Page 33 - Studio International - June 1965

three years at the Riga Academy of Art. enjoying the freedom to Valentina, who was in fact the only member of the Kropivnitsky
paint whatever he wished. The influence of late 19th century family who had yet to become an artist. In 1950 their own
European art was still strong here and even the work of Rabin's daughter, Katya, was born and her brother, Sasha, four years later.
favourite teacher, Professor Leo Svemp, was undoubtedly reminis­ It was not until 1956 that Rabin ceased painting from models
cent of the French impressionists. and began to rely on his memory, but when he did so he found a
Rabin's return to Moscow was unexpected, but in the middle of great freedom and a new satisfaction in his work. There were on
the academic year he went to the director of the Surikov Art the other hand limitations. He confesses to having a poor visual
Institute, Sergei Gerasimov, to ask for a place. He was accepted, memory and this means that the pool of subjects upon which he
but Rabin still remembers the conversation they had-'I told him I can draw can only include things which at the time moved him
couldn't draw and he replied that I painted well and that they deeply enough to make a lasting impression of those everyday
could teach me to draw. As it happened the teaching methods at things which surround him in ordinary life. For many years his
the Institute had recently been changed to tally with those suburban home was in a long, single-storey building. It was in fact
practised before the revolution and drawing was considered of divided inside into cottages, but the outside presented a single
prime importance. 'By this time', Rabin told me, ·1 was used to a uniform face to the world. His window looked out on to just such
much freer way of presenting what I saw and I felt awkward and another long, low building. Some years it was repainted, turning
shy. I left the Institute altogether after a year and they gave me a from yellow to pink, or back again to yellow. This house appears in
certificate saying: "Drawing-fair, Painting-fair, Theory-not many of Rabin's paintings, sometimes yellow and sometimes
examined; dismissed for irregular attendance" ·. pink and sometimes colourless and grey in the evening light but
Quite suddenly the young man was having to fend for himself. with the windows brightly lit. On the snow-covered roofs stand
Moral support and help with his painting was there for the asking gaunt television aerials and smoke rises from the chimney pots.
from his old friend and teacher, Kropivnitsky, but the practical The scene is usually set in winter or in the thaw of early spring, for
advantages of being a student with a grant and hostel accom­ in summer the leaves of the trees hid the view of the house
modation were gone for good. Rabin realised he was untrained almost completely.
for any job and was glad to sign on as a loader of goods trucks in a Apart from the lighted windows, there are other recurrent topics
railway yard. He became a foreman and worked on the railways in Rabin's paintings. He describes them: 'Every day for eight
for eight years. His spare time was spent in painting, still years I saw the railway and the trucks and not only saw them but
encouraged by Kropivnitsky. He married the old man's daughter, handled them and loaded them and directed the loading. The

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