#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. Nikolay Loy’s second homeland celebrated his 95th anniversary with an exhibition in the gallery. Exposition 2020 was close to his farewell one of 1979.
In twenty Norilsk years, the painter and graphic artist Nikolay Loy made a name not only for himself, but also for the culture of the closed city. In 1976, after fifteen years of creative, teaching, organizational activity in Norilsk, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. On that occasion, on January 21, the city authorities arranged a celebration at the combine’s Palace of Culture.
By that time, Loy had finally decided on his creative manner. In Norilsk, a former front-line soldier, a southerner, found his theme in art, painted and showed the city and the country many talented paintings and watercolors about the Far North.
The energy of Nikolay Loy was enough not only for creativity. Half of the Norilsk artists of the 1960-1970s graduated from the art studio organized by him. The people’s art gallery, art production workshops, and an art school, which this year will be named after its founder, owe their appearance to him.
Nikolay Loy opened the jubilee exhibition in 1976 in the foyer of the combine’s Palace of Culture. The farewell exhibition, donated to the city, was accepted by the new gallery at 78 Talnahskaya street.
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Text: Varvara Sosnovskaya, Photo: Norilsk Nickel Polar Division archive