Professors and alumni of the Belarusian State Academy of Arts

In the post-war years the centre of art education in Belarus moved from Vicebsk to Minsk, where the Minsk Art School (now the Glebaŭ Minsk State Art College) was opened in 1947. Many artists who later formed the image of Belarusian art like V. Hramyka, L. Shchamyalyoŭ, M. Savitsky, M. Dantsig had been students of the school. The Minsk Art School maintained the education traditions of the Vicebsk art tekhnikum with the same professors and teaching methods. Later, some of its professors joined the Belarusian State Theatre Institute (established in 1945), where the art department was opened in 1953.

The art teaching at the Institute was based on realistic traditions. However, the individuality of artists managed to make its way through the rigid frames of Socialist Realism. Despite the excessive ideology, the standards of art teaching were high.

Education at the Academy of Arts is still academic, based on classical principles not excluding, however, the evolutionary approach. The works by professors and alumni of the Belarusian Theatre and Art Institute (now the Belarusian State Academy of Arts) presented at the exhibition, reflect various aspects and possibilities of the realistic method. They prove the artistic individuality of professors who encourage students to master classical artistic skills but let them develop their own style