In 2016, Russia marks the 75th anniversary of the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945. This year the honoured architect of the Russian Federation Pavel Ivanovich Afonin, would have turned ninety-six, and the accomplished architectural illustrator from the United Kingdom Edward (Ted) Arthur Milligan, ninety-five years of age.
 Афонин П.И., автопортрет, 1943г, бумага карандаш. P.I.Afonin,Self-portrait, 1942, pencil on paper. |
 Миллиган Э.А., автопортрет, 1945г, бумага, карандаш. E.A.Milligan, Self-portrait, 1945, pencil on paper. |
Each took up arms in their early twenties in the global struggle against the Nazis, but both also carried a notebook and pencil. Pavel Afonin had just finished his third year of studies at the Moscow Architectural Institute when he was sent to join the sapper troops of the Red Army on the Eastern Front and Edward Milligan trained as a navigator and bomb aimer with the Royal Air Force.
Pavel marched all the way from Moscow to Berlin and was severely wounded during the Leningrad offensive in 1944. Edwards’s aircraft was shot down by the Germans; he was captured and sent to a prisoner of war camp at Bankau, (modern day Bąków Poland). The Germans marched their captives westwards to Luckenwalde, south of Berlin ahead of the advancing Soviet troops before the Soviets eventual liberation of the camp in April 1945.
Steadfastly enduring all the hardships of the war, the combatants remained faithful to their artistic endeavours. In pre-war time, each shared a passion for drawing, and dreamed of becoming architects. Pavel did not stop drawing during the rare lulls between battles: in the dugout, in a hospital, on a halt. Edward took lessons in drawing from Adrian Heath, his fellow inmate and prominent post war abstract artist, as well as in the history of architecture. He sketched portraits of fellow inmates, recorded the gruelling march and designed projects for the post-war construction.
This exhibition shows only a small part of the personal artistic and historic legacy the young architects created during the war. It also features works from their successful post-war architectural careers.
Dual Perspectives:
Second World War drawings by architect-veterans from Russia and Britain
18–22 May 2016
Monday – Friday: 10:00 –18:00