Roundtable Discussion «From the Archives of Time. The Unknown Famous Artist Vasil Bykov» at the Belarusian State Archives and Museum of Literature and Art (BSAMLI)

On July 9, 2026, the Belarusian State Archives and Museum of Literature and Art (hereinafter referred to as BSAMLI) hosted a roundtable discussion titled «From the Archives of Time. The Unknown Famous Artist Vasil Bykov», organized jointly with the scientific and methodological journal «Rodnae Slova».

BGAMLI Director E.A.Makarenko addressed the audience with an opening address, emphasizing the importance of connections and fruitful collaboration between the archive-museum and scholarly publications.

N.N.Shapran, Editor-in-Chief of the journal «Rodnae Slova», moderated the meeting. Participants discussed current archival research published in this publication. The keynote speaker, S.V.Shapran, presented his research on the artistic legacy of Vasil Bykov. His presentation focused on the preservation of the writer’s front-line drawings and his illustrations for the newspaper «Grodnenskaya Pravda» in the second half of the 1940s and 1950s. The researcher discussed which lectures on fine art the future writer transcribed and which famous artists he copied. Particular attention was given to V.Bykov’s friendly caricatures of A.Adamovich, R.Borodulin, N.Gilevich, and V.Korotkevich, as well as the friendly mockery of graphic artists about the writer himself and his final image.

Archival and museum staff, researchers of Belarusian literature, and art historians participated in the roundtable. Renowned experts shared their memories of V.Bykov. A.V.Zapartyko described the writer’s direct involvement in the work of the Belarusian State Academic Museum of Literature and Literature. Professor of the Department of Art History and Theory at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, Phd in Art History, E.F.Shuneiko, recalled V.Bykov’s period in Grodno, noting his modest demeanor and ability to win people over. Leading archivist at the Belarusian State Academy of Arts, T.V.Kekeleva, presented an exhibition of the writer’s original graphic works on the reverse side of manuscripts from the Bykov collection.

A significant event of the meeting was the donation by S.V.Shapran to the Belarusian State Academy of Arts collection of documents from Vasil Bykov’s Grodno archive, including his previously unknown graphic works.

1. Presentation by E.A.Makarenko, Director of the Belarusian State Academy of Literature and Art (BSAMLI)

2. Presentation by journalist and researcher S.V.Shapran

3. Moderator of the roundtable: N.N.Shapran, Editor-in-Chief of the journal «Rodnae Slova»

4. During the presentation by A.V.Zapartyko

5. During the presentation by E.F.Shuneyko, Candidate of Art History

6. Leading archivist of the BGAMLI, T.V.Kekeleva, presents graphic drawings by V.Bykov