Bibliographic description of the book: Стеценко С.М. Війни художників: роман. – Харків: Фоліо, 2016. – 559 с.
The plot of this novel relies on the life facts of Mykola Hlushchenko (Mykola Hushchenko in the novel), a famous Ukrainian artist and intelligence officer. A lot has been written about his personality, but nevertheless there are many things in the life of the artist left uncovered, as tellings and legends.
The charismatic personality ... The destiny seems to be a fiction itself as that of agent 007. Mykola Hlushchenko was a painting artist and intelligence officer who worked in Paris for the Soviet intelligence agency in the 1920s and the 1930s. He managed to hang over 200 drawings of the militery equipment and was one of the first who informed on the preparations of the Nazi Germany to attack the Soviet Union. M. Hlushchenko was a friend of Volodymyr Vynnychenko, was a talented artist considered among the best landscape painters in Europe, sportsmen, handsome man, sharp dresser and heartthrob. Nowadays, his works are in the catalogues of the international art auctions and the largest collection of 1 250 paintings by M. Hlushchenko is stored and displayed in the Ukrainian museums.
Stanislav Stetsenko, the author of the book reported in the current publication, had been collecting the information for The Wars of the Artists for 6 years. More than 100 documents had been studies for the book: the memoirs of the political figures, the declassified documents of the intelligence agencies, the newspaper articles dated back to the research period, the art catalogues (during his life M. Hlushchenko had 50 solo exhibitions and participated in 200 group exhibitions).
Stanislav M. Stetsenko is the Ukrainian writer and newspaper journalist. Has been a member of the National Union of Ukrainian Writers since 1997. Was born in Donechchyna. Graduated from Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics. Was editor-in-chief of АРТ-Ukraine (the art magazine), director of Agency for Investigative Reporting, editor of numerous all-Ukrainian and regional newspapers. 1989 was the start of Stetsenko’s fiction publications. His prose writings have been published in many Ukrainian magazines: Ukraine, Kyiv, Ranok, Start, Nauka-Fantastyka, Lel etc. Is the author of thrillers and suspense novels: The Wars of the Artists, Black Shark in Red Water, The Neanderthal, The Diary of the Pioneer in Love, All Power to the Soviets!, Sexodrome. Mass media have named this author “the grandpa of the Ukrainian thriller” and the founder of the “Ukrainian middle shelf books”. Has gained the awards of the Ukrainian and International literary contests. The author call his The Wars of the Artists a historical novel, written as action. This book also contains (and the author does not keep it secret) the share of the author's imagination and truly fiction heroes. But imagination is also in demand, it creates an interesting and gripping story out of a dull biographic description for the art admirers and those who have not been interested in it.
The plot of the novel unfolds against the ground of the dramatic historic events: World War II, 1940 – the year of friendship between the national-socialist Berlin and the national-socialist Moscow, the year of tension between London and Moscow. In addition to the protagonist, we meet in the novel the famous political figures: W. Churchill, A. Hitler (they both were good at painting) and J. Stalin and their entourages. The other characters are also outstanding people of the time: film director Oleksandr Dovzhenko, artist Oleksandr Herasymov.
Summer 1940. M. Hushchenko departures to Berlin. He is in charge of the Soviet delegation of the artists and with the tasks from the People’s Commissariat for State Security. But according to the plans of the latter, he would not return alive after performing the job. Moreover, Mykola’s wife is admired by people’s commissar Lavrenty Beria. Gestapo is also becoming suspicious of the artist and is starting hunting for him. But the turning point of the novel is when M. Hushchenko meets the artists who now, at the beginning of 1920-s, is just a beginner. It is Adolf Hitler.
The book is written in a good vivid style. The plot intrigues the reader from the first pages and deepens into the atmosphere of the epoch, which is to change the whole world forever. The book is an opportunity to study how the representatives of the artistic world accepted the events of that time and whether Art is beyond the politics.
We advise you to read The Wars of the Artists by S. Stetsenko and learn more about M. Hlushchenko, the main character’s prototype. M. Hlushchenko was born in Prydniprovia (the Dnipro region), was the laureate of T. Shevchenko Prise and the National Artist of the USSR. On the other side, M. Hlushchenko was a successful intelligence officer, who managed to survive under extremely dangerous conditions, returned to Ukraine and presented the world with his wonderful paintings.
Svitlana Ponomarenko
