Memories of Ukraine

Berdychiv. Volhinya. The 1930s.

Picturesque beauty of a small town and the generous Ukrainian land awoke in me the love of painting. Blue sky, thatch roofs, white mazanki, and a figure of Budyonny cavalryman against that background stayed among my childhood memories.

—Felix Lembersky, autobiography, manuscript, 1959-60

First News. Revolution 1917

Memories of the artist’s childhood

My first theme [for thesis painting] was “The Meeting of Kotovsky in a Jewish Shtetl.” I wanted to show joy of the Jewish people, freed from Petlura, but when I began to work on that theme, I found it to be quite difficult. Joy is a very complex feeling and I felt that I could not express it .

Felix Lembersky, speech at thesis defense, Leningrad, December 1941