Alex (Alexei) Jawdokimov was born into a Russian-Jewish family in Smolensk, Soviet Union, in 1937. He arrived in England in 1947 as a Jewish refugee with his mother, and they settled in Somerset. In 1954, Jawdokimov entered the Somerset School of Art, graduating in 1958 with a National Diploma in Design, after a brief break as an RAF pilot; he subsequently persued a career as a dancer, actor, and established illustrator and landscape painter.
Painter and illustrator, Alex (Alexei) Jawdokimov was born into a Jewish family in Smolensk, Soviet Union, in 1937. Life in Smolensk then was economically harsh, with the population under Stalinist control. Jawdokimov spent his earliest years in a rural farming environment - most Smolensk residents lived on 'collective or state farms' (Getty, 1983, p. 61) - surrounded by local agriculture, However, with the German invasion in 1941, Jawdokimov faced childhood trauma, when he and his mother were interned in a series of concentration camps, where they witnessed firsthand the horrors of the Nazi regime. The pair were, however, among the fortunate ones to survive. Following the Soviet re-occupation, they were, once again, forcibly relocated to the Gulags: far distant, manual labour camps, characterised by brutal treatment and repressive conditions (Kirschenbaum, 2010, p. 731). Jawdokimov, along with his mother, was eventually liberated by British forces and left the Soviet Union for the United Kingdom.
In 1947, ten-year-old Jawdokimov arrived in England, and he and his mother settled in Somerset, where he spent the rest of his adolescence in the tranquility of southwest England. Life there provided stability for the young Jawdokimov, with his mother securing a position as a housekeeper in the home of an English aristocratic family. Jawdokimov devoted his time to his studies and to developing his passion for painting. Already multilingual, in 1954, he gained admission to the Somerset School of Art, where he received training in painting and illustration. In 1956, he took a brief study break, travelling to Canada on an RAF scholarship to train as an RAF pilot, then returned to London and, in 1958, he finally graduated with a National Diploma in Design (NDD). Jawdokimov then embarked on a new venture as the founder of the travelling Russian Cossack Dance Company, maintaining his links to Russian culture and partly following his mother, who had been a professional dancer in Russia. He took on acting roles, under the name, 'Alexei Jawdokimov', starring alongside leading British actors of the 1950s and 1960s. However, by 1969, he had settled into a new career as a commercial illustrator, though he gradually devoted more of his time to his own paintings, portraying quiet scenes of the English countryside and the bustling streets of London. He became known for exhibiting his work outside, as a regular Bayswater Road artist, renting space along the railings of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, a location that attracted tourists, art dealers, and wealthy patrons, as 'the largest outdoor exhibition in the world' (Harris, 2006, np).
The paintings Jawdokimov produced in his later years and which he exhibited across the UK, incorporated his vivid use of colour, particularly in his landscapes and stylised woodland series, such as Druids Way (c. 1980-2000s), one of numerous scenes depitcing tall silver birch trees, that overtly draw the viewer's gaze towards the centre of the painting and the vanishing point. His range of green tones, with the deepest for the earth, lighter shades for the treetops, and fading green and brown autumnal hues quietly vanishing below the trees' dark shadows, suggests a terrifying unknown that exists, despite the beauty. In Sunshine through the woodland (c. 1980-2000), his colour palette is a collection of orange, pink, and burgundy red, with the repetition of trees a signature statement. Despite the English subjectmatter, Jawdokimov's imagery recalls the Russian birch forests of his childhood, a time of mixed awe and tragedy, creating recurring scenes of solace and remembrance.
With his realistic depictions of racehorses, Jawdokimov also gained a reputation for specialising in equestrian subjects. His skillful acrylics of jockeys on horseback and energetic steeplechases drew a devoted following in the auction houses and exhibition halls of Northern Ireland. As well as depicting the last vestiges of orthodox Jewish culture in London's Whitechapel, Jawdokimov often travelled to Eastern Europe, where he illustarted the lives of late-twentieth-century, Eastern European Jewry in his colourful, realist paintings, creating a historical visual archive. He immortalised Polish Yiddishkeit in his carefully detailed ink-and-watercolour portraits of rabbis at prayer, kosher stores, and labourers. One such character, Vladimir Volynsk, Poland I (c.1980s), is posed standing upright, with a broad smile, wrapped in winter garb, on a pathway cleared of snow, besom broom upon his shoulder. Jawdokimov draws the viewers' eye towards the focal point of the composition, through the presence and importance of the synagogue, which still stands, in postwar Polish Jewish life.
Alex Jawdokimov died in London, England in 2019. His work is not currently represented in the UK public domain. His legacy lies in his astute ability to capture moments, places and people through his paintings of everyday life, combined with his subtle symbolism.
Joy Onyejiako.
Consult items in the Ben Uri archive related to [Alex Jawdokimov]
Publications related to [Alex Jawdokimov] in the Ben Uri Library