The exhibition «One of the Founders of Soviet Socialist Realism in Art» – to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Onufrievich Bembel

October 30, 2025, marks the 120th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Onufrievich Bembel, sculptor and People’s Artist of the BSSR.

A.O. Bembel created bas-reliefs for the interior decoration of the Government House and contributed to such monumental works as the Mound of Glory and the Brest Fortress. He also designed monuments to Hero of the Soviet Union N. Gastello, scientist D.I. Mendeleev, People’s Poet of Belarus Yana Kupala, and many others.

A promotional video for the exhibition «One of the Founders of Soviet Socialist Realism in Art» has been posted on the BGAKFFD YouTube channel to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Onufrievich Bembel, sculptor and People’s Artist of the BSSR.

Currently, the Belarusian State Archive of Film, Photo, and Sound Documents contains 81 photographic documents from 1933 to 1986, 11 film documents from 1950 to 1985, and two sound recordings from 1966 and 1975 related to the work of A.O. Bembel.

The photographic documents include portraits of the sculptor, photographs taken in his studio, during vacations, visits to exhibitions, meetings of artists’ congresses, and the Supreme Council of the BSSR. Film footage (from the newsreels «Savetskaya Belarus» and «News of the Day», and the documentaries «Old Histories of Minsk», 1957, «Belarusian Craftsmen», 1959, and «On Stones, Iron, and Gold…», 1967), as well as photographs, show A.O. Bembel engaged in creative work or participating in public activities. In 1997, the Belarusfilm studio produced the documentary «Loyalty» in memory of A.O. Bembel.

The archive’s sound library contains a recording of the 1975 radio broadcast «Symphony of Manhood», dedicated to the work of People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel. Andrei Onufrievich Bembel died on October 13, 1986, and was buried at the Vostochnoye Cemetery in Minsk.

In 2005, the Ministry of Communications and Informatization of the Republic of Belarus introduced a specially designed envelope with an original stamp commemorating «100th Anniversary of the Birth of A. O. Bembel».

1. 0-140197 Belarusian sculptor A.O. Bembel at work, /1930-1939/, Collector K.Bembel

2. 0-140176 Sculptor, Honored Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel at his composition «Hero of the Soviet Union Nikolai Gastello» in his studio in Moscow, 1943, RSFSR, Moscow, Collector K.Bembel

3. 0-042494 Sculptor, Honored Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel working on a sketch for a monument to Hero of the Soviet Union K.S. Zaslonov, September 12, 1952, Minsk, BelTA Photo Chronicle, V. Slavin

4. 0-065293 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel working on a bust of Honored Doctor of the BSSR S.I. Liorentsevich, October 19, 1955, Minsk, BelTA Photo Chronicle, V. Lupeiko

5. 0-140186 Belarusian sculptor G.I. Muromtsev /left/ and People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel at work; model – E.V. Voropaeva, 1956, Minsk, Collector K. Bembel

6. 0-033288 Delegates of the 4th Congress of Artists of the BSSR: People’s Artist of the BSSR Z.I. Azgur (far left), People’s Artist of the USSR, full member of the Academy of Arts N.V. Tomsky, sculptor V.S. Kozak, and People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel during a break in the congress, April 16, 1958, Minsk, BelTA Photo Chronicle, V. Lupeiko

7. 0-140058 Belarusian sculptors: People’s Artists of the BSSR A.O. Bembel and A.K. Glebov, I.V. Kravchenko and P.O. Tsompel during a recreation in nature, /1960-1965/, Minsk region, Collector K. Bembel

8. 0-060491 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel at work, 1965, Minsk. Photo library of the Zvyazda newspaper editorial office, A. Sosinovsky

9. 0-140182 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel /portrait/, /1960-1969/, Minsk, Collector K. Bembel

10. 0-108299 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel talking with sculptor A.E. Artimovich, 1967, Minsk, Collector V. Kitas

11. 0-073835 Presentation of flowers to sculptors, People’s Artists of the BSSR Z.I. Azgur and A.O. Bembel during the opening of the exhibition «Belarusian Artists on the Great Patriotic War and the Partisan Movement» at the Palace of Culture of the A.I. Likhachev Automobile Plant during the Days of Culture and Art of the Byelorussian SSR in Moscow, August 29, 1967, Moscow, BelTA Photo Chronicle,V. Lupeiko

12. 0-084525 The group of authors of the Brest Hero Fortress memorial complex: architect, Honored Builder of the BSSR, laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR V.A. Korol, architect, laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR G.V. Sysoyev, sculptor, laureate of the Lenin Komsomol Prize of Belarus V.P. Zankovich, People’s Artist of the USSR, laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR A.P. Kibalnikov, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel and the project’s chief architect V.M. Volchek checking the scale of the main sculptural composition in kind, December 1969, Brest, BelTA Photo Chronicle, V. German

13. 0-108325 Deputies of the Supreme Council of the BSSR, BSSR cultural figures A.O. Bembel, Kondrat Krapiva, Maksim Tank, and Mikhail Lynkov during a break between meetings of the 9th session of the Supreme Council of the BSSR, 1970, Minsk, Collector V. Kitas

14. 0-140179 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR A.O. Bembel working on a bust of the People’s Poet of the BSSR Yanka Kupala, /1971-1977/, Minsk, Collector K. Bembel

15. 0-140192 Belarusian sculptors (seated): People’s Artists of the BSSR A.A. Anikeichik, Head of the Sculpture Department of the Belarusian State Theatre and Art Institute A.O. Bembel and the Institute’s lecturer G.I. Muromtsev at the Sculpture Department, /1973-1977/, Minsk, Collector K. Bembel

16. 1-014769 Sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR, Professor A.O. Bembel (left) and art historian B.A. Krepak in A.O.’s workshop Bembel, 1980, Minsk, Collector V. Shnarevich

17. 0-122274 A.O. Bembel, sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR, laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR /portrait/, 1985, Minsk. Collector E. Koktysh

18. E019661 A.O. Bembel, sculptor, People’s Artist of the BSSR, professor, laureate of the State Prize of the BSSR, /before 1986/, Minsk, Photochronicle BelTA