Saveliy Lapitsky

Saveliy Lapitsky was born in Leningrad in 1924. During WWII, he served as an assault aviation regiment maintenance technician, securing a job of a reporter at the Wings of Motherland aviation magazine after the war. Following an arrest on 20 January 1949, in May, despite being a war veteran with combat decorations, he was sentenced to ten years in prison camps and five-year deprivation of civil rights. After 13 prisoner transports, 4 prisons, and 5 years in prison camps north of the Arctic Circle, on 8 November 1954 Lapitskiy was acquitted, followed by full exoneration in 1959. In 1998, he received the honorary title Distinguished Artist of the Russian Federation. The artist passed away in 2012.

For many years and despite the many hardships, Saveliy Lapitskiy kept on drawing. His inborn gift, quick eye, temperament, ability to grasp the very essence of things, coupled with extraordinary working capacity helped him attain true mastery of a multi-skilled graphic artist.