950s and 60s. Virgin lands were developed; progressive methods of management were introduced. The financial well-being of collective farms grew; built residential buildings for workers, clubs, and office buildings. There was a growing demand for building decorations, including painting.
Collective farms ordered paintings depicting rural life. Many such works were painted by Pavel Redin. Unfortunately, only a few photographs of these paintings have been preserved, without specifying for whom those pictures were painted.
At the field camp
Oil on canvas
1964
23½ x 47¼ in.
Mechanics of the village
Oil on canvas
The 1960s
Collective farms
Oil on canvas
The 1960s