OREANDA-NEWS. September 21, 2015. Opening of the Republic of Tatarstan professional artists exhibition and the winners awarding ceremony of the Republic contest organized by TATNEFT Company with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan and dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the Soviet People Victory in the Great Patriotic War was held at “Khazine” National Fine Arts Gallery of the Kazan Kremlin Fine Arts Museum.

The ceremony was attended by Ayrat Sibagatullin, Minister of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Damir Muhametshin, Deputy General Director – Head of PJSC TATNEFT’s Department in Kazan, Rosaliya Nurgaleeva, Director of the State Museum of Fine Arts of Tatarstan, representatives of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan, the Union of Artists of the Republic of Tatarstan, artists and connoisseurs of arts.

This was the second contest held by TATNEFT Company for the professional artists of the Republic. The first one was held in 2013 and was dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Tatarstan’s oil.

This contest was launched at the beginning of 2015 and took place in two stages. The participants, who passed through the first tour selection, delivered their artworks to the Almetyevsk Art Gallery, where the competent jury appraised them, and the artworks exhibition was organized.

Nail Maganov, General Director of PJSC TATNEFT headed the organizing committee of the contest. The jury was composed of the representatives of TATNEFT Company, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Tatarstan, Military Artists studio named after M.B.Grekov, and the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation. The total prize fund of the contest amounted to one million rubles.

The winners were selected in the “Painting Arts” nomination: “Portrait” and “Topical Subject Paintings Telling about the Rise of Oil Industry of the Republic of Tatarstan and TATNEFT Company in the Great Patriotic War Years"; in the “Graphics Art” nomination: “Genre Paintings” and “Portrait”, and also in the “Arts and Crafts” and “Sculpture” nominations.

The contest was organized by TATNEFT Company for the purposes of the Great Patriotic War commemoration and our Motherland’s heroic past advocacy. The campaign held was focused on detecting and supporting of the Republic’s talented artists, engaging their creative potential to the oil topic, and inoculation of the sense of pride to the young people because of the selfless work of their parents, including work carried out during the Great Patriotic War.

The submitted artworks reflected the selfless work of the oil pioneers in the war years and their contribution to the Great Victory. The artists managed to show not only heroic exploit of the Soviet people shown on the war fronts during the Great Patriotic War, but also the atmosphere of that hard period, and the unbreakable spirit of the people approaching the long-awaited Victory at the different places, such as drilling sites, wells and kolkhoz fields.

The best paintings will join the National Art Gallery stock.