Riot in the village analysis of the picture. Sergey Vasilievich Ivanov

The younger generation of the Peredvizhniki made a great contribution to the development of Russian democratic art, reflecting in different ways the proletarian stage of the liberation movement in Russia. The ideological content and expressive means of art were noticeably enriched, and creative individuals manifested themselves in a variety of ways.

S. A. Korovin(1858-1908). The peasant theme runs through all the work of Sergei Alekseevich Korovin. The stratification of the Russian countryside, the emergence of world-eating kulaks who oppressed the landless peasantry, are vitally and expressively revealed in his painting “On the World” (1893, ill. 181). The village here appeared completely new: the former patriarchy was gone, the appearance of the peasants had changed, and the relationships between them had become different. Korovin worked on the composition for a long time and wrote many sketches. The observant eye of the artist, who knew modern peasant psychology well, is visible in everything.

The composition immediately introduces the viewer into the space of the picture, revealing the plot - a dispute between a poor man and a kulak. And the color, maintained in a gray-ochre tonality, conveys the state of a cloudy day, emphasizing the dramatic content of the plot.

The general mood of those gathered at the gathering is truthfully and convincingly shown. The majority are not yet able to understand the essence of the changes that have taken place with the invasion of capitalist order into the life of the village. The crowd of peasants is shackled in silence, with bewilderment on some faces. Grave doubt is expressed in the old man sitting with his back to the viewer.

Korovin contrasted the isolation of the crowd of peasants with the open manifestation of feelings among the disputants themselves. The poor man’s face, distorted by grief, and the sudden movement of the figure depict the emotional anguish of a man driven to despair. In the image of a fist there is calmness, hypocrisy and cunning.

Deeply and accurately, avoiding petty details, but accurately conveying the situation, Korovin reveals the meaning of social contradictions in the village, revealing a clear civic position. The artistic and educational significance of the painting is great - this document of the era, brought to life in images.

A. E. Arkhipov(1862-1930). Among the younger Itinerants, Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, an artist of original talent, stands out. He came from peasants and knew well the forced life of the people. Most of his works, like those of S. A. Korovin, are devoted to the peasant theme. They are laconic in composition and always full of light, air, and picturesque finds.

In one of Arkhipov’s first paintings, “Visiting a Sick Person” (1885), attention is focused on a thorough and truthful depiction of the life of a poor peasant family and the sad conversation of two elderly women. The sunny landscape in the open door speaks of new coloristic searches.

An outstanding work was the painting “Along the Oka River” (1889, ill. 182), where Arkhipov depicted a group of peasants sitting on a barge. They are so characteristic, painted with such warmth and knowledge of folk characters, and the summer landscape is so bright and beautiful that the picture was greeted by contemporaries as an artistic revelation.

Arkhipov loved the modest beauty of Russian nature and poetically captured it. His “Reverse” (1896) is imbued with a deeply lyrical feeling. The composition is constructed in an original way: the chaise is half cut off by the lower edge of the canvas, the driver sits with his back to the viewer - it seems as if we ourselves are driving across this wide field, the bell is ringing and a free, soulful song is flowing. The melting pinkish tones of the fading sky, the muted color of the grass and the dusty road subtly convey the mood of the dying day and light, unaccountable sadness.

Arkhipov dedicates the painting “Chairwomen at an Iron Foundry” (1896) to the image of a female worker; The hopeless fate of the Russian toiler is reflected most clearly in one of Arkhipov’s best works, “The Laundresses,” known in two versions - in the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum (late 1890s, ill. XIII).

The artist takes the viewer to the dark, stuffy basement of a wretched laundry room, depicting it in fragments. The composition seems snatched from life. We seemed to accidentally look into this room and stopped in front of the spectacle that opened up. With quick, broad strokes of faded tones, Arkhipov conveyed the figures of working laundresses, the wet floor of the laundry room, the air saturated with moisture, and the twilight light pouring from the window. The unforgettable image of the old woman in the foreground, sitting down to rest: a tiredly bent back, her head falling on her hand, heavy thought on her face. The artist seems to be talking about the fate of all female workers.

Reflecting the joyless life of the working people, Arkhipov never lost faith in their inexhaustible strength and hope for a better future. A bright optimistic principle dominated in most of his works, which was especially noticeable in the 1900s, on the eve of major revolutionary events.

Arkhipov’s northern landscapes contain simple and, at first glance, unremarkable motifs of harsh nature. Lonely huts, the edge of the sky, sometimes transparent, sometimes cloudy, the surface of the river. But what charm the artist extracts from these motifs and the modest gray palette! Arkhipov's paintings are imbued with the cheerful, life-affirming feeling of a simple Russian person, born in close communication with his native nature.

The bright sun permeates Arkhipov’s works, dedicated to peasant life. His colorful canvases express admiration for the physical and moral health of the Russian people. It is no coincidence that his palette also changed, becoming more contrasting and decoratively generous. Arkhipov continued this series of works after the Great October Socialist Revolution.

S. V. Ivanov(1864-1910). One of the most consistent successors of the traditions of critical realism was Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov. In the new historical conditions, he was able to see the deep contradictions of Russian reality and with his works answered many pressing questions.

Ivanov devoted a large series of works to the plight of displaced peasants and their forced wanderings throughout Rus'. The sad fate of a family that lost its breadwinner is reflected in the best picture of this series - “On the Road. Death of a Migrant” (1889, ill. 184).

With an incorruptible sense of truth, S.V. Ivanov tells a picturesque story full of heartfelt content. The entire scene, thoughtfully selected everyday details are written with a careful hand and give the plot the authenticity of a living event happening before our eyes. The scale of the figures in relation to the space of the landscape is masterfully found: going towards the distant horizon, it reminds of a long and difficult journey along the land parched by the heat. A lonely, defenseless, suffering person among the silence of nature is the essence of the artist’s creative concept.

In the early 1890s, Ivanov became one of the first chroniclers of the revolutionary struggle in Russia. Back in 1889, he painted the painting “Revolt in the Village,” which tells about the growing social protest among the peasants, and in 1891, “The Stage.” The terrible sight of the prisoners lying side by side on the floor at the transit point, their bare feet in shackles, struck the artist. Only in the depths do you notice the piercing gaze of some convict directed at you.

In the mid-1890s, Ivanov often turned to topics from Russian history of the 16th-17th centuries. His historical paintings contain features common to the work of most contemporary painters - a everyday interpretation of subjects and decorative colors. But unlike many, Ivanov did not lose interest in the social side of what he portrayed. Such are, for example, the paintings “The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow of the 17th Century” (1901, ill. 185), which perfectly conveyed the historically correct appearance of the ancient capital and the characters of its inhabitants, and “The Tsar. 16th century” (1902), which was perceived by contemporaries as a satirical image autocracy.

The events of the revolution of 1905-1907 captured Ivanov and caused a new creative upsurge. Even on the eve of it, he dedicated the painting “Strike” to the workers who rebelled at the factory. The full force of his talent manifested itself in the relatively small-sized canvas “Execution” (1905). It is one of the most significant works that reflected the bloody reprisal of tsarism against the people. This is a stern, laconic image, built on the contrast of clear pictorial plans.

On the canvas there is a deserted square, flooded with the evening sun, closed by a line of shaded houses, and a lonely dark silhouette of a murdered worker. From this large bright plane and motionless figure, the artist leads the viewer’s eye into depth. To the left you can see the first rows of Cossacks in gunpowder smoke, to the right - demonstrators. The red banner - the brightest spot - highlights this part of the composition. It creates the impression of a living tragic event taking place before our eyes.

Ivanov’s painting is perceived as a symbol not only of the bloody reprisal of the rebellious people, as the artist intended, but also of the entire fate of the first Russian revolution, brutally suppressed by tsarism.

N. A. Kasatkin(1859-1930). A student of V. G. Perov, Nikolai Alekseevich Kasatkin, in his early works, turned to folk images and dramatic plots. Soon the leading theme of his work became the life of the working class and the revolutionary struggle of the Russian proletariat.

Already in 1892, Kasatkin painted the painting “It’s Hard,” depicting the sad meeting of a wounded young worker with his bride, a poor seamstress. The expression of sadness and anxiety on the girl's face contrasts with the determination and confidence of the worker. At first the painting was called "Petrel", but the artist was forced to change the name for censorship reasons. And yet the political content of the canvas reached the viewer, recalling the strikes that constantly broke out at that time.

In the same year, Kasatkin visited the Donetsk basin for the first time and since then, for nine years, he was constantly among the miners, studying their life and work. At first they were distrustful of the artist, mistaking him for a spy sent, but then they sincerely fell in love with him. They helped him a lot in working on images that Russian art had not yet known.

Kasatkin’s first work about the life of Donetsk miners was the painting “Collecting Coal by the Poor in a Depleted Mine” (1894). Lively typical images, precise drawing and modest painting consistent with the general tonality distinguish this canvas.

Kasatkin himself went underground, observed the incredible conditions of truly hard labor of miners and wrote with bitterness: “...where an animal cannot work, a person replaces it.” This idea is reflected in the small painting “Tyagolytsik Miner” (1896). Dark coloring with reddish reflections of miners' light bulbs; Like a beast of burden, the worker crawls under the overhanging arches of the drift and pulls a sled loaded with coal.

The result of Kasatkin’s work on the theme of miner’s life and numerous sketches is the canvas “Coal Miners. Shift” (1895, ill. 186). This was the first work of Russian painting to show the growing unity of the working class. The faint lights of the miners' lamps and the flickering whites of the eyes in the impenetrable darkness add tension to the picture. In the center of the composition is an elderly miner. With a weapon in his hands, he strides straight towards the viewer like a menacing, approaching force.

In a number of works, Kasatkin comprehensively and with great feeling revealed the spiritual world of the oppressed proletarian. The artist achieved a special power of penetration into the image in the canvas “The Wife of a Factory Worker” (1901), which was removed from the exhibition by the tsarist censorship.

It seems that the entire gloomy fate of the still young, but much-experienced woman is captured in a tiredly drooping figure, in a fixed gaze, and a hand falling on her knees. The complex state of mind is conveyed on the exhausted face. There is pain, bitterness, and nascent anger - everything that was naturally associated with the political events of that time and made the viewer think. The colors of the clothes, restrained in tone, are immersed in a grayish-ocher environment. The sallow pallor of the face is emphasized by a white scarf thrown over the shoulders.

Kasatkin’s enormous merit is that he saw not only the difficult situation of the working class in Russia, but was able to notice and embody its strength, energy, and optimism. The image of “Miner Woman” (1894, ill. 187) exudes the poetry of life, youth, physical and spiritual health. The warm silver color of this canvas is harmonious. The spontaneous movement of the figure, gently inscribed in the light landscape, is surprisingly true.

Kasatkin, who knew the life and mood of the workers well and deeply sympathized with them, enthusiastically greeted the revolution of 1905-1907. He was in a hurry to capture new situations and images, looking for new subjects. Many studies, sketches and paintings were the result of a lot of creative work.

In the difficult conditions of turbulent times, not everything that struck Kasatkin was able to find a complete and complete representation, but each, even a cursory sketch, had important documentary and artistic value. The artist’s paintings created at that time are significant in their ideological content and testify to the search for an emotionally intense composition. One example is the painting “The Last Journey of a Spy” (1905).

Kasatkin enthusiastically worked on the multi-figure composition “Attack of the Factory by Women Workers” (1906), where a complex dramatic action unfolds. The movement of a huge seething crowd and a variety of gestures are conveyed here with expression. I remember some sketches for this painting, especially the image of an elderly woman, angry, calling for an uprising.

The exclusively ideological and artistic significance of the small canvas “Militant Worker” (1905, ill. 188). Kasatkin saw and captured the characteristic type of an active participant in the first Russian revolution. Appearance, posture, gait, stern face - everything speaks of the spiritual world of a man of modern times - courage and determination, calmness and inflexibility, awareness of the importance of his goal and noble modesty. Such a person could really lead revolutionary combat detachments. The image echoes the hero of the story “Mother” by A. M. Gorky.

L. V. Popov(1873-1914). Lukyan Vasilyevich Popov is one of the younger representatives of the Wanderers. With particular sensitivity, he noticed social changes in the village, which at that time was actively penetrated by revolutionary sentiments. His paintings “Towards sunset. Agitator in the village” (1906), “In the village (Get up, rise up!..)” (1906-1907, ill. 183), “Socialists” (1908), imbued with warm sympathy for the brave and courageous heroes, is a true document of peasant life on the eve and period of the revolution of 1905-1907.

The work of A.P. Ryabushkin and M.V. Nesterov was also associated with the traditions of the Wanderers. However, in their works, in a special way and earlier in time, new creative quests manifested themselves, which became typical of the art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A. P. Ryabushkin(1861-1904). Andrei Petrovich Ryabushkin can be called a national artist. His entire life and work after his student years spent at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, as well as at the Academy of Arts, took place in the village. His art was a kind of reaction to the historical processes of capitalization of Russia, when “the old foundations of peasant farming and peasant life, foundations that had really held out for centuries, were broken down with extraordinary speed” * . Ryabushkin poeticized the old times dear to his heart, the traditional way of life, and the stable features of the national image.

* (Lenin V.I. Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution. - Full. collection cit., vol. 17, p. 210.)

Ryabushkin’s genre paintings are characterized by features of calm and silence. Depicting the patriarchal atmosphere of a village wedding (“Waiting the newlyweds from the crown in the Novgorod province”, 1891), the artist emphasizes the sedateness and decorum of the sitting peasants.

In the 1890s, Ryabushkin emerged as the original master of Russian historical and everyday painting. In Russia's distant past, he is most attracted to the daily life of old Moscow. Revival reigns during the spring thaw in the painting “Moscow Street of the 17th Century on a Holiday” (1895). Here is a girl in a red flyer, carefully carrying a candle, and rustic guys in long-skirted clothes, and an arrogant boyar driving along a dirty street, and a blind beggar. Colorful clothes decorated with Russian ornaments, blue reflections of the sky in puddles, colorful domes of churches and the general liveliness of traffic make this picture festive.

Ryabushkin’s bright personality was most fully expressed in the 1901 paintings “Riding” (ill. 189) and “Wedding Train in Moscow (XVII century)” (ill. 190). The first of them, distinguished by its bold and unusual composition, depicts Moscow residents waiting for foreigners. This is like a fragment snatched from the picture of the life of Russian people of the 17th century. Their faces reflected curiosity, naivety and self-esteem. Large color spots of yellow, red and green caftans of the archers and the colorful clothes of the townspeople give the picture a major tone and a pronounced decorative character.

The painting “Wedding Train in Moscow (XVII century)” is imbued with the poetry of Russian antiquity. The silence of the spring evening, in the lilac haze of which Moscow is immersed, and the lonely figure of a sad Muscovite woman are contrasted with the rapidly passing magnificent festive train. The sketchiness of the painting, contrasting with a more densely painted landscape, the lightened, fresco-like coloring, the subtly found rhythm throughout the central group - all this allowed Ryabushkin to soulfully convey the everyday appearance of the Russian city of distant times.

Ryabushkin’s “Tea Party” (1903), written a year before his death, is unusually expressive and figuratively capacious. This is a work of a socially critical nature. If before for his genre paintings Ryabushkin selected the positive, kind, and beautiful in peasant life, now he depicted the world of the village rich. There is something of bourgeois well-being in the elegance and cold formality of tea drinking; in the grotesqueness of the images, in the rigidity of pictorial plasticity, unusual for Ryabushkin, reminiscent of ancient parsuns, one can read the artist’s rejection of this world alien to him.

M. V. Nesterov(1862-1942). The pre-revolutionary period of Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov’s creativity is complex and contradictory.

He began his journey in art with genre paintings similar to those of the Wanderers, but at the end of the 1880s a sharp change occurred in his work. The artist enters the world of ideal beauty, glorifying the purity of religious feeling, depicting the inhabitants of monasteries and monasteries.

The old hermit Nesterov in the painting “The Hermit” (1888-1889), slowly wandering along the shore of a mirror-smooth lake, is infinitely far from the worries of life. His image is inextricably linked with the beauty of peaceful nature, its serene tranquility.

Landscape plays a huge role in Nesterov’s work. The poet of Russian nature, Nesterov, being able to penetrate deeply into the inner world of man, always connects the experiences of his heroes with the state and character of the landscape.

In the painting “Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” (1889-1890, ill. 191), the only character is a pale youth with thin hands convulsively clenched in prayerful ecstasy. But the artist’s main character is still the landscape of the Central Russian strip, spiritualized nature, where the artist truly gives life to every blade of grass, each one participates in the glorification of the homeland.

In the late 1890s - early 1900s, the artist created a series of paintings dedicated to the tragic fate of the Russian woman, submissive and suffering (“Beyond the Volga”, “On the Mountains”). In “The Great Tonsure” (1898) he shows a sad procession of the inhabitants of a small monastery, hidden among a dense forest, escorting a young woman, still full of strength, to the monastery. Sorrowful faces, dark silhouettes of figures, trembling lights of huge candles... The sadness is deep, but nearby is again the beautiful world of nature, virgin forests and Nesterovo thin-trunked young birch trees.

In the early 1900s, Nesterov’s skill as a portrait painter took shape. Here the realistic side of the artist’s work was most fully revealed. Nesterov painted most of the portraits of this time against the backdrop of a landscape, as well as in paintings, affirming the inextricable connection between man and nature. In the portrait of O. M. Nesterova (1906, ill. 192), the figure of a girl in a black riding habit stands out in a beautiful silhouette against the background of a lyrical evening landscape. Elegant and graceful, with a spiritual, slightly dreamy look, this girl personifies for the artist the ideal of youth, the beauty of life and harmony.

Back in the 1880s, the work of three outstanding Russian artists was formed - K. A. Korovin, M. A. Vrubel and V. A. Serov. They most fully defined the artistic achievements of the era, its complexity and richness.

V. A. Serov(1865-1911). The most important artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov. His work continued the development of realistic art, deepening its content and expanding expressive possibilities.

Serov's art is bright and diverse. First of all, he is a master of psychological, pictorial and graphic portraits, but his talent also manifested itself in landscape, historical genre, book illustration, decorative and monumental decorative art. Since childhood, Serov was surrounded by an atmosphere of art. His father, A. N. Serov, is a famous composer and musician, his mother is a gifted pianist. Serov's teachers were I. E. Repin and at the Academy of Arts - P. P. Chistyakov. The first largely contributed to the formation of the democratic foundations of Serov’s work and the awakening of interest in the inquisitive study of life, to the second he owed a deep understanding of the professional laws of form.

Already Serov's early works - his famous portraits "Girl with Peaches" (1887, ill. X) and "Girl Illuminated by the Sun" (1888) - glorified the young artist and most fully characterized the art of early Serov.

“Girl with Peaches” was written in “Abramtsevo”, the estate of S.I. Mamontov, with his daughter Vera. In this excellent portrait, the image created by the artist, thanks to the vital fullness of its content, outgrows the framework of an individual portrait, embodying a universal human principle. In a teenage girl with a serious face and stern gaze, in her calm restraint and spontaneity, the artist managed to convey the high poetry of bright and pure youth.

This portrait is amazingly beautiful in its painting. It is written in full light, very lightly and at the same time materially. His transparent colors, unusually pure, are filled with light and air, vividly conveying reflexes from lighting. The freshness of the color of "Girl with Peaches", which at one time so amazed contemporaries, as well as the natural simplicity of the thoughtful composition, place the picture on a par with the best works of world painting.

Serov develops the same theme of youth in “The Girl Illuminated by the Sun.” The content of the portrait is the same joyful feeling of the spiritual beauty of a person and the fullness of his being.

The 1890s are the next stage of Serov’s creativity. During these years, the artist most often paints people of art, and now he wants to reveal their creative individuality first of all. The special gaze of N. S. Leskov (1894) conveys the vigilance of an inquisitive realist writer. The thoughtfulness of I. I. Levitan is akin to the poetic feelings of the artist, the ease of pose of K. A. Korovin (1891, ill. 193) is a unique expression of the freedom and spontaneity of his art.

Back in the 1880s, in addition to portraits, Serov also painted landscapes. Most often, he found motifs in Abramtsevo and Domotkanovo, where the estate of his friends Derviz was located. In the 1890s, images of simple rural nature began to occupy an increasing place in Serov’s landscape art. Often the artist introduces figures of peasants into his paintings, as if bringing the landscape closer to the everyday genre ("October. Domotkanovo", 1895, ill. 194, "Woman with a Horse", 1898). I. E. Grabar called the artist “peasant Serov” precisely for his landscapes. The democracy of his art was particularly clearly reflected in them.

In the 1900s, Serov's work became noticeably more complex. The main place in it is still occupied by portraits. In addition, he continues to paint landscapes and works on illustrations for I. A. Krylov’s fables, begun in the 1890s. His interests now constantly include historical and monumental-decorative painting.

In the 1900s, Serov's portraiture became much more diverse. Numerous social ceremonial portraits are added to the portraits of people close to him. The artist still remains incorruptibly truthful in his characterizations and inexorably demanding of himself, not allowing the slightest negligence or dampness in his performance. As before, the basis of his portrait art remains the psychological disclosure of the image, but Serov now focuses his attention on the social characteristics of the models. In portraits of leading representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, he strives to capture and emphasize their most typical, outstanding social qualities with greater clarity than before. In the portrait of A. M. Gorky (1905, ill. 195), the artist emphasizes the democracy of the proletarian writer with the simplicity of his entire appearance, the clothes of a craftsman, and the gesture of an agitator. The portrait of M. N. Ermolova (1905, ill. 196) is a kind of majestic monument to the famous tragic actress. And the artist subordinates all visual means to the identification of this thought. The lobby of Ermolova’s mansion, in which she posed for Serov, is perceived as a stage, and thanks to the reflection of a fragment of the colonnade in the mirror, also as an auditorium. Ermolova herself, in her strict and solemn black dress, decorated only with a string of pearls, is majestic and inspired.

Serov's portraits of his noble customers are completely different. The ceremonial portraits of the Yusupov spouses, S. M. Botkina, O. K. Orlova (ill. 197) and many others resemble portraits of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries; the exquisite furnishings and elegant ladies' toilets are painted in them with brilliant skill. In his depiction of the people themselves, Serov emphasized their typical social qualities that characterize the class to which they belonged. These portraits, as V. Ya. Bryusov said, are always a judgment on their contemporaries, all the more terrible because the artist’s skill makes this judgment peremptory.

Among such portraits of Serov, one of the first places is occupied by the portrait of M. A. Morozov (1902), depicted against the backdrop of the living room of his beautifully furnished mansion. This man is educated, known for his extensive philanthropic activities and understanding of art, but the basis of the money-grubbing merchant of Ostrovsky’s time is still alive in him. Here he stands, as if alive, this Europeanized merchant of the late 19th century, filling the narrow format of the canvas with a heavy figure and looking straight ahead with a piercing gaze. Morozov's authority is not only his personal property, it reveals him as an industrialist, just as the arrogance of Princess O.K. Orlova makes her a typical representative of high-society aristocratic circles of the early 20th century. During this period, Serov achieved great expressiveness in his portraits thanks to the richness of the visual means used and the variation of his artistic style depending on the characteristics of the work being created. Thus, in the portrait of the banker V. O. Girshman (1911), Serov is laconic in a poster style, and in the portrait of Princess Orlova his brush becomes refined and cold.

As mentioned above, a significant place in Serov’s work in the 1900s was occupied by work on historical compositions. He is especially captivated by the stormy, rapid development of life in Russia during the time of Peter the Great. In the best painting of this cycle, “Peter I” (1907, ill. 198), the artist depicts Peter as a powerful transformer of the state. It is no coincidence that he is much taller than his companions. The rapid movement of Peter and the courtiers barely keeping up with him, the tense rhythm of impetuous angular lines that sharply outline the silhouettes, the excitement of the landscape - all this creates the mood of the stormy Peter the Great era.

Captivated by the living beauty of Greece, which Serov visited in 1907, he also worked for a long time and with enthusiasm on mythological subjects ("The Rape of Europa", "Odysseus and Nausicaa"). As always, he builds these works on the basis of field work and careful observations. But, solving them in terms of monumental and decorative panels, the artist somewhat simplifies and primitivizes the plastic form, while maintaining, however, the vitality of the impression.

One of Serov's significant works of the late 1890s - early 1900s - a series of illustrations for I. A. Krylov's fables - was the subject of his tireless care and attention. The artist overcame the descriptiveness that hampered him in the initial period of work on fables, and acquired wise laconicism and the expressiveness of a cleverly found form. The best of these sheets are masterpieces of Serov's art. Following Krylov, the artist did not destroy the allegory of the fables and sought to convey their moralizing meaning in his drawings. The images of animals revealed purely human qualities: Serov’s lion is always the embodiment of strength, intelligence and greatness, the donkey, as it should be, is the personification of stupidity, and the hare is an incorrigible coward.

Il. 199. V. A. Serov. “Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” K., tempera. 47.5 X 71.5. 1905. Timing

Serov's work characterizes him as a democratic artist, standing in the forefront of progressive figures in Russian culture. Serov proved his loyalty to democratic principles not only through art, but also through his public position, especially during the revolution of 1905-1907. Having witnessed Bloody Sunday on January 9, he resigned from the full membership of the Academy of Arts, because the commander of the troops that carried out massacres against the people was the president of the Academy, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. A sharp protest against the violence and cruelty of the autocracy is also heard in the artist’s bold, accusatory drawings published in satirical magazines during the days of the revolution (“Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” (ill. 199), “Views of the harvest,” “Dispersal of the demonstration ").

K. A. Korovin(1861-1939). Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin is one of those masters who pave new paths in art and whose work is a school for many artists of subsequent generations.

Korovin is a graduate of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the landscape workshop of A.K. Savrasov, V.D. Polenov. His work was formed in line with Russian plein air painting of the 1880s ("The Bridge", "Northern Idyll", "At the Balcony. Spanish Women Leonora and Ampara", ill. XI).

Since the 1890s, the time has come for Korovin to reach creative maturity. His talent is equally brightly revealed both in easel painting, primarily in landscape, and in theatrical and decorative art.

The charm of Korovin's art lies in the warmth, sunshine, in the artist's ability to directly and vividly convey impressions, in the generosity of his palette, in the coloristic richness of artistic painting.

In the same 1890s, significant changes occurred in Korovin’s work. He sometimes strives to convey what is visible in an imessionistic manner. Long-term observation of nature gives way to the transfer of its sensations. The pictorial and plastic structure of Korovin’s art is also changing. The role of sketch forms of painting is increasing, and painting itself is becoming more impulsive, pasty, and broad; the coloring acquires greater decorative sonority, tension and richness ("In Winter", 1894, ill. 200; "Summer", 1895; "Roses and Violets", 1912, ill. 201; "Wind", 1916).

Korovin's theatrical work was formed surrounded by figures of the Russian private opera S.I. Mamontov, but he achieved his greatest fame while working in the imperial theaters in the 1900s - 1910s. For more than twenty years, Korovin headed the production department of the Bolshoi Theater. He actively participated in the fight against the conservatism and routine that reigned on the official stage, bringing high artistic culture to these theaters, and, together with a number of other famous masters, raised the importance of a theater artist to the level of a co-author of the play. Korovin is a brilliant master of picturesque decoration, effective, emotional, and life-truth. The productions he designed were truly a feast for the eyes.

Korovin’s best theatrical works are usually associated with national themes, with Russia, its epics and fairy tales, its history and, above all, with its nature (N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Snow Maiden”, 1909; M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina” , 1911).

M. A. Vrubel(1856-1910). Nature was generous to Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel. She endowed him with brilliant coloristic abilities, a rare gift as a monumentalist, he painted beautifully, his flight of imagination is truly amazing. Vrubel's work is deeply meaningful and complex. He was always concerned with high ideals and great human feelings. He dreamed of “awakening the soul from the trifles of everyday life with majestic images.” His art, alien to indifference, is always romantically excited and spiritual.

But Vrubel’s ideals developed in the harsh conditions of the surrounding life. Wanting to get away from its glaring contradictions, the artist tried to withdraw into the world of abstract images. However, being a great artist, he still could not isolate himself from reality. His art reflects it and bears the features of the era.

Even in his student years, Vrubel was different from his peers. He walked towards mastery, almost bypassing school shyness and constraint. This was manifested in his multi-figure compositions on a given theme, which came to him unusually easily ("The Betrothal of Mary to Joseph"), and in his fluency in watercolor techniques, and in the subtle plasticity of his portraits.

A major role in the formation of Vrubel’s creativity was played by his teacher P. P. Chistyakov, who instilled in him a constructive understanding of form in art, as well as by advanced artists, participants in the Abramtsevo circle. Vrubel owes these connections, as well as his subsequent acquaintance with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, with the formation of the national foundations in his work.

Vrubel stayed at the Academy of Arts for four years. In 1884, he left for Kyiv to restore and renew the wall paintings of the St. Cyril Church. Already in these works and in the unrealized sketches for the paintings of the Vladimir Cathedral, the artist’s enormous gift is revealed. Using the traditions of Byzantine and Old Russian painting, Renaissance art, Vrubel remains deeply original. The emphasized expression of feelings, intense color, and temperamental writing give his images a special drama.

In 1889, Vrubel moved to Moscow. From this time comes the time of his creative blossoming. He is fluent in many genres of art. This is an easel painting, a book illustration, a monumental decorative panel, and a theater set. Vrubel draws a lot from life and is fond of majolica. The artist tirelessly improves his skills, he is sure that “technique is the language of the artist”, that without it he will not be able to tell people about his feelings, about the beauty he has seen. The expressiveness of his works increases even more thanks to dynamic painting, color shimmering like a jewel, and spiritual drawing.

The theme of the Demon, inspired by M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem, becomes one of the central themes in Vrubel’s work. Captivated by the high romance of the poem, he illustrates it ("Tamara in the Coffin", 1890-1891) and creates images of the central characters close to Lermontov's in spirit, power of expressiveness and skill. At the same time, the artist endows them with features of increased expressiveness and brokenness, which will soon become the stamp of his time. For more than ten years, Vrubel returned again and again to the image of the Demon. Its evolution is a kind of tragic confession of the artist. He imagined this evil spirit of heaven to be beautiful, proud, but endlessly lonely. At first powerful, in the prime of his life, still believing that he will find happiness on earth ("The Demon Seated", 1890, ill. XIV), the Demon is later depicted as unconquered, but already broken, with a broken body, stretched out among the cold stone mountains ("Demon defeated", 1902). In his eyes burning with anger and his stubbornly clenched mouth one can feel both the rebellious spirit and tragic doom.

In the 1890s, another theme, primordially Russian, folklore, gradually became dominant in Vrubel’s work. The artist is still attracted to titanic strong heroes, but now they carry goodness and peace. In the monumental and decorative panel “Mikula Selyaninovich” (1896), Vrubel depicted the epic hero as a simple farmer and saw in him the personification of the strength of the Russian land. Such is “Bogatyr” (1898), as if fused with his horse, a mighty knight - not fighting, but vigilantly guarding the peace of his homeland.

The fairy-tale images of Vrubel are beautiful. They happily combine the truth of observation, deep poetry, sublime romance and fantasy that transforms everything ordinary. She is inextricably linked with nature. In fact, the spiritualization of nature, its poetic personification is the basis of Vrubel's fairy tales. His "Towards Night" (1900) is mysterious and mysterious. In "Pan" (1899, ill. 204), depicting the goat-footed god of the forests, there is a lot of humanity. In his pale eyes, which have long faded, kindness and age-old wisdom shine. At the same time, he is like a revived birch trunk. Gray curls like curls of white bark, and fingers like gnarled knots. “The Swan Princess” (1900, ill. 203) is both a blue-eyed princess girl with a long braid reaching to her waist and a regally beautiful bird with swan wings, swimming in the blue sea.

Great thoughts and feelings, a wide scope of imagination pulled Vrubel into the world of monumental art, and it became one of the main directions in his work. Since the 1890s, having found the form of monumental and decorative panels, the artist executed them on orders from enlightened patrons of the arts (panel “Spain”, ill. 202, “Venice”, a series dedicated to Goethe’s poem “Faust”). With the monumental integrity of the form, they always retained the subtlety of plastic development and the psychological depth of the image.

Vrubel's portraits are also distinguished by their originality and artistic significance. They are deep and very expressive; the artist gave each model a special spirituality, and sometimes even drama. These are the portraits of S.I. Mamontov (1897), the poet Valery Bryusov (1906), numerous self-portraits (for example, 1904, ill. 205) and portraits of his wife, the famous singer N.I. Zabela-Vrubel.

The last ten years of his life were painful for Vrubel. His wonderful gift struggled for a long time with severe mental illness. No longer able to hold a brush in his hand, he painted a lot, striking those around him with the purity of the structural forms of the drawing. Vision gradually faded. Vrubel died in the prime of his creative powers.

V. E. Borisov-Musatov(1870-1905). The tendency towards poeticization of images, characteristic of Russian art of the 1890s - early 1900s, found expression in the work of Viktor Elpidiforovich Borisov-Musatov. His lyrical talent began to manifest itself from his earliest student years in tender images of poetic nature, but only from the late 1890s the range of Musatov’s favorite themes and the figurative and pictorial system of his art were determined. With all his might, the artist strives to comprehend harmony in the world and, not seeing it around him, tries to recreate it in his imagination.

Musatov's best works are “Spring” (1901), “Reservoir” (1902, ill. 206), “Emerald Necklace” (1903-1904). The artist is still close to nature, but it seems to be reincarnated into the elegiac images of his soulful dreams, like the images of literary symbolism, losing the clarity of life’s outlines in the blurred contours and unsteadiness of color spots. He populates his thoughtful parks with girls who are slow, as if dreaming, dresses them in dresses of past times, wraps them and everything around in a haze of light sadness.

"World of Art"- a significant phenomenon in Russian artistic life of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, which played a large role in the development of not only fine arts in Russia, but also theater, music, architecture, and applied arts.

The cradle of the "World of Art" was a circle of St. Petersburg intelligentsia that arose in the 1890s. Its number included artists A. N. Benois, K. A. Somov, L. S. Bakst. By the end of this decade, the "World of Art" took shape as an ideological and artistic association. V. A. Serov took part in it, supporting him with his authority. The core of the young group was replenished by E. E. Lansere and M. V. Dobuzhinsky. S. P. Diaghilev, devoted to the interests of art, played a major organizational role. From 1899 to 1904, members of the World of Art published a literary and artistic magazine. However, he was not united in his focus. Its artistic department, headed by outstanding masters of the fine arts, differed sharply from the literary and philosophical department, which was symbolist and religious in nature.

The World of Art students considered their main goal to be the renewal of Russian art, the improvement of its artistic culture, skill, and wide familiarization with the traditions of foreign and domestic heritage. They worked hard and fruitfully not only as artists, but also as art historians, critics, and popularizers of classical and modern art.

The World of Art played a particularly large role in Russian artistic life in the first period of its existence, which lasted about ten years. World of Art students organized extensive exhibitions of domestic and foreign art and were the initiators of many artistic endeavors. They declared themselves then opponents of both routine academicism and the petty everydayism of some of the later Itinerants.

In their creative practice, the Miriskus artists proceeded from specific life observations, depicting contemporary nature and man, and from historical and artistic materials, turning to their favorite retrospective subjects, but at the same time they sought to convey the world in a transformed form, in decorative and elevated forms and one One of the main tasks was considered to be the search for synthetic art of the “grand style”.

In the early years of the association's life, the World of Art workers paid tribute to the individualism that permeated the European culture of those years, and to the theory of “art for art’s sake.” Later, in the pre-revolutionary decade, they largely revised their aesthetic positions, recognizing individualism as destructive for art. During this period, modernism became their main ideological opponent.

In two types of art, the artists of the World of Art achieved particularly significant success: in theatrical and decorative art, which embodied their dream of the harmony of the arts, of their synthesis, and in graphics.

Graphics attracted the world of art as one of the mass forms of art; they were also impressed by its chamber forms, common in those years in many types of art. In addition, graphics required special attention, since they were much less developed than painting. Finally, the development of graphics was also facilitated by advances in domestic printing.

The originality of the easel graphics of the "World of Art" were the landscapes of old St. Petersburg and its suburbs, the beauty of which the artists sang, as well as the portrait, which in their work occupied essentially an equal place with the picturesque. A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva made a great contribution to the graphics of the early 20th century; in her work, wood engraving is established as an independent art form. The romantic work of V.D. Falileev, who developed the art of engraving on linoleum, was unique.

The most significant phenomenon in the field of etching was the work of V. A. Serov. They were distinguished by their simplicity, severity of form and excellent drawing skills. Serov also advanced the development of lithography, creating a number of remarkable portraits in this technique, notable for their expressiveness with an amazing economy of artistic means.

The masters of the World of Art have achieved enormous success in the field of book illustration, raising the artistic culture of books to a high level. The role of A. N. Benois, E. E. Lanceray, and M. V. Dobuzhinsky is especially significant in this regard. I. Ya. Bilibin, D. N. Kardovsky, G. I. Narbut, D. I. Mitrokhin, S. V. Chekhonin and others worked fruitfully in book graphics.

The best achievements of graphic art at the beginning of the century, and primarily the World of Art, contained the prerequisites for the widespread development of Soviet graphics.

A. N. Benois(1870-1960). Alexander Nikolaevich Benois acted as the ideologist of the “World of Art”. Intelligence, broad education, and the universality of deep knowledge in the field of art characterize Benoit. Benoit's creative activity is unusually versatile. He achieved a lot in book and easel graphics, was one of the leading theater artists and figures, art critics and art critics.

Like other world artists, Benoit preferred themes from past eras. He was the poet of Versailles (the most famous are his two Versailles series - "The Last Walks of Louis XIV", 1897-1898 and the series of 1905-1906, ill. 208). The artist’s creative imagination ignited when he visited the palaces and parks of the St. Petersburg suburbs. Russian history is also reflected in Benoit's work. In 1907-1910, he, along with other Russian artists, enthusiastically worked on paintings on this topic for the publishing house I. Knebel ("Parade under Paul I", 1907; "Appearance of Empress Catherine II in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace", 1909).

Benoit populated his detailed historical compositions, executed with great imagination and skill, with small figures of people and carefully, lovingly reproduced monuments of art and the everyday appearance of the era.

Benoit made a major contribution to book graphics. Most of the artist’s works in this area are associated with the work of A. S. Pushkin. In his best work - illustrations for the poem "The Bronze Horseman" (1903-1923), Benoit chose the path of an artist-co-author, characteristic of the "World of Art". He followed the text line by line, although sometimes he deviated from it, introducing his own subjects. Benoit paid the main attention to the beauty of old St. Petersburg, rediscovered by the world artists, following Pushkin, depicting the city either clear and quiet, or romantically confused in the menacing days of the flood.

Benoit's illustrations for Pushkin's "Queen of Spades" are also executed with great professional skill. But they are distinguished by a more free interpretation of Pushkin’s text, sometimes ignoring the psychologism that permeates the story.

Benois was involved in theatrical activities throughout almost his entire creative life. He has established himself as an excellent theater artist and a subtle theater critic. In the 1910s, at the time of his creative heyday, Benois worked at the Moscow Art Theater together with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, often not only as an artist, but also as a director, and in the first years of its existence "Russian Seasons" in Europe he provided artistic direction. His theatrical works are also characterized by accuracy in recreating the artistic and everyday signs of the era, compliance with the author's dramatic intent and high artistic taste. Benois's favorite theatrical creation is I. F. Stravinsky's famous ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Benoit was not only responsible for its design. He was the author of the libretto and took an active part in its production.

K. A. Somov(1869-1939). No less characteristic of the “World of Art” is the work of Konstantin Andreevich Somov. Unlike many of his colleagues in the World of Art, Somov received a systematic art education. He studied at the Academy of Arts, where he chose the workshop of I. E. Repin. Somov tirelessly honed the strong professional skills he acquired here in the future, and his brilliant skills soon became widely known.

In the first years of his work, Somov followed realistic traditions (portrait of his father, 1897). In the painting “Lady in a Blue Dress” (portrait of the artist E. M. Martynova, 1897-1900), there is also still a psychologically subtle and deep insight into the image, which bears the stamp of the tragic fate of the young artist. However, Somov’s desire to connect him with a long-past time (Martynova is dressed in an ancient dress), the scene he introduced in the background in the spirit of the 18th century of a lady and a gentleman carefree playing music, and the painting that has become more harsh herald a new search for the artist.

In the early 1900s, Somov’s work was finally formed. Like all world artists, he willingly painted landscapes. Always starting from nature, he created his own Somov image of nature, romantically elevated, with a thin lace of frozen foliage on the trees and a complex graphic pattern of their branches, with enhanced sonority of color. But the main place in the artist’s work was occupied by retrospective compositions. Their usual characters are campy, doll-like ladies in tall powdered wigs and crinolines. Together with their languid gentlemen, they dream, have fun, and flirt. Somov painted these paintings clearly under the influence of the old masters. His painting became smooth, as if varnished, but sophisticated in a modern way (“Winter. Ice Rink”, 1915, ill. 210).

Portraits occupy a significant place in Somov’s work. His gallery of portraits of representatives of the artistic intelligentsia is truly a landmark of the time. The best of them are portraits of A. A. Blok (1907, ill. 209), M. A. Kuzmin and S. V. Rachmaninov. They are distinguished by accuracy, expressiveness of characteristics and artistry of execution. The artist seems to lift all the models above everyday life, endowing them with the common ideal qualities of a hero of his time - intelligence and sophistication.

E. E. Lansere(1875-1946). Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere is one of the multifaceted masters of the “World of Art”. He was engaged in easel and monumental painting, graphics, was a theater artist, and created sketches for works of applied art. His work is typical for the “World of Art”, and at the same time, his bright originality sets Lanceray apart from the world of art. He was also attracted to the 18th century, he loved to create impressive compositions on this theme, but they are distinguished by a greater variety of interpretation of the content and democratism of the images. Thus, the painting “Ships of the Time of Peter I” (1909, 1911) is inspired by the spirit of the heroic romance of Peter the Great’s time, and the gouaches “Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in Tsarskoe Selo” (1905) are characterized by the sober, life-like truth of the images.

The most significant place in Lansere's work is occupied by graphics - easel, book and magazine. His graphic works are elegant, sometimes intricately patterned, imbued with the spirit of the era and classically clear. The artist's central work is a large series of illustrations for L. N. Tolstoy's story "Hadji Murad". In them, Lansere managed to recreate the wise Tolstoy simplicity with the romance of the general mood and the bright expressive characters of the heroes. Later Lansere worked extensively and fruitfully as a Soviet artist.

M. V. Dobuzhinsky(1875-1957). Like Lancer, Dobuzhinsky belonged to the younger generation of artists of the “World of Art”. His work, like Lanceray’s, is typical of this association and at the same time deeply original. In easel art, Dobuzhinsky preferred the urban landscape. But he was not only its singer, but also a psychologist, not only glorified its beauty, but depicted the other side of the modern capitalist city, coldly mechanical, an octopus city ("The Devil", 1906), spiritually devastating people ("The Man with Glasses" , 1905-1906).

Both in book graphics and in theatrical and decorative art, Dobuzhinsky is characterized by an individual psychological approach to the interpretation of the illustrated work. The artist is Andersen-like kind and witty in his elegant color drawings for the fairy tale “The Swineherd”, lyrical and tenderly sentimental in the illustrations for “Poor Liza” by N. M. Karamzin and deeply dramatic in the famous series of illustrations for F. M. Dostoevsky’s story “The Whites” nights" (1922). Dobuzhinsky's best theatrical works are those that he performed at the Moscow Art Theater ("A Month in the Village" by I. S. Turgenev, 1909, "Nikolai Stavrogin" by F. M. Dostoevsky, 1913).

The work of many masters of the beginning of the century is connected to one degree or another with the “World of Art” - V. A. Serov, Z. E. Serebryakova, I. Ya. Bilibin, B. M. Kustodiev, I. E. Grabar and others. In the same row - and Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich(1874-1947) - advanced artist, scientist, prominent public figure. In the artistic environment of that time, Roerich was distinguished by his love for ancient Russian history and archeology, for the art of Ancient Rus'. In his work, he sought to penetrate into the depths of centuries, into the living and integral world of distant ancestors, to connect it with the progressive development of humanity, with the ideals of humanism, heroism and beauty (“Overseas Guests”, 1902, ill. 211; “The City is being Built”, 1902 ).

"Union of Russian Artists". In the artistic life of Russia at the beginning of the century, the Union of Russian Artists (1903-1923) played a significant role. Its background was the “Exhibitions of 36 Artists”, organized in 1901 and 1902 in Moscow. The "Union of Russian Artists" was founded on the initiative of Muscovites in order to strengthen the young artistic organization. Many leading masters of both capitals became its members, but the core of the “Union of Russian Artists” continued to be Moscow painters - K. A. Korovin, A. E. Arkhipov, S. A. Vinogradov, S. Yu. Zhukovsky, L. V. Turzhansky , A. M. Vasnetsov, S. V. Malyutin, A. S. Stepanov. Close to the “Union of Russian Artists” in their artistic positions, active participants in its exhibitions were A. A. Rylov, K. F. Yuon, I. I. Brodsky, F. A. Malyavin. In 1910, the Union of Russian Artists split. From its composition came the St. Petersburg group of artists, which restored the former name "World of Art", a group that ceased to exist as an exhibition union in 1903.

Landscape is the main genre in the art of most masters of the Union of Russian Artists. They were the successors of landscape painting of the second half of the 19th century, expanded the range of themes - they depicted the nature of central Russia, the sunny south, and the harsh north, and ancient Russian cities with their wonderful architectural monuments, and poetic ancient estates, and often introduced elements of the genre into their canvases , sometimes still life. They drew the joy of life from nature and loved to paint directly from nature with a temperamental wide brush, richly, brightly and colorfully, developing and multiplying the achievements of plein air and impressionistic painting.

The works of the masters of the “Union of Russian Artists” clearly expressed the creative individuality of each, but they also had many similar features - a keen interest in the rapid visual coverage of the world, a craving for fragmentary dynamic composition, blurring of clear boundaries between a compositional painting and a full-scale sketch. Their painting became characterized by the integrity of the plastic-colored cover of the canvas, a wide relief stroke molding the shape and sonority of color.

Art 1905-1907. The events of the first Russian revolution, which left their mark on the entire subsequent course of Russian and world history, were clearly reflected in the fine arts. Never before has Russian art played such an effective role in the political life of the country as it does these days. “The drawings themselves incite an uprising,” the Minister of Internal Affairs I. N. Durnovo reported to the Tsar.

With the greatest depth, the revolution of 1905-1907 was reflected in easel painting in the works of I. E. Repin (“Manifestation in honor of October 17, 1905”), V. E. Makovsky (“January 9, 1905 on Vasilievsky Island”), I. I. Brodsky ("Red Funeral"), V. A. Serov ("Bauman's Funeral"), S. V. Ivanov ("Execution"). We have already spoken above about numerous works on the revolutionary theme by N. A. Kasatkin, in particular about such canvases as “The Militant Worker.”

During the revolution of 1905-1907, satirical graphics, the most dynamic and popular form of art, reached an unprecedented flourishing. There are 380 known titles of satirical magazines published between 1905-1907 in the amount of 40 million copies. Thanks to its wide scope, the revolution united artists of various directions into a large and friendly group. Among the participants in satirical magazines were such major masters as V. A. Serov, B. M. Kustodiev, E. E. Lansere, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, I. Ya. Bilibin, and students of art schools, and non-professional artists .

Most of the satirical magazines were liberal in orientation. The tsarist government, even having published a manifesto on freedom of the press, actually did not allow the Bolshevik Party to publish satirical and political magazines. The only magazine of Bolshevik orientation - "Sting", in which A. M. Gorky participated, was banned after the release of the first issue, and its editors were destroyed. Nevertheless, the best satirical magazines of 1905-1907, due to their accusatory content, the sharpness of topical political thought and purposefulness, had great educational value.

Most often, their satire, both in text and in the visual part, was directed against autocracy. The ruling elite of Russia and Tsar Nicholas II himself were especially harshly criticized. Denunciation of the bloody repressions of the tsarist government also became a common theme.

“Machine Gun” was a very brave magazine of those years, which owed much to the enterprise and ingenuity of its editor N. G. Shebuev and artist I. M. Grabovsky. Generalized images of participants in the revolution - a worker, a soldier, a sailor, a peasant - repeatedly appeared on his pages. On the cover of one of the issues of Machine Gun, against the backdrop of smoking factory chimneys, Grabovsky placed an image of a worker and made the significant inscription “His Working Majesty the All-Russian Proletarian.”

Il. 212. M. V. Dobuzhinsky. October idyll. "Bogey", 1905, No. 1

A combative tone characterized many magazines (The Spectator, the most durable of them, Leshy, Zhupel and its sequel, Hell's Mail). V. A. Serov and many World of Art students collaborated in the last two magazines. Both of these magazines were distinguished by the artistry of their illustrations. The first featured Serov’s famous compositions “Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” (ill. 199), Dobuzhinsky's "October Idyll" (ill. 212), Lanceray - "Trizna" (ill. 213); in the second - Kustodiev's "Olympus" - caustic caricatures of members of the State Council. Often the drawings in satirical magazines were in the nature of everyday sketches - sketches on the topic of the day. Allegory, sometimes using popular easel works by Russian artists, sometimes folklore images, was a common form of masking satire. The activity of most satirical magazines of 1905 - 1907 was born of the revolution and froze along with the strengthening of government reaction.

Art 1907-1917. The pre-October decade in Russia after the defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907 was a time of difficult trials and rampant Black Hundred reaction. In 1914, the first world imperialist war began. In difficult conditions, the Bolshevik Party gathered forces for the offensive, and from 1910 the wave of a new upsurge of the revolutionary movement grew, preparations were made for the overthrow of the autocracy. Russia stood on the eve of the greatest historical events.

The tense situation in the country further complicated Russian artistic life. Many artists were in the grip of confusion, vague moods, passionate but groundless impulses, fruitless subjective experiences, and struggle between artistic directions. Various idealistic theories became widespread, separating art from reality and democratic traditions. These theories were subjected to merciless criticism by V.I. Lenin.

But even in such a difficult situation, the development of Russian realistic art did not stop. A number of prominent Itinerants and members of the Union of Russian Artists continued to work actively. Among the artists of the largest creative associations, there have been trends towards rapprochement and points of contact on some fundamental issues. During these years, the World of Art students criticized the widespread individualism, advocated for the strengthening of a professional art school, and their search for grand style art became even more purposeful. N.K. Roerich expressed the idea that directional struggle does not exclude the possibility of raising the banner of “heroic realism” that corresponds to the time.

The interaction of individual genres of painting intensified, the domestic and classical heritage was rethought, V. A. Serov was one of the first in the 20th century to cleanse ancient mythology from the old academic pseudo-classical interpretation, revealing the realistic principle in it. In the pre-revolutionary decade, only a small number of large, significant paintings were created, but it is no coincidence that it was then that “Stepan Razin” by V. I. Surikov appeared, meeting the high goal of national art - to reflect the big ideas of our time. Significant evidence of the progress of Russian art was the desire of a number of painters - A. E. Arkhipov, L. V. Popov, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, Z. E. Serebryakova and others - to connect the image of the people with the thought of the Motherland, with their native land .

Z. E. Serebryakova(1884-1967). Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova sang in her best works the peasant life of the working people. The legacy of A.G. Venetsianov and the great masters of the Renaissance played a major role in the formation of her art. The rigor of monumental images, the harmony and balance of the composition, and solid, dense colors distinguish her best paintings. Especially notable are “The Harvest” (1915) and “Whitening the Canvas” (1917, ill. XII), in which the figures are so large-scale, shown from a low point of view, and the rhythm of the movements is majestic. The canvas is perceived as a monument to peasant labor.

K. S. Petrov-Vodkin(1878-1939). In the early period of his work, Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin paid tribute to abstract symbolist tendencies. A close study of the best traditions of the European Renaissance and, most importantly, the line of Russian art that can be traced in the works of painters of Ancient Rus' helped the artist to demonstrate a democratic worldview. In the canvases “Mother” (1913 and 1915, ill. 214) and “Morning” (1917), the images of peasant women reflect the high moral purity of the spiritual world of Russian people. The painting “The Bathing of the Red Horse” (1912) is imbued with a premonition of impending social changes. The sublime ideological content is met by the laconicism of the composition, the dynamics of space, the classical rigor of the drawing and the harmony of color, built on the main colors of the spectrum.

P. V. Kuznetsov(1878-1968). At the beginning of his creative career, Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov also experienced the influence of symbolism. The Kyrgyz suite of his paintings ("Mirage in the Steppe", 1912, ill. 215; "Sheep Shearing", 1912) reflected a poetic understanding of the image of a working person in the world around him. Simple life stories, unhurried gestures and calm faces of people engaged in their usual work in their native land, the musical structure of color, the solemnity of the landscape - everything recreates a holistic harmonious image.

Il. 215. P. V. Kuznetsov. Mirage in the steppe. X., tempera. 95 X 103. 1912. Tretyakov Gallery

M. S. Saryan(1880-1972). In a series of paintings based on his impressions of trips to the countries of the East, Martiros Sergeevich Saryan also poeticizes the folk life he depicts ("Street. Noon. Constantinople", 1910; "Date Palm. Egypt", 1911, etc.). His laconic works are built on bright and solid color silhouettes, contrasts of rhythm, light and shadow. The colors are emphatically decorative, spatial plans are clearly drawn. The poetry of Saryan's art is determined by his ability to preserve a vibrant sense of life with intense sonority and beauty of the pictorial palette.

The best works of the above-mentioned artists, who later made an invaluable contribution to Soviet art, opened up the prospect of further development of monumental realistic art, the creation of which belonged to a new historical era.

Portraits with deep psychological images did not receive such wide development in the pre-revolutionary decade as in the previous period, however, a number of examples show their enrichment in the works of outstanding masters. It is enough to recall the self-portraits of V. I. Surikov and M. V. Nesterov, where the complex spiritual world of a man of art is revealed with his anxieties, reflection on life, or the sharp portrait characteristics of V. A. Serov.

The continuation of this line of the portrait genre can be seen in the works of S. V. Malyutin (for example, portraits of V. N. Baksheev, 1914, ill. 216, K. F. Yuon, 1916). Pose, posture, gesture and facial expressions convey character and testify to the extraordinary personality of representatives of Russian art. In the same way, I. I. Brodsky painted a portrait of A. M. Gorky (1910).

The painting “The Nun” (1908, ill. 218) by B. M. Kustodiev is significant in its psychological interpretation of the image. Although the author did not set out to create an accusatory work, the power of realistic penetration into the spiritual world of the person being portrayed gave this image a certain symbolic meaning. Before us is the keeper of the foundations of the church: kind, and cunning, and gracious, and powerful, merciless. However, Kustodiev’s art, full of optimism, is primarily addressed to the traditions of Russian antiquity, folk customs and festivals. In his canvases he combines lively observation of nature, imagery and bright decorativeness ("Merchant's Wife", 1915, ill. 219; "Maslenitsa", 1916).

The 1910s are associated with great successes in the field of a new genre - theatrical portraiture, where the artist faces a difficult creative task - to show the inspiration of the actor, his transformation into a stage image. The championship here belongs to A. Ya. Golovin. Knowing very well the peculiarities of the stage and dramaturgy, he created a majestic and tragic image in the portrait of F. I. Chaliapin in the role of Boris Godunov (1912, ill. 220).

Landscape in one way or another attracted all artists: they were united in this genre by pictorial and coloristic searches. However, for many, the image of nature turned into a solution to a sketch rather than a painting problem, as was the case in the 19th century. In the pre-revolutionary period, only a few major masters managed to convey the epic feeling of their homeland when depicting nature - lyrical motifs predominated. A. A. Rylov turned to the traditions of landscape paintings (“Green Noise”, 1904, ill. 217). His romantic painting “Swans over the Kama” (1912) foreshadowed the painting “In the Blue Expanse”, created after the Great October Socialist Revolution. The ever-increasing interest in national heritage led to the appearance of a number of pictorial suites dedicated to ancient Russian cities. By including everyday scenes in the composition, artists showed nature and man equally active in a landscape painting (“In Sergiev Posad” by K. F. Yuon and others).

Landscape painters, mostly representatives of the Union of Russian Artists, significantly enriched their painting skills. It was here that sketches and a lyrical interpretation of motifs, often rural, dating back to A.K. Savrasov, V.D. Polenov and I.I. Levitan, prevailed, which testified to the preservation of democratic traditions. Plein air painting was replenished with such integral in color and poetic landscapes as “Kem” (1917) by K. A. Korovin, “Towards Evening” by N. P. Krymov, the best works of S. A. Vinogradov (“Flower Garden”, “Spring”, 1911, ill. 221) and S. Yu. Zhukovsky ("Dam", 1909, ill. 222; "Joyful May", 1912).

The still life. Now this genre is represented by the works of a number of artists from various creative associations, and is diverse in motives, content and objectives. In his numerous still lifes, K. A. Korovin attached great importance to decorativeness and the beauty of color. The same beginning is characteristic of the works of S. Yu. Sudeikin and N. N. Sapunov. The achievements of impressionism enriched the painting of I. E. Grabar (“The Untidy Table”, 1907, ill. 223, etc.).

The artists of the “Jack of Diamonds” association, which arose in 1910, actively worked in the field of still life, as well as landscape and portrait: P. P. Konchalovsky, I. I. Mashkov, A. V. Lentulov, A. V. Kuprin and others. In search of national originality of art, they used the traditions of the national primitive (popular prints, signs, tray painting, etc.), but also discovered connections with contemporary French art, primarily with Cezanne and his followers. The best works of the masters of this group, written with material weight and decorative scope, were reflected in their love of life and great artistic culture. Such are, for example, the grotesque "Portrait of G. B. Yakulov" (1910, ill. 224) and the still life "Agave" (1916) by P. P. Konchalovsky, "Pumpkin" (1914, ill. 225) and "Still Life with Brocade" (1917) I. I. Mashkova.

Theatrical and decorative arts experienced a brilliant flourishing: many leading painters worked for the theater. It is enough to name the names of V. A. Simov, V. A. Serov, A. Ya. Golovin, A. N. Benois, K. A. Korovin, L. S. Bakst, N. K. Roerich, I. Ya. Bilibin , B. M. Kustodiev and a number of performances designed by them ("Petrushka" by I. F. Stravinsky - A. N. Benois; "Prince Igor" by A. N. Borodin - N. K. Roerich; "Masquerade" by M. Yu Lermontov - A. Ya. Golovina, etc.). The “Russian Seasons” in Paris and other cities of Western Europe, organized by S. P. Diaghilev, in which many of the above-mentioned masters participated in the design of the productions, glorified Russian art in the international arena. The high artistic level of scenery and costumes, and the entire appearance of the stage action, amazed foreigners with a synthesis of arts, a spectacle of extraordinary beauty and national originality.

As mentioned above, the process of development of realism in 1907-1917 was complicated by the crisis of bourgeois culture. The least stable part of the artistic intelligentsia, although captured by the general spirit of protest against bourgeois reality, succumbed to decadent moods, moved away from modernity and public life, denied democratic traditions in art, and this protest itself usually had the character of an anarchic rebellion. These negative phenomena were first reflected in the works shown at the Blue Rose exhibition, organized in 1907 and uniting symbolist artists. The participants of this short-lived group asserted the dominance of intuitionism in artistic creativity and retreated into the world of mystical, ghostly fantasies. But the most gifted and purposeful (P.V. Kuznetsov, M.S. Saryan and some others) already in the pre-October decade took the democratic path of development in their creativity.

A number of artists, especially young ones, were involved in the 1910s in the mainstream of modernist movements. Some of them - supporters of cubism and futurism - claimed that their form-creation corresponded to the age of engineering and technology, others - primitivists - on the contrary, sought to return to the immediacy of the perception of the world by an uncivilized person. All these trends were intricately intertwined in the art of the pre-October decade. They affected the painting of the “Jack of Diamonds,” while the stylistic and primitivist tendencies were especially clearly reflected in the representatives of the group with the daringly shocking name “Donkey’s Tail.” Ultimately, all the varieties of formalism that then spread in Russian art led to a distortion of reality, the destruction of the objective world, or, finally, to the dead end of abstractionism (Rauchism, Suprematism) - the extreme expression of modernism.

The contradictions in Russian artistic life of 1907-1917 did not stop the progressive development of realistic art in this difficult time. Leading Russian masters sensed the approach of social change and consciously or intuitively felt the need to bring their creativity into line with the scale of events of the turbulent historical era. After the Great October Revolution, artists of all generations, some earlier, others later, became involved in the construction of a new socialist culture, putting their art at the service of the revolutionary people; under the influence of Soviet reality, a restructuring took place among those who had previously rejected realism as a method.

Biography of the artist, creative path. Gallery of paintings.

Ivanov Sergey Vasilievich

(1864 - 1910)

Ivanov Sergei Vasilievich, Russian painter. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1878-82 and 1884-85) with I. M. Pryanishnikov, E. S. Sorokin and at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1882-84). Lived in Moscow. He traveled extensively throughout Russia, and in 1894 visited Austria, Italy, and France. Member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (since 1899) and one of the founders of the Union of Russian Artists. He taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (since 1900) and the Moscow Stroganov School of Art and Industry (since 1899). In the 2nd half of the 1880s - early 1890s. worked on genre paintings (in which the landscape plays a large role), drawings and lithographs dedicated to the tragic fate of Russian peasant migrants and prisoners of tsarist prisons (“At the prison”, 1885, “On the road. Death of a migrant”, 1889, both paintings in Tretyakov Gallery). He took part in the revolutionary events of 1905 and was one of the first among Russian artists to turn to the theme of the revolutionary struggle of the Russian peasantry and proletariat ("Revolt in the Village", 1889, "Execution", 1905 - both paintings in the Museum of the USSR Revolution in Moscow; "Stage" , 1891, the painting has not survived; etchings “Execution”, “At the wall. Episode of 1905”, both between 1905 and 1910).

Since 1895, Ivan turned to historical painting. The life of the people and the traits of the national character, their connection with the future destinies of Russia - this is the worldview basis of his historical paintings, sometimes embodying the spontaneous power of the people's movement ("Troubles", 1897, I. I. Brodsky Apartment Museum, Leningrad), sometimes with great conviction and historical authenticity (sometimes not without elements of social satire) recreating everyday scenes of the past ("The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow in the 17th Century", 1901, "Tsar. 16th Century", 1902, both in the Tretyakov Gallery). In I.’s work, a socially critical orientation is combined with the search for new compositional and color solutions that emotionally enrich the expressive possibilities of genre and historical painting. He also did illustrations.

Lit.: Granovsky I. N., S. V. Ivanov. Life and creativity, M., 1962.

V. M. Petyushenko
TSB, 1969-1978

______________________________

Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov was born on June 16, 1864 in the city of Ruza, Moscow province into an impoverished noble family. Childhood impressions of his stay in the homeland of his paternal and maternal ancestors in the Voronezh and Samara provinces remained in his memory for a long time and were later embodied in his work.

His ability to draw appeared very early, but before entering the Moscow School of Painting and Painting, he had, at the behest of his parents, to study at the Moscow Land Survey Institute, where drawing and drafting were taught. The meeting of the future artist with P.P. Sinebatov, who graduated from the Academy of Arts, significantly changed his life. Taking advantage of his advice, he began copying on his own, and then in 1878 he submitted documents to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which he first attended as a volunteer. In 1882, having completed the scientific course and the figure class of the school, he transferred to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but in 1884 he returned to Moscow. The distinctive qualities of Ivanov's character - independence and determination - played an important role when he committed a very courageous act. In 1885, he left the school without even starting his final work. Captivated by life's themes, restless, striving for new impressions, he was not embarrassed that without a competitive painting, he would only receive a certificate for the title of art teacher. The idea of ​​making a long trip to different provinces of Russia occupied him much more. The artist wanted to see with his own eyes how the fate of the migrant peasants unfolded, huge crowds moving to the east of Russia, after the reform carried out by P.A. Stolypin, in the hope of finding land and a better life. This long journey through the Moscow, Ryazan, Vladimir, Samara, Orenburg and Voronezh provinces began in the spring of 1885. The result was a whole series of drawings, sketches and paintings about the life of immigrants, among them the most successful in terms of picturesqueness was the small canvas “Resettler in a Carriage”. The painting appeared at a student exhibition in 1886 and was bought by V.D. Polenov, who treated the aspiring painter with great attention and care. It must be said that Ivanov, also throughout his life, felt a friendly affection for Polenov. In the 1880s, he was a frequent guest at his house, participating among other young people in Polenov’s drawing evenings. “Misplaced Woman in a Carriage,” close to a sketch in its freshness of perception, was painted in the open air, not without the influence of Polenov, a master of plein air painting. The work was striking with the vitality of the scene, the bright sunlight, and the skillfully captured image of an old woman sitting in a carriage. A little later, other sketches and completed works appeared, among them: “Migrants. Lonely", "On the Road. Death of a migrant." In them, the theme of hopeless peasant life is brought to the utmost degree of social emphasis and sounds as powerful as in the best works of the Wanderers. Painting “On the road. Death of a Migrant” was accepted for the XVII traveling exhibition, held in 1889.

In addition to artistic abilities, Ivanov had a scientific mind. During his travels, he always produced interesting ethnographic, architectural, everyday sketches and scientific descriptions. In the summer of 1886, in the Samara province, he came across Stone Age burial grounds and became seriously interested in them. Over time, he collected an interesting paleontological collection, part of which was donated to V.D. Polenov and housed in the Borok estate. Scientific and artistic interests prompted Ivanov to take photography seriously. Many photographs taken during the travels were then used in the work on historical paintings. The artist was a full member of the Russian Photographic and Geographical Mining Society.

S.V. Ivanov traveled a lot. In the summer of 1888, on his initiative, a joint trip along the Volga with A.E. Arkhipov, S.A. Vinogradov and E.M. Khruslov was organized. Many drawings and sketches have been preserved from this trip. In August of the same year, Ivanov went on an expedition to the Caucasus, with the goal of visiting little-known areas and reaching the peaks of Big and Small Ararat. The book by expedition members E.P. Kovalevsky and E.S. Markov “On the Ararat Mountains,” published in 1889, contains numerous drawings by S. Ivanov. In 1896 he ended up in Feodosia, and then traveled around Dagestan. In 1898 he made a trip through the Vyatka province, then proceeded to the Kalmyk and Kyrgyz steppes and to Lake Baskunchak. In 1899 and 1901 he was again drawn to the Volga. In 1894, he found himself in Europe, visiting Paris, Vienna, Venice, Milan and Genoa, but the ancient Russian cities were dearer to him - Rostov, Yaroslavl, Vologda, Zaraysk, which he visited more than once.

From 1889, the artist was captivated by the theme of prisoners for several years. Having received official permission to visit the prisons, Ivanov spends almost all his time in prisons, sketching those there. Numerous sketches depicting stern faces and shaved heads tell this story. In 1891, for a month, he visited the Saratov transit prison every day. Then, having moved to Atkarsk, where prisoners were also kept, he settled in a house opposite the prison and painted the paintings “Stage” and “Tatar at Prayer.” The latter depicts a Muslim standing at full height in a prisoner's robe and skullcap, performing his evening prayer.

Even while working on a series of illustrations for the two-volume edition of M.Yu. Lermontov, undertaken by P.P. Konchalovsky at the Kushnerev publishing house, he continued his “prisoner series.” Of the fifteen illustrations, almost all are, in one way or another, related to this topic. Illustrating the poems: “Desire,” “Prisoner,” “Neighbor,” he did not seek to convey the romantic character of Lermontov’s poetry, but interpreted them literally and reliably, using nature and those sketches that were made in the Makaryev prison.

In 1894, wanting to gain new impressions, as well as renew his art, which, in his opinion, had reached a dead end, S.V. Ivanov and his wife made a trip to Europe. The artist intended to spend a whole year in France, living in Paris, but the impressions he received from this city and the state of modern Western art deeply disappointed him. He wrote to the artist A.A. Kiselev about this trip: “It’s good in Russia now. Although I’ve only been here in Paris for a month, I’m starting to feel sad - there’s no space. I saw Salons and other exhibitions, and they didn’t give me what I expected; here, out of 3,000 things, I found only 100 that I could dwell on... the lack of life is striking.” In another letter to the same addressee, he sadly states: “there is nothing good here now and there is no point in coming here to study.” Three months later, the Ivanovs returned to Moscow.

However, this trip was not in vain; the heightened feeling of love for the homeland that surged in Europe and modern French painting, no matter how negatively the painter perceived it, was reflected in his work. Since 1895, he began to work in the historical genre, and his writing style became noticeably liberated. The study of “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin also contributed greatly to his passion for history.

The first subject that interested the artist was related to the history of troubled times. A large canvas called “The Troubles” was painted in 1897, in the ancient city of Zaraysk. In the picture, a raging crowd appeared in expressive poses, carrying out their cruel trial on Grishka Otrepyev. While working on it, the artist sought to recreate the era as accurately as possible, depicting in the work authentic costumes and ancient weapons: shields, sabers, axes, which he had previously sketched in the Hermitage Museum. At the Novgorod bazaar he managed to purchase several old things, and historical works, which he carefully studied, also helped: “The Tale of Massa and Herkman about the Time of Troubles in Russia” and “Tales of Contemporaries about Demetrius the Pretender.” However, despite the careful execution, this work, as Ivanov expected, was not accepted for any exhibition.

But the next one is “In the forest.” In memory of Stefan of Perm and other enlighteners of foreigners,” in which he found a successful compositional form for conveying the deep Christian idea of ​​​​enlightening pagan tribes, was taken to the Traveling Exhibition of 1899, at the same time he became a full member of the Association of Itinerants.

During these same years, in parallel, Ivanov worked on illustrations for the works of A.S. Pushkin, published in 1898-1899 by the Kushnerev publishing house. He was attracted by the opportunity to reflect Russian history in the stories “The Captain's Daughter” and “Songs about the Prophetic Oleg,” which he chose to illustrate. The artist was especially interested in the image of Emelyan Pugachev. He painted several portraits for him, including his “Self-Portrait with a Hat,” called angry. But the best illustration was the one depicting Prince Oleg and the magician.

In 1901, S.V. Ivanov caused great surprise by showing his new creation at an exhibition of 36 people - the painting “The Arrival of Foreigners. XVII century”, which P.M. Tretyakov bought immediately before the opening of the exhibition. It seemed that this painting, just like the next one - “Tsar. XVI century" was written by another author. Unprecedented compositional freedom and the use of bright, almost local colors made the painting unusual and decorative. Huge fluffy snowdrifts, small log houses, churches painted with great feeling, conveying the feeling of frosty air and patriarchal comfort made it possible to fill a scene from the past with poetry and give it reality. The figures and framed faces of an old man in a long fur coat with a large bunch of bagels in his hand and a young lady whom he is in a hurry to take away are very expressive. The writer and publicist G.A. Machtet, congratulating the artist on this painting, wrote: “How the colossal genius of Viktor Vasnetsov, plunging into the lofty native epic, gives it to us in images, recreating the ideas of the people, their concepts, their “beauty,” teaching us to understand “ the people’s soul,” - so in your painting “The Arrival of Guests” you recreate for us our past and distant... I breathed that wild Moscow - I could not take my eyes off this stern barbarian, leading the stupid, timid Fedora away from the enemy’s “eye.”

In 1903, Ivanov visited the village of Svistukha, Dmitrov district, Moscow province, and was immediately captivated by the quiet, picturesque place on the banks of the Yakhroma River. He lived here for the last seven years, building a small house and workshop according to his design. Here he painted one of his best paintings, “Family.” It is painted on a large canvas, which certainly indicates the importance that the artist attached to his work. It depicts a line of people walking through fluffy snow through the entire village with special solemnity and grandeur. The canvas is executed in a free, impasto manner of painting using a bright colorful palette, which is dominated by white, yellow, red and blue tones. It amazes with its optimistic and life-affirming attitude. The landscape played a huge role in revealing the emotional structure of the work. He truly turned into one of the main characters. Ivanov painted nature, as well as sketches of peasants, in the open air in winter, constructing a heated workshop on a sleigh for this purpose.

In 1903, S.V. Ivanov took a major part in the creation of the creative association “Union of Russian Artists”. To a large extent, it arose due to his organizational qualities and combative, decisive character. Immediately after the appearance of the "Union", the artist left the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions and until the end of his days he exhibited only here. Ivanov’s passionate character, which literally “threw him to the barricades,” was noted by everyone who knew him. During the revolution of 1905, he not only showed sympathy for the rebels, but, like V.A. Serov, created many graphic and pictorial works on this topic, including the painting “Execution”.

An interesting description of S.V. Ivanov, still a student at the school, was given by M.V. Nesterov in his memoirs. He wrote: “He looked like a rebel student, ragged, long legs, curly head. A hot, passionate person with sincere, passionate passions. He always helped the speech with his deliberately passionate gesture. Direct, impeccably honest, and everything about him was attractive... Ivanov, seemingly stern, often showed his youthful enthusiasm and energy, infecting others. He loved to be a horse guide in undertakings, but if any undertaking failed, he became despondent. Sometimes his comrades laughed at him for this. The rebellious nature of the “hellish arsonist”... Ardent and hot, he sometimes gave the impression of a harsh, even despotic person, but underneath this hid a very deep and soft nature.” This beautiful verbal portrait complements the visual one, executed in 1903 by the artist I.E. Braz. From him the gaze of a man looks with great sorrow and tension into this difficult world.
S.V. Ivanov suddenly died of a broken heart on August 16, 1910 in the village of Svistukha, where he had lived quietly in recent years.

An artist of brilliant talent, Ivanov was born in Ruza, Moscow province, into the family of an official. He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1878-1882, 1884-1885) with I.M. Pryanishnikov and the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.

From the very beginning, the focus of his works is quite obvious: the history of Russia in the past and present. The first picture “On the road. Death of a Migrant" (1889), which brought the artist fame, was written in the style of the early work of the Wanderers, but the attitude to what was happening was different. The death of a breadwinner and the loneliness of an orphaned family are emphasized by the desert landscape of the scorched steppe. In the painting, the artist actively used artistic means of composition. Continuing traditions, Ivanov strove for acutely dramatic art, sensitively conveying the “beat of the human soul,” which was embodied in paintings about the life of peasants (“To the landowner with a request,” 1885) and “prisoner” themes (“Stage,” 1892).

Ivanov’s search for new compositional and color solutions - unexpected angles, decorativeness of flat color spots - led the artist to participate in the creation of the Union of Russian Artists.

In 1900, the influence of impressionism became more and more noticeable in the work of S. Ivanov. The transfer of the light-air environment highlights the main objects of the compositions. The artist’s works are characterized by a laconic and pointed interpretation of images.

Since the late 1890s, the artist worked primarily on paintings from the Russian past. In the past of Russia, the artist was attracted primarily by acute dramatic moments, the strength of Russian folk characters (“Campaign of the Muscovites. 16th century,” 1903), and the beauty of ancient life (“Family,” 1910). Ivanov’s works from the life of the boyars and boyars were imbued with evil irony, demonstrating the historical roots of such phenomena as dense philistinism and high-ranking swagger. In 1902, at the exhibition of “Union 36”, Ivanov presented the painting “Tsar. XVI century." It’s a winter day, a ceremonial cortege is moving along a Moscow street, at the head of which gridni (guards) in red caftans solemnly march. On a magnificently decorated horse, in rich clothes, rides a king, fat and clumsy, with a pompous lip raised up. But the Lyuli, buried in the snow in a fit of subservient feeling, cannot appreciate the “greatness of the moment.” Using the “calorified composition” technique, the artist brought the image as close as possible to the viewer, as if creating the “effect of presence” inside it. This work is distinguished by its bright color scheme, expressive silhouette solutions, and free painting.

In search of a new pictorial language, Ivanov became an innovator of the historical genre: his canvases resembled frozen film frames, captivating the viewer with their dynamic rhythm (“The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow in the 17th Century,” 1901). The artist’s last work was a cycle about the events of 1905 (“Execution”).

Life in the Russian village was hard. The so-called resettlement issue worried many representatives of advanced Russian culture and art in those years. Even V. G. Perov, the founder of critical realism, did not ignore this topic. For example, his drawing “Death of a Migrant” is famous.
The settlers made a painful impression on A.P. Chekhov, who traveled through all of Siberia on the road to Sakhalin in 1890. Under the influence of conversations with Chekhov, he traveled along the Volga and Kama, to the Urals, and from there to Siberia and N. Teleshov. “Beyond the Urals, I saw the grueling life of our settlers,” he recalled, “almost fabulous hardships and burdens of the people’s peasant life.”

Ivanov spent a good half of his life traveling around Russia, carefully and with keen interest getting acquainted with the life of the many-faced working people. In these incessant wanderings, he became acquainted with the life of the settlers. “He walked with them for many dozens of miles in the dust of roads, under rain, bad weather and the scorching sun in the steppes,” say Ivanov’s friends, “he spent many nights with them, filling his albums with drawings and notes, many tragic scenes passed before his eyes.”

Powerless to help these people, the artist thought with pain about the immeasurable tragedy of their situation and the deceitfulness of their dreams of “happiness,” which they were not destined to find in the conditions of Tsarist Russia.

At the end of the 1880s, Ivanov conceived a large series of paintings, consistently telling about the life of the settlers. In the first painting - “Rus is Coming” - the artist wanted to show the beginning of their journey, when people were still cheerful, healthy and full of bright hopes. “Displaced people. Walkers." 1886 .

One of the final paintings of the cycle is “On the Road. Death of a Migrant” is the most powerful work of the planned series. Other works on this topic, created earlier and later by a number of writers and artists, did not reveal so deeply and at the same time so simply the tragedy of the settlers in all its terrible truth.

"On the road. Death of a migrant." 1889

Heated steppe. A light haze obscures the horizon line. This sun-scorched desert land seems boundless. Here is a lonely migrant family. Apparently, the last extreme forced her to stop at this bare place, unprotected from the scorching rays of the sun.

The head of the family, the breadwinner, died. What awaits the unfortunate mother and daughter in the future - this is the question everyone involuntarily asks themselves when looking at the picture. And the answer is clear. It can be read in the figure of the mother stretched out on the bare ground. The grief-stricken woman has no words and no tears.

In silent despair she scrapes the dry earth with her crooked fingers. We read the same answer in the girl’s confused, blackened face, like an extinguished coal, in her eyes frozen in horror, in her entire numb, emaciated figure. There is no hope for any help!

But just recently, life was glimmering in a small transport house. The fire was crackling, a meager dinner was being prepared, and the hostess was busy near the fire. The whole family dreamed that somewhere far away, in an unknown, blessed land, a new, happy life would soon begin for her.

Now everything was falling apart. The main worker died, and apparently the exhausted horse also died. The collar and arc are no longer needed: they are carelessly thrown near the cart. The fire in the hearth went out. An overturned ladle, the bare sticks of an empty tripod, the empty shafts outstretched like arms, in silent anguish - how hopelessly sad and tragic all this is!

Migrants (Reverse migrants), 1888

Ivanov deliberately sought just such an impression. Like Perov in “Seeing Away for the Dead,” he confined his grief to a narrow circle of family, abandoning the figures of sympathetic women who were in the preliminary sketch of the painting. Wanting to further emphasize the doom of the settlers, the artist decided not to include the horse, which was also in the sketch, in the picture. .

The power of Ivanov’s painting does not end with the truthful rendering of a specific moment. This work represents a typical image of peasant life in post-reform Russia.

Sources.

http://www.russianculture.ru/formp.asp?ID=80&full

http://www.rodon.org/art-080808191839

Let's start with the reasons for moving to Siberia. The main reason for resettlement in the post-reform era is economic. The peasants believed that in Siberia they would live better than in their homeland, because in their homeland all suitable land was already plowed, the population was growing rapidly (1.7–2% per year) and the amount of land per person was correspondingly decreasing, while in Siberia the supply of suitable land for cultivating the land is almost endless. Where rumors of a rich life in Siberia spread among peasants, a desire for resettlement arose. The champions of resettlement were the black earth, but at the same time densely populated and very poor Kursk, Voronezh and Tambov provinces. It is interesting that non-black earth (and especially northern) peasants were much less inclined to migrate, although they were deprived of the benefits of nature - they preferred to develop various kinds of non-agricultural additional work.

Did the unfortunate characters in the picture travel from the Tambov province to Siberia on this small cart? Of course not. This kind of hardcore ended back in the 1850s. The railway reached Tyumen in 1885. Those wishing to move to Siberia went to the station closest to their place of residence and ordered a freight car. In such a carriage, small (6.4x2.7m) and uninsulated, a peasant family with a horse, a cow, a supply of grain (for the first year and sowing) and hay, equipment and household items was placed - in terrible cramped conditions and in the cold. The carriage moved at a speed of 150–200 km per day, that is, the journey from Tambov took a couple of weeks.

It was necessary to get to Tyumen by the earliest possible time of the opening of the Irtysh, that is, by the beginning of March, and wait for the ice drift (which could happen either immediately or in a month and a half). Living conditions for the settlers were spartan - primitive plank barracks, and for the unlucky ones, straw huts on the shore. Let us remind you that in March it is still cold in Tyumen, with an average of -10.

An ice drift was passing, and from Tyumen, down the Irtysh and then up the Ob, a few and expensive steamships departed (a steamship is expensive and difficult to build on a river that is not connected with the rest of the country either by sea or by rail). The steamships were desperately short of space, so they hauled behind them a string of primitive, undecked barges. The barges, which did not even have basic shelter from the rain, were so crowded with people that there was nowhere to lie down. And even such barges were not enough for everyone, and to stay until the second voyage in Tyumen would mean missing the entire summer, during which it was necessary to organize the economy. It is not surprising that the disorganization and seething passions of boarding the ships resembled the evacuation of Denikin’s army from Novorossiysk. The bulk of the settlers (and there were 30-40 thousand of them per year), heading to Altai, got off the ship in the rapidly growing Barnaul, and if the water was high, then even further, in Biysk. From Tyumen to Tomsk by water is 2,400 km, to Barnaul - more than 3,000. For an old steamship, barely dragging along the numerous riffles in the upper reaches of the river, this is one and a half to two months.

The shortest, overland part of the journey began in Barnaul (or Biysk). The places available for settlement were in the foothills of Altai, 100–200–300 km from the pier. The settlers bought carts made by local artisans at the pier (and those who did not bring a horse with them, also horses) and hit the road. Of course, all the peasant equipment and supply of seeds cannot fit on one cart (ideally lifting 700-800 kg), but the peasant needs just one cart on the farm. Therefore, those wishing to settle closer to the pier gave their property for storage and made several trips, while those setting off on a longer journey hired at least one more cart.

This circumstance can explain the absence in the picture of the settler’s cart of the bulky objects necessary for the peasant - a plow, a harrow, a supply of grain in bags. Either this property is stored in a warehouse on the pier and is waiting for a second trip, or the peasant hired a cart and sent his teenage son and a cow with it, while he himself, his wife, daughter and compact equipment, quickly went to the proposed place of settlement to choose a site for himself.

Where exactly and on what legal grounds was our settler going to settle? The practices that existed then were different. Some followed the legal path and joined existing rural societies. While the Siberian communities (consisting of the same settlers from previous years) had a large supply of land, they willingly accepted newcomers for free, then, after sorting out the best lands, for an entrance fee, and then began to refuse altogether. In some completely insufficient quantities, the treasury prepared and marked out resettlement areas. But the majority of settlers in the era described (1880s) were engaged in self-seizure of state-owned (but completely unnecessary for the treasury) land, boldly establishing illegal farms and settlements. The treasury did not understand how to document the current situation, and simply turned a blind eye, without interfering with the peasants or driving them off the land - until 1917, the lands of the settlers were never registered as property. However, this did not prevent the treasury from imposing taxes on illegal peasants on a general basis.

What fate would await the settler if he had not died? Nobody could have predicted this. Approximately a fifth of the settlers in that era were unable to settle down in Siberia. There were not enough hands, there was not enough money and equipment, the first year of farming turned out to be a bad harvest, illness or death of family members - all this led to a return to their homeland. At the same time, most often, the house of those who returned was sold, the money was spent - that is, they returned to settle down with relatives, and this was the social bottom of the village. Note that those who chose the legal path, that is, those who left their rural society, found themselves in the worst position - their fellow villagers could simply not accept them back. Illegal immigrants at least had the right to return back and receive their allotment. Those who took root in Siberia had a variety of successes - the distribution into rich, middle and poor households did not differ significantly from the center of Russia. Without going into statistical details, we can say that only a few actually got rich (and those who were doing well in their homeland), while the rest of them were doing differently, but still better than in their previous life.

What will happen to the family of the deceased now? To begin with, it should be noted that Russia is not the Wild West, and a dead person cannot just be buried by the road. In Russia, everyone who lives outside their place of registration has a passport, and the wife and children fit into the passport of the head of the family. Consequently, the widow needs to somehow communicate with the authorities, bury her husband with a priest, draw up a burial certificate, and obtain new passports for herself and her children. Given the incredible sparseness and remoteness of officials in Siberia, and the slowness of official postal communications, solving this problem alone could take a poor woman at least six months. During this time, all the money will be spent.

Next, the widow must assess the situation. If she is young and has one child (or teenage sons who have already reached working age), we can recommend that she get married again on the spot (there has always been a shortage of women in Siberia) - this will be the most prosperous option. If the likelihood of marriage is low, then the poor woman will have to return to her homeland (and without money, this journey will have to be done on foot, begging along the way) and there somehow settle down with relatives. A single woman has no chance of starting a new independent household without an adult man (either in her homeland or in Siberia), and the old household has been sold. So the widow is not crying in vain. Not only did her husband die, but all her life plans related to gaining independence and self-sufficiency were forever shattered.

It is noteworthy that the picture does not depict the most difficult stage of the migrant’s journey. After a winter journey in an unheated freight car, life in a hut on the banks of the frozen Irtysh, two months on the deck of a crowded barge, a trip on their own cart across the flowering steppe was more relaxation and entertainment for the family. Unfortunately, the poor fellow could not bear the previous hardships and died on the way - like approximately 10% of children and 4% of adults who moved to Siberia in that era. His death can be associated with the difficult living conditions, discomfort and unsanitary conditions that accompanied the resettlement. But, although it is not obvious at first glance, the picture does not indicate poverty - the property of the deceased, most likely, is not limited to the small number of things in the cart.

The artist’s call was not in vain. Since the opening of the Siberian Railway (mid-1890s), the authorities gradually began to take care of the settlers. The famous "Stolypin" cars were built - insulated freight cars with an iron stove, partitions and bunks. Relocation centers with medical care, bathhouses, laundries and free feeding for small children appeared at junction stations. The state began to mark out new plots for resettlers, issue home improvement loans, and provide tax breaks. 15 years after the painting was painted, such terrible scenes became noticeably fewer - although, of course, resettlement continued to require hard work and remained a serious test of a person’s strength and courage.

On the map you can trace the route from Tyumen to Barnaul by water. Let me remind you that in the 1880s the railway ended in Tyumen.

In his final years at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Sergei Ivanov turns to pressing social problems. In particular, his attention was drawn to a phenomenon characteristic of the Russian village in the last quarter of the 19th century: in the second half of the 1880s, resettlement to Siberia began.

In the image: “Displaced people. Walkers." 1886.

After the reform of 1861, a need arose to resolve the land issue. The government saw a solution in relocating landless peasants to this vast, sparsely populated region. In the last decades of the 19th century alone, several million peasants left their insignificant plots and wretched huts and went in search of “fertile lands.”

In the image: "Misplaced woman in a carriage", 1886.

Alone, with their wives and children, in small parties, taking with them their fragile belongings, on foot and on carts, and if they were lucky, then by rail, they rushed, inspired by utopian dreams of “Belovodye” or “White Arapia”, towards difficult trials and, most often, severe disappointments. The tragedy of landless peasants leaving their original places, from the central provinces to the outskirts of the country - to Siberia and dying in their hundreds along the way - is the main idea of ​​Ivanov’s series of paintings. He captured scenes of peasant life in deliberately dull, “mournful” in color paintings about immigrants.

In the image: “On the road. Death of a migrant." 1889.

In the mid-1890s, a new period began in the artist’s work, associated with the creation of historical works. Ivanov’s historical painting has features that make it similar to the art of Surikov and Ryabushkin. The painter understands the state of the excited masses in acute dramatic moments (“The Troubles,” 1897, I. I. Brodsky Apartment Museum); “According to the verdict of the evening”, 1896, private collection), he is attracted by the strength of Russian folk characters and he, like Ryabushkin, finds beauty in the phenomena of folk life, affirms the understanding of this beauty by Russian people. Ivanov sensitively captures the pictorial search for time; his works of these years acquire a special coloristic sonority.

In the image: "Time of Troubles" (Tushino camp)

Ivanov was an innovator of the historical genre, composing episodes of the Russian Middle Ages - in the spirit of the Art Nouveau style - almost like film stills, captivating the viewer with their dynamic rhythm, the “effect of presence” (The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow in the 17th Century, 1901); "Tsar. XVI century" (1902), Campaign of the Muscovites. XVI century, 1903). In them, the artist took a fresh look at the historical past of his homeland, depicting not heroic moments of events, but scenes of everyday life from ancient Russian life. Some images are written with a touch of irony and grotesque. In 1908-13 he completed 18 works for the project “Paintings on Russian History”.

In the image: "St. George's Day." 1908

In the image: “Campaign of the Army of Moscow Rus'”, 16th century, painting 1903.

In the image: “Review of service people”, no later than 1907

The peculiar features of nervous “proto-expressionism” appeared with particular force in his images of the first Russian revolution, including in the famous painting “Execution” (1905, Historical and Revolutionary Museum “Krasnaya Presnya”, a branch of the State Center for Historical and Social Sciences), which struck his contemporaries with the piercingly desperate sound of protest.

During the armed uprising of 1905 in Moscow, he was a witness and participant - he provided assistance to students wounded in street battles right in the building of Moscow University on Mokhovaya Street. His drawings of gendarmes and Cossacks, who during the uprising were quartered in Manege, near the Kremlin, have been preserved.

Later, the artist works on the painting “They’re going! Punitive detachment" (1905-1909, Tretyakov Gallery).

In the image: They're coming! Punitive squad.

Pictured: Family, 1907

In the image: Arrival of the governor

In the image: German, 1910

Image: Village riot, 1889

In the image: At the prison. 1884

In the image: Arrival of foreigners. 17th century 1901

In the image: Boyar slaves. 1909

Russian empire

story paintings

Sergei Vasilievich Ivanov(June 4 (16), Ruza - August 3 (16), the village of Svistukha (now Dmitrov district, Moscow region)) - Russian painter.

Biography

early years

The last period of study includes the paintings “The Sick Woman” (1884, location unknown), “At the Tavern” (1885, location unknown), “To the landowner with a request” (1885; location unknown), “At the prison” (1884-1885, Tretyakov Gallery ), “Agitator in a carriage” (1885, State Center for Social Science and Research). The beginning of work on the topic of resettlement dates back to this time (cycle 1885-1890).

Resettlement theme (1885-1890)

Already in his last years, Sergei Ivanov turned to pressing social problems. In particular, his attention was drawn to a phenomenon characteristic of the Russian village in the last quarter of the 19th century: in the second half of the 1880s, resettlement to Siberia began. After the reform of 1861, a need arose to resolve the land issue. The government saw a solution in relocating landless peasants to this vast, sparsely populated region. In the last decades of the 19th century alone, several million peasants left their insignificant plots and wretched huts and went in search of “fertile lands.” Alone, with their wives and children, in small parties, taking with them their fragile belongings, on foot and on carts, and if they were lucky, then by rail, they rushed, inspired by utopian dreams of “Belovodye” or “White Arapia”, towards difficult trials and, most often, severe disappointments. The tragedy of landless peasants leaving their original places, from the central provinces to the outskirts of the country - to Siberia and dying in their hundreds along the way - this is the main idea of ​​Ivanov’s series of paintings. He captured scenes of peasant life in deliberately dull, “mournful” in color paintings about immigrants.

Having asked the Moscow Art Society for a certificate for “travel and residence” in a number of provinces from Moscow to Orenburg, Ivanov parted with the school without even receiving a certificate for the title of art teacher. From this time on, Ivanov became a kind of chronicler of a tragic phenomenon in the life of the Russian post-reform peasantry.

Art critic Sergei Glagol (pseudonym of S.S. Goloushev) talks about this period of Ivanov’s life and work:

“... He walked dozens of miles with settlers in the dust of Russian roads, under rain, bad weather and the scorching sun in the steppes, spent many nights with them, filling his album with drawings and notes, many tragic scenes passed before his eyes, and a series of paintings that are truly capable of depicting the epic of Russian migrations.”

Ivanov’s paintings and drawings depict horrific scenes of resettlement life. Hope and despair, illness and death next to people wandering across the expanses of Russia - “Displaced people. Walkers" (Bashkir State Art Museum named after M. V. Nesterov), "Reverse Migrants" (1888, National Gallery of the Komi Republic) and the artist's first serious painting "On the Road. The Death of a Migrant” (, Tretyakov Gallery), which brought fame to the young artist.

The next section of Ivanov’s social epic was the “prisoner series.” Work on it sometimes overlapped with the “resettlement cycle”; At the same time, the artist created: “Fugitive”, sketch (1886, Tretyakov Gallery), “Riot in the Village” (State Center for Military-Industrial History), “Dispatching of Prisoners” (State Center for International Development), “Tramp” (location unknown). The painting “Stage” (the painting was lost, the version in the Saratov State Art Museum named after A.N. Radishchev) seems to sum up the “prisoner series.”

At the turn of 1889-1890, Sergei Ivanov, along with Serov, Levitan, Korovin, was a recognized leader among Moscow artists of the younger generation. At the same time, he attended Polenov’s “drawing evenings,” which were organized by V.D. Polenov and his wife, and found support and approval there.

Period of historical works

From the mid-90s, a new period began in the artist’s work, associated with the creation of historical works. Ivanov’s historical painting has features that make it similar to the art of Surikov and Ryabushkin. The painter understands the state of the excited masses in acute dramatic moments (“The Troubles”, I. I. Brodsky Apartment Museum); “According to the verdict of the veche”, private collection), he is attracted by the strength of Russian folk characters and he, like Ryabushkin, finds beauty in the phenomena of folk life, affirms the understanding of this beauty by Russian people. Ivanov sensitively captures the pictorial search for time; his works of these years acquire a special coloristic sonority.

However, the search for other topics and ways of expressing the internal state continued. Ivanov, dissatisfied (in his words) with the “cute scenes” that prevailed in the everyday genre of the Itinerants, strove for sharply dramatic art, sensitively conveying the “beat of the human soul.” He gradually, perhaps under the influence of working in the open air, changed his drawing and palette. This happened during the years of the creation of the Union of Russian Artists, in which Ivanov played a certain role. The artist turned to the historical genre, painted portraits of his loved ones, and illustrated books. He remained a realist artist, despite the coming times of search, modernism, and the rejection of object art.

Ivanov acted as an innovator of the historical genre, composing episodes of the Russian Middle Ages - in the spirit of the Art Nouveau style - almost like film frames, captivating the viewer with their dynamic rhythm, the “effect of presence” (The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow in the 17th century); "Tsar. XVI century" (1902), Campaign of the Muscovites. XVI century, 1903). In them, the artist took a fresh look at the historical past of his homeland, depicting not heroic moments of events, but scenes of everyday life from ancient Russian life. Some images are written with a touch of irony and grotesque.

Revolutionary years - last years

Later, the artist works on the painting “They’re going! Punitive detachment" (-, Tretyakov Gallery).

He taught at the Stroganov Art and Industrial School (1899-1906), at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1900/1903-1910).

He was a participant in exhibitions of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers (1887, 1889, 1894), the Association of Itinerants (1887-1901), “36 Artists” (1901, 1902), “World of Art” (1903), and the Union of Russian Artists (1903-1910).

He worked fruitfully as a master of etching and lithography, as well as as an illustrator of works by N.V. Gogol, M.Yu. Lermontov, A.S. Pushkina and others.

Ivanov died at the age of 46 from a heart attack on August 3 (16) at his dacha in the village of Svistukha on the banks of the Yakhroma River.

Gallery

Literature

• "1989. One Hundred Memorable Dates." Art calendar. Annual illustrated publication. M. 1988. Article by V. Petrov.

• A. F. Dmitrienko, E. V. Kuznetsova, O. F. Petrova, N. A. Fedorova. "50 short biographies of masters of Russian art." Leningrad, 1971. Article by A. F. Dmitrienko.

April 1 (13), 1837 or November 1, 1838, Nizhny Novgorod - April 21 (May 3), 1898, St. Petersburg

Ivan Kramskoy Portrait of the artist Nikolai Dmitrievich Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. 1866

Russian genre and battle painter, graphic artist, academician and professor of battle painting at the Imperial Academy of Arts, participant in the “revolt of the fourteen,” one of the founders of the St. Petersburg artel of artists.
Nikolai was born into the family of a landowner of the Orenburg province in Nizhny Novgorod, spent his childhood in his father’s parental home, then graduated from the provincial gymnasium in Ufa, and later moved with his parents to St. Petersburg. Here the young man began to prepare to enter the cadet school. It is unknown how Nikolai’s parents knew the famous painter Vasily Kozmich Shebuev(2 (13) April 1777, Kronstadt - 16 (28) June 1855, St. Petersburg) – full state councilor, academician, since 1832, Honored Rector of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Also, historians are silent about how zealously and at what age the boy became interested in drawing. But the fact remains that, on the advice of Shebuev, Nikolai, as they wrote in the Niva magazine in 1898, “in view of his discovered talent,” entered the Imperial Academy, where he became a student of Shebuev’s student, an academician in painting and an academician with the rank of Fyodor Bruni.

Fedor (Fidelio) Antonovich Bruni(June 10, 1799, Milan - August 30 (September 11), 1875, St. Petersburg) in 1855 he was appointed rector of the Academy for the department of painting and sculpture, in 1866 he created and headed the mosaic department. Bruni was generally a titled painter - an honorary member of the Academies of Arts in Bologna and Milan, an honorary professor at the Florentine Academy of Fine Arts and the Academy of St. Luke in Rome.
At the Academy, Nikolai made great progress; over the years of his studies he received four small and one large silver medals at academic competitions. In 1860, he was finally awarded the Small Gold Medal for his programmatic film “The Olympic Games.” For the next two years, the artist worked on creating large canvases “Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovitovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark” (1861, Irkutsk Regional Art Museum named after V.P. Sukachev) and “Streltsy Riot” (1862, Taganrog Art Museum), counting finally get the Big Gold Medal. By the way, this is Dmitriev-Orenburgsky’s first address to the topic of Peter I.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark. 1861 Irkutsk Art Museum named after. V.P. Sukacheva

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg Streletsky revolt. 1862 Taganrog Art Gallery

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg Tsarevich Peter. Sketch for the painting Streletsky Riot. 1862

Alas, the submitted works did not receive the desired award, but the artist decided to participate in the competition for the third time. But just in that same year, 1863, the famous “revolt of 14 graduates” led by Ivan Kramskoy took place at the Academy, who refused to fulfill the program theme he proposed. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, among this group of “rebels,” left the Academy of Arts, receiving the modest title of class artist of the 2nd degree. He immediately took part in the creation of the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists, of which he was a member until 1871. In his work, the artist became interested in the folk genre, became interested in the life of the common people, and every summer he went to the village, studying the life of the peasants.

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Village scene. 1860s Perm Art Gallery

In addition to genre paintings, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky also painted portraits and illustrated a lot, in particular, the works of Nikolai Nekrasov and Ivan Turgenev.

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Portrait of a woman in an open dress. Donetsk Art Museum
Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Woman playing with her dog. 1868

In 1868, his painting “Drowned in a Village” (Russian Museum) was awarded at the Academic Exhibition, for which the artist of the 2nd degree received the title of Academician.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Drowned in the village. 1868 Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

From that time on, Nikolai, so as not to be confused with other Dmitriev painters, began to sign with a double surname, adding the epithet “Orenburgsky” to his. Although the search engine told me that all the famous Dmitriev artists were born in the twentieth century, and about the artist’s namesake contemporaries there is only mention of Dmitry Mikhailovich Dmitriev (1814-1865).
In 1869, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, as part of the retinue of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich the Elder, traveled through Transcaucasia and the Caucasus, as well as the Kharkov and Voronezh provinces. During the trip, the artist compiled an album of 42 pencil drawings for the prince.
In 1871, a new stage began in the life and work of Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. At the Academy's public expense, the artist is sent abroad as a pensioner for three years. He spends all this time in Düsseldorf, where he visits the workshops of famous genre painters - the Swiss-born Benjamin Vautier (April 27, 1829 - April 25, 1898) and the German Ludwig Knaus (October 5, 1829, Wiesbaden - December 7 1910, Berlin). At the end of the three-year period of study, Nikolai did not return to his homeland, but moved to France. He spent the next ten years of his life in Paris, these years were an active period in the artist’s work. He became one of the organizers of the Parisian “Society for Mutual Aid and charity of Russian artists", exhibited annually at the Paris Salon, only occasionally sending his works to St. Petersburg, and worked for French illustrated publications. Most of the works written in France were sold there, so this part of the artist’s heritage was “lost” in private collections and is still unknown to the general public.However, as historians write, while living in Paris, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky did not break with his homeland in his work, since he wrote mainly genre paintings of Russian life.

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky I.S. Turgenev on the hunt. 1879

But it was in France that he moved from genre to battle painting, the reason for this was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878 for the liberation of the Balkan peoples from the Turkish yoke and the patriotic feelings of the artist himself. Some sources write that Dmitriev-Orenburgsky even went to the active army. But, for the sake of truth, it is worth noting that this did not happen. The Military Encyclopedia, published in 1911-1914, states that “the artist was not prepared to depict military life, since he lived in Paris during the war.”

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky At the well.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Portrait of a Russian volunteer. 1878

After the end of the war, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky presented several sketches of paintings depicting moments of military operations of the Russian army to Emperor Alexander II. Having received the Highest approval and thanks to his personal acquaintance with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, the artist received an order from the emperor himself for a series of battle paintings dedicated to the Russian-Turkish war. From now on, the military theme becomes the main one in the artist’s work. Art historians estimate that he painted more than thirty paintings dedicated to the events of this war.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Capture of the Grivitsky redoubt near Plevna. 1885

In order to have the necessary material for work and the opportunity to fulfill the order, the artist returned to St. Petersburg in 1885, then went “on location” to Bulgaria. The military encyclopedia writes that “this great work, which required 9 years of life, forces us to give the artist a worthy place in the history of our battle painting.” After returning to his homeland, the artist’s paintings began to appear at annual art exhibitions and always attracted the attention of critics. Works by Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, including “Crossing the Danube”, “Surrender of Nikopol”, “Capture of the Grivitsky redoubt”, “Battles near Plevna”, “Occupation of Adrianople”, “Entry of V.K. Nikolai Nikolaevich into Tarnovo”, etc. , even received a positive assessment from the battle painter V.V. Vereshchagin, who was stingy with praise.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Crossing of the Russian army across the Danube at Zimnitsa on June 15, 1877. 1883

Back in 1883, the Academy of Arts awarded its former rebel student the title of professor of painting for the paintings “The Battle on the Sistov Heights of the Convoy of Emperor Alexander II” and “The Entry of the Emperor into the City of Ploiesti.” A series of ten paintings, at the behest of Emperor Alexander III, was placed in the Pompey Gallery of the Winter Palace. And the painting “Presentation of Osman Pasha to Emperor Alexander II” was at one time depicted in all illustrated magazines and printed on postcards.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg Presentation of Osman Pasha to Emperor Alexander II. 1890s
The full title of the painting is Captured Osman Pasha, who commanded the Turkish troops in Plevna, being presented to His Imperial Highness the Sovereign Emperor Alexander II, on the day of the capture of Plevna by Russian troops on December 29, 1877.

However, the authors of the same Military Encyclopedia were very critical of the battle painting of Dmitriev-Orenburgsky. The Encyclopedia wrote: “In these paintings the artist is a representative of realism, striving for truthfulness and simplicity of image, but, in the absence of strong talent and direct military impressions, he was unable to give his paintings either historical grandeur or dramatic expressiveness. These are realistically decent, but dry illustrations that do not attract attention with their artistic side.” It is worth noting that this encyclopedia was published after the artist’s death.

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg General N.D. Skobelev on horseback. 1883

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburg Entry of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich into Tarnovo on June 30, 1877. 1885

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Military in the village. 1897

I will also note that Dmitriev-Orenburgsky did not completely abandon his favorite genre-folk theme. In the 1880s, he presented new works at exhibitions: “Near the Village”, “Meeting”, “Peasant Girl”, “Resurrection in the Village”, alas, the fate of some of these paintings is unknown.

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Meeting. 1888 Odessa Art Museum

Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Sunday in the village. 1884

The famous painting “Fire in the Village” (1885), for example, was acquired by the Emperor himself for his collection; now the painting is kept in the Russian Museum.

Nikolay Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Fire in the village. 1885

Dmitriev-Orenburgsky continued to work actively in the field of book illustration, collaborating with the magazines “Niva”, “Pchela”, “North”, “Picturesque Review”, etc. In addition to illustrations for the works of Pushkin, Turgenev and Nekrasov, the artist created a large series of historical drawings, depicting events from the times of Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and Catherine II. Moreover, critics noted “a deep knowledge of the era and the ability to grasp the psychology of historical figures.” The series of engravings presented below, made
Nikolai Dmitrievich Dmitriev-Orenburgsky died in 1898 in St. Petersburg at the age of 60.

Main sources – Wikipedia, electronic encyclopedias and magazine"Niva" for 1898.

Author - TimOlya. This is a quote from this post

Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, Nikolai Dmitrievich, 1837-1898 - Russian genre and battle painter.

Sunday in the village

Village landscape

Portrait of N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky by I. N. Kramskoy

Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Nikolay Dmitrievich- Russian genre and battle painter, graphic artist, academician and professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Born in 1838 in Nizhny Novgorod, he was brought up in his father’s house and in the Ufa provincial gymnasium.

After the family moved to St. Petersburg, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky was preparing to enter the cadets, but on the advice of the famous painter Vasily Kuzmich Shebuev, he began to attend classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts. He studied in the class of Fyodor Antonovich Bruni, during his studies he received from the Academy for success in drawing and painting, four small and one large silver medals. The artist added the epithet Orenburg to his surname to distinguish him from other Dmitriev artists.

In 1860, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky was awarded a minor gold medal for the painting “Olympic Games” written according to the program. In the next two years, he painted the following paintings: “Grand Duchess Sofia Vitovitovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark” and “Streltsy Riot”, but did not receive any reward for his work.

Grand Duchess Sofya Vitovtovna at the wedding of Grand Duke Vasily the Dark tears off the belt from Prince Vasily Kosoy

Streltsy riot, 1862

In 1863, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky again competed for the first degree gold medal, but then, together with thirteen other young artists (the famous “revolt of the fourteen”), he refused to fulfill the academic program offered to the competitors. Having left the Academy with the title of artist of the second degree, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky took part in the establishment of the Artel of Free Artists (which later became the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions), of which he was a member until 1871. In 1868, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky was awarded the title of academician for the painting “Drowned Man in the Village”. In 1869, the painter accompanied Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov on his trip to the Caucasus, as well as to the Kharkov and Voronezh provinces. The result of this journey was an album of 42 drawings. In 1871, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky went to Europe at public expense, spent three years in Düsseldorf, where he took advice from famous artists V. Vautier and L. Knaus, and then lived for a long time in Paris.

Drowned in the village

In the capital of France, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky became one of the founders of the artistic association “Society of Russian Artists” (French branch), exhibited his paintings in annual Parisian salons, sometimes sent his works to St. Petersburg, and the artist also performed etchings and drawings for Russian and French illustrated publications In Paris, in the work of Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, there was a transition from genre to battle painting, the reason for which was the receipt of the Highest order for several paintings on subjects from the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-1878. For two of them (“The Battle on the Sistov Heights of the Convoy of Emperor Alexander II” and “The Entry of the Emperor into the City of Ploiesti”) the Academy of Arts awarded him a professorship. In order to have all the necessary aids for the execution of further paintings in the same series, Dmitriev-Orenburgsky returned in 1885 for permanent residence in St. Petersburg.

Of the artist's genre works, in addition to the above-mentioned painting "Drowned in the Village", the best can be considered: "Two Minutes Stop" (1878) and "Fire in the Village" (1885). A number of paintings by Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, reproducing various episodes of the last Russian-Turkish War, adorn the large Pompeian Gallery in the Winter Palace. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky Nikolai Dmitrievich died in 1898 in St. Petersburg.

Fire in the village

Presentation of the captive Osman Pasha to Alexander II in Plevna

Artillery battle near Plevna. A battery of siege weapons on the Grand Duke's Mountain.

Bayonet battle between Russian Guard regiments and Turkish infantry on the Sistov Heights on June 14, 1877

Crossing the Danube

Sometimes you have to argue with various kinds of monarchists who curse the Russian Bolsheviks for overthrowing the Tsar (strange thing, I know that the Tsar himself abdicated the throne during the February bourgeois revolution), and destroyed the happy peasant life by uniting peasant farms into mechanized ones collective farms (the same collective farms that fed the country from front to front throughout the war).

They continue to resist when you tell them about the lawlessness and poverty into which the German tsars and their Masonic-liberal entourage plunged the peasants, about the regular famine in tsarist Russia, which, due to climatic conditions and the low development of the productive forces of the villagers (the traction power of animals, plows, manual labor ) was repeated every 11 years, and that Russian Bolshevism as a popular insurrectionary movement was generated by objective reasons. They say that this is disinformation and propaganda of “petrified Soviets.”

I don’t want to discuss the shortcomings and merits of the “white” and “red” movements now... This is a separate and difficult conversation for a Russian patriot. I wanted to go to the turn of the 19th century and look at the life of a simple Russian peasant through the eyes of an eyewitness.

Fortunately, objective documents from that time have been preserved to this day - these are paintings by our famous Russian Itinerant artists, who are difficult to suspect of sympathizing with Soviet power or socialism.

It is impossible to challenge the history of Russian life they captured.

Perov. "Tea drinking in Mytishchi" 1862

A year ago, serfdom was abolished. Apparently these beggars are father and son. Father on a prosthesis. Both are ragged to the extreme. They came to Father for alms. Where else should they go?

The attitude of this Father towards the guests can be seen in the picture. The maid tries to kick them out.

In the picture the boy is about ten years old. The October Revolution will occur in 55 years. He will then be 65 years old. It is unlikely that he will live to see that. The peasants died early. Well, what can you do... Is this a happy life?

Perov. “Seeing off the dead man” 1865

There are 52 years left before the Russian Revolution.

Vladimir Makovsky. "Little Organ Grinders" 1868

Vladimir Makovsky “Visiting the Poor” 1873

The girl in the picture is about 6 years old. The stratification of society is beginning to reach dangerous levels. There are 44 years left before the Russian Revolution. She will live. He will definitely live!

Ilya Repin “Barge Haulers on the Volga” 1873

Vasily Perov “Monastery meal” 1875

By the way, I read on the Internet from one “learned historian” that the church showed maximum care for its flock.

The degradation of the church as an organization is obvious. There are 42 years left before the Russian Revolution.

Vasily Perov. "Troika" 1880

Vladimir Makovsky. "Rendezvous" 1883

There are 34 years left before the Russian Revolution. This boy must live.

Bogdanov Belsky. “Oral counting” 1895

Then they will be about 40 years old. And after 66 years, the children of these guys will challenge the most powerful state in the world - the United States. Their children will launch a man into space and test a hydrogen bomb. And the children, these children will already live in two or three room apartments. They will not know unemployment, poverty, typhus, tuberculosis and will commit the most terrible crime - the destruction of their people's socialist state, the Iron Curtain and their social security.

Their great-grandchildren will flounder in the mess of liberalism, register on labor exchanges, lose apartments, fight, hang themselves, become drunkards and gradually approach a life that can be described as “Tea Party in Mytishchi.”

The result of life, which is consistently displayed in the pictures presented above, is the picture:

Makovsky “January 9, 1905” 1905

Will anyone, looking at the pictures above, argue that the people's protest was provoked by the Bolsheviks? Is it really possible to take a happy and satisfied person to a protest rally? What does “white” and “red” have to do with it? The split in society was caused by objective reasons and grew into a massive violent protest. Poverty, degradation of all branches of government, fattening bourgeoisie, illiteracy, disease...

Which of them needed to be convinced, whom to agitate?!..

What do Lenin and Stalin have to do with it?.. The split and collapse in society became such that it became impossible to govern this state.

For the last 20 years, liberals have been telling us on TV that Bloody Sunday is a Soviet myth. There was no execution. And Pop Gapon was a normal guy. Well, drunken men gathered in the square and made a fuss. The police came with the Cossacks. They shot into the air. The crowd stopped. We talked with the men and... parted ways.

Then what to do with Makovsky’s painting, which was painted in 1905? It turns out that the picture is lying, but Posner, Svanidza and Novodvorskaya are telling the truth??

Ivanov Sergey Vasilievich. "Execution." 1905

Ivanov Sergey Vasilievich. "Riot in the Village" 1889

S.V. Ivanov. “They're going. Punitive detachment." Between 1905 and 1909

Repin. "Arrest of the propagandist" 1880-1889.

N. A. Yaroshenko. "Life Everywhere" 1888

No one took power from anyone. The monarchy degenerated biologically, in wartime conditions it was unable to govern the country and surrendered Russia to the Westernized Freemasons. Two months before the capture of Winter, the Socialist-Era, who sat in the Masonic Provisional Government, said: “We do not feel any threat from the Bolsheviks.” But the Russian Bolsheviks still took power.

What was Tsarist Russia like at the beginning of the 20th century? It was a backward agrarian country, with a primitive system of government, with an army that was not at all combat-ready, an illiterate, enslaved Russian people, a rotten class system and a German weak-minded degenerate tsar, terribly far from the working people.

Where in 1913 records were broken for the sale of bread abroad, and the bast Russian people were dying of hunger.

By 1917, it was a ruin killed by the First World War, with industry stopped, transport stopped, with an army deserting and cities dying of hunger!

This was a poor, poor country, where there were 2 power plants that supplied electricity to the king’s residence and his toilets. In addition, in this fucking class system there was a horde of officials, bureaucrats, landowners, capitalists and other German-Polish-French-Jewish, Russophobic liberal-Masonic scum, aware of the tsar’s narrow-mindedness and using it at the moment when it is necessary to shoot a hundred other Russian workers, then the work of those rebelling against all these inhuman conditions!

And if the second Russian Revolution had not happened, we would have collectively lost the opportunity to fly into space, and victory in the Second World War, and industrialization, and a nuclear power plant with lunar rovers, and thermonuclear bombs, and our parents would hardly have lived to see their birth.

By the way, the White Guard armies spat three times on the tsar, the monarchy and capitalism! And they spat on the working Russian people a hundred times more!

And if not for the year 17 and not for the victory of the Russian workers' and peasants' army (Russian insurgent movement), then Russia as a state would have ceased to exist even then and would have become a colony of the Entente and the United States (which supplied the white movement with tanks, weapons, food and money), broke up into the Siberian-Ural republics, the Far Eastern Republic, internecine Cossacks and other bunch of independent, insignificant principalities that, if they were with Kolchak_Yude-nothing_Wrangel, would have shared power for another 50 years.
Kolchak may be a Russian officer with a mixture of blacks, but he was such a wonderful guy that he was appointed by England nothing less than the “supreme ruler of Russia”, and at the same time an English resident. But the peasants somehow did not understand his “goodness”. And they decided that he would deservedly receive the bullet.

And if it weren’t for the Russian revolution and the “bad” Bolsheviks, who gathered the country and the Russian nation from rags by the year 23 and turned it into one big military industrial camp, we would certainly be crawling on the knees of Western countries for the right to life in the sun.

Let's start with the reasons for moving to Siberia. The main reason for resettlement in the post-reform era is economic. The peasants believed that in Siberia they would live better than in their homeland, because in their homeland all suitable land was already plowed, the population was growing rapidly (1.7–2% per year) and the amount of land per person was correspondingly decreasing, while in Siberia the supply of suitable land for cultivating the land is almost endless. Where rumors of a rich life in Siberia spread among peasants, a desire for resettlement arose. The champions of resettlement were the black earth, but at the same time densely populated and very poor Kursk, Voronezh and Tambov provinces. It is interesting that non-black earth (and especially northern) peasants were much less inclined to migrate, although they were deprived of the benefits of nature - they preferred to develop various kinds of non-agricultural additional work.

Did the unfortunate characters in the picture travel from the Tambov province to Siberia on this small cart? Of course not. This kind of hardcore ended back in the 1850s. The railway reached Tyumen in 1885. Those wishing to move to Siberia went to the station closest to their place of residence and ordered a freight car. In such a carriage, small (6.4x2.7m) and uninsulated, a peasant family with a horse, a cow, a supply of grain (for the first year and sowing) and hay, equipment and household items was placed - in terrible cramped conditions and in the cold. The carriage moved at a speed of 150–200 km per day, that is, the journey from Tambov took a couple of weeks.

It was necessary to get to Tyumen by the earliest possible time of the opening of the Irtysh, that is, by the beginning of March, and wait for the ice drift (which could happen either immediately or in a month and a half). Living conditions for the settlers were spartan - primitive plank barracks, and for the unlucky ones, straw huts on the shore. Let us remind you that in March it is still cold in Tyumen, with an average of -10.

An ice drift was passing, and from Tyumen, down the Irtysh and then up the Ob, a few and expensive steamships departed (a steamship is expensive and difficult to build on a river that is not connected with the rest of the country either by sea or by rail). The steamships were desperately short of space, so they hauled behind them a string of primitive, undecked barges. The barges, which did not even have basic shelter from the rain, were so crowded with people that there was nowhere to lie down. And even such barges were not enough for everyone, and to stay until the second voyage in Tyumen would mean missing the entire summer, during which it was necessary to organize the economy. It is not surprising that the disorganization and seething passions of boarding the ships resembled the evacuation of Denikin’s army from Novorossiysk. The bulk of the settlers (and there were 30-40 thousand of them per year), heading to Altai, got off the ship in the rapidly growing Barnaul, and if the water was high, then even further, in Biysk. From Tyumen to Tomsk by water is 2,400 km, to Barnaul - more than 3,000. For an old steamship, barely dragging along the numerous riffles in the upper reaches of the river, this is one and a half to two months.

The shortest, overland part of the journey began in Barnaul (or Biysk). The places available for settlement were in the foothills of Altai, 100–200–300 km from the pier. The settlers bought carts made by local artisans at the pier (and those who did not bring a horse with them, also horses) and hit the road. Of course, all the peasant equipment and supply of seeds cannot fit on one cart (ideally lifting 700-800 kg), but the peasant needs just one cart on the farm. Therefore, those wishing to settle closer to the pier gave their property for storage and made several trips, while those setting off on a longer journey hired at least one more cart.

This circumstance can explain the absence in the picture of the settler’s cart of the bulky objects necessary for the peasant - a plow, a harrow, a supply of grain in bags. Either this property is stored in a warehouse on the pier and is waiting for a second trip, or the peasant hired a cart and sent his teenage son and a cow with it, while he himself, his wife, daughter and compact equipment, quickly went to the proposed place of settlement to choose a site for himself.

Where exactly and on what legal grounds was our settler going to settle? The practices that existed then were different. Some followed the legal path and joined existing rural societies. While the Siberian communities (consisting of the same settlers from previous years) had a large supply of land, they willingly accepted newcomers for free, then, after sorting out the best lands, for an entrance fee, and then began to refuse altogether. In some completely insufficient quantities, the treasury prepared and marked out resettlement areas. But the majority of settlers in the era described (1880s) were engaged in self-seizure of state-owned (but completely unnecessary for the treasury) land, boldly establishing illegal farms and settlements. The treasury did not understand how to document the current situation, and simply turned a blind eye, without interfering with the peasants or driving them off the land - until 1917, the lands of the settlers were never registered as property. However, this did not prevent the treasury from imposing taxes on illegal peasants on a general basis.

What fate would await the settler if he had not died? Nobody could have predicted this. Approximately a fifth of the settlers in that era were unable to settle down in Siberia. There were not enough hands, there was not enough money and equipment, the first year of farming turned out to be a bad harvest, illness or death of family members - all this led to a return to their homeland. At the same time, most often, the house of those who returned was sold, the money was spent - that is, they returned to settle down with relatives, and this was the social bottom of the village. Note that those who chose the legal path, that is, those who left their rural society, found themselves in the worst position - their fellow villagers could simply not accept them back. Illegal immigrants at least had the right to return back and receive their allotment. Those who took root in Siberia had a variety of successes - the distribution into rich, middle and poor households did not differ significantly from the center of Russia. Without going into statistical details, we can say that only a few actually got rich (and those who were doing well in their homeland), while the rest of them were doing differently, but still better than in their previous life.

What will happen to the family of the deceased now? To begin with, it should be noted that Russia is not the Wild West, and a dead person cannot just be buried by the road. In Russia, everyone who lives outside their place of registration has a passport, and the wife and children fit into the passport of the head of the family. Consequently, the widow needs to somehow communicate with the authorities, bury her husband with a priest, draw up a burial certificate, and obtain new passports for herself and her children. Given the incredible sparseness and remoteness of officials in Siberia, and the slowness of official postal communications, solving this problem alone could take a poor woman at least six months. During this time, all the money will be spent.

Next, the widow must assess the situation. If she is young and has one child (or teenage sons who have already reached working age), we can recommend that she get married again on the spot (there has always been a shortage of women in Siberia) - this will be the most prosperous option. If the likelihood of marriage is low, then the poor woman will have to return to her homeland (and without money, this journey will have to be done on foot, begging along the way) and there somehow settle down with relatives. A single woman has no chance of starting a new independent household without an adult man (either in her homeland or in Siberia), and the old household has been sold. So the widow is not crying in vain. Not only did her husband die, but all her life plans related to gaining independence and self-sufficiency were forever shattered.

It is noteworthy that the picture does not depict the most difficult stage of the migrant’s journey. After a winter journey in an unheated freight car, life in a hut on the banks of the frozen Irtysh, two months on the deck of a crowded barge, a trip on their own cart across the flowering steppe was more relaxation and entertainment for the family. Unfortunately, the poor fellow could not bear the previous hardships and died on the way - like approximately 10% of children and 4% of adults who moved to Siberia in that era. His death can be associated with the difficult living conditions, discomfort and unsanitary conditions that accompanied the resettlement. But, although it is not obvious at first glance, the picture does not indicate poverty - the property of the deceased, most likely, is not limited to the small number of things in the cart.

The artist’s call was not in vain. Since the opening of the Siberian Railway (mid-1890s), the authorities gradually began to take care of the settlers. The famous "Stolypin" cars were built - insulated freight cars with an iron stove, partitions and bunks. Relocation centers with medical care, bathhouses, laundries and free feeding for small children appeared at junction stations. The state began to mark out new plots for resettlers, issue home improvement loans, and provide tax breaks. 15 years after the painting was painted, such terrible scenes became noticeably fewer - although, of course, resettlement continued to require hard work and remained a serious test of a person’s strength and courage.

On the map you can trace the route from Tyumen to Barnaul by water. Let me remind you that in the 1880s the railway ended in Tyumen.

The younger generation of the Peredvizhniki made a great contribution to the development of Russian democratic art, reflecting in different ways the proletarian stage of the liberation movement in Russia. The ideological content and expressive means of art were noticeably enriched, and creative individuals manifested themselves in a variety of ways.

S. A. Korovin(1858-1908). The peasant theme runs through all the work of Sergei Alekseevich Korovin. The stratification of the Russian countryside, the emergence of world-eating kulaks who oppressed the landless peasantry, are vitally and expressively revealed in his painting “On the World” (1893, ill. 181). The village here appeared completely new: the former patriarchy was gone, the appearance of the peasants had changed, and the relationships between them had become different. Korovin worked on the composition for a long time and wrote many sketches. The observant eye of the artist, who knew modern peasant psychology well, is visible in everything.

The composition immediately introduces the viewer into the space of the picture, revealing the plot - a dispute between a poor man and a kulak. And the color, maintained in a gray-ochre tonality, conveys the state of a cloudy day, emphasizing the dramatic content of the plot.

The general mood of those gathered at the gathering is truthfully and convincingly shown. The majority are not yet able to understand the essence of the changes that have taken place with the invasion of capitalist order into the life of the village. The crowd of peasants is shackled in silence, with bewilderment on some faces. Grave doubt is expressed in the old man sitting with his back to the viewer.

Korovin contrasted the isolation of the crowd of peasants with the open manifestation of feelings among the disputants themselves. The poor man’s face, distorted by grief, and the sudden movement of the figure depict the emotional anguish of a man driven to despair. In the image of a fist there is calmness, hypocrisy and cunning.

Deeply and accurately, avoiding petty details, but accurately conveying the situation, Korovin reveals the meaning of social contradictions in the village, revealing a clear civic position. The artistic and educational significance of the painting is great - this document of the era, brought to life in images.

A. E. Arkhipov(1862-1930). Among the younger Itinerants, Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, an artist of original talent, stands out. He came from peasants and knew well the forced life of the people. Most of his works, like those of S. A. Korovin, are devoted to the peasant theme. They are laconic in composition and always full of light, air, and picturesque finds.

In one of Arkhipov’s first paintings, “Visiting a Sick Person” (1885), attention is focused on a thorough and truthful depiction of the life of a poor peasant family and the sad conversation of two elderly women. The sunny landscape in the open door speaks of new coloristic searches.

An outstanding work was the painting “Along the Oka River” (1889, ill. 182), where Arkhipov depicted a group of peasants sitting on a barge. They are so characteristic, painted with such warmth and knowledge of folk characters, and the summer landscape is so bright and beautiful that the picture was greeted by contemporaries as an artistic revelation.

Arkhipov loved the modest beauty of Russian nature and poetically captured it. His “Reverse” (1896) is imbued with a deeply lyrical feeling. The composition is constructed in an original way: the chaise is half cut off by the lower edge of the canvas, the driver sits with his back to the viewer - it seems as if we ourselves are driving across this wide field, the bell is ringing and a free, soulful song is flowing. The melting pinkish tones of the fading sky, the muted color of the grass and the dusty road subtly convey the mood of the dying day and light, unaccountable sadness.

Arkhipov dedicates the painting “Chairwomen at an Iron Foundry” (1896) to the image of a female worker; The hopeless fate of the Russian toiler is reflected most clearly in one of Arkhipov’s best works, “The Laundresses,” known in two versions - in the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum (late 1890s, ill. XIII).

The artist takes the viewer to the dark, stuffy basement of a wretched laundry room, depicting it in fragments. The composition seems snatched from life. We seemed to accidentally look into this room and stopped in front of the spectacle that opened up. With quick, broad strokes of faded tones, Arkhipov conveyed the figures of working laundresses, the wet floor of the laundry room, the air saturated with moisture, and the twilight light pouring from the window. The unforgettable image of the old woman in the foreground, sitting down to rest: a tiredly bent back, her head falling on her hand, heavy thought on her face. The artist seems to be talking about the fate of all female workers.

Reflecting the joyless life of the working people, Arkhipov never lost faith in their inexhaustible strength and hope for a better future. A bright optimistic principle dominated in most of his works, which was especially noticeable in the 1900s, on the eve of major revolutionary events.

Arkhipov’s northern landscapes contain simple and, at first glance, unremarkable motifs of harsh nature. Lonely huts, the edge of the sky, sometimes transparent, sometimes cloudy, the surface of the river. But what charm the artist extracts from these motifs and the modest gray palette! Arkhipov's paintings are imbued with the cheerful, life-affirming feeling of a simple Russian person, born in close communication with his native nature.

The bright sun permeates Arkhipov’s works, dedicated to peasant life. His colorful canvases express admiration for the physical and moral health of the Russian people. It is no coincidence that his palette also changed, becoming more contrasting and decoratively generous. Arkhipov continued this series of works after the Great October Socialist Revolution.

S. V. Ivanov(1864-1910). One of the most consistent successors of the traditions of critical realism was Sergei Vasilyevich Ivanov. In the new historical conditions, he was able to see the deep contradictions of Russian reality and with his works answered many pressing questions.

Ivanov devoted a large series of works to the plight of displaced peasants and their forced wanderings throughout Rus'. The sad fate of a family that lost its breadwinner is reflected in the best picture of this series - “On the Road. Death of a Migrant” (1889, ill. 184).

With an incorruptible sense of truth, S.V. Ivanov tells a picturesque story full of heartfelt content. The entire scene, thoughtfully selected everyday details are written with a careful hand and give the plot the authenticity of a living event happening before our eyes. The scale of the figures in relation to the space of the landscape is masterfully found: going towards the distant horizon, it reminds of a long and difficult journey along the land parched by the heat. A lonely, defenseless, suffering person among the silence of nature is the essence of the artist’s creative concept.

In the early 1890s, Ivanov became one of the first chroniclers of the revolutionary struggle in Russia. Back in 1889, he painted the painting “Revolt in the Village,” which tells about the growing social protest among the peasants, and in 1891, “The Stage.” The terrible sight of the prisoners lying side by side on the floor at the transit point, their bare feet in shackles, struck the artist. Only in the depths do you notice the piercing gaze of some convict directed at you.

In the mid-1890s, Ivanov often turned to topics from Russian history of the 16th-17th centuries. His historical paintings contain features common to the work of most contemporary painters - a everyday interpretation of subjects and decorative colors. But unlike many, Ivanov did not lose interest in the social side of what he portrayed. Such are, for example, the paintings “The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow of the 17th Century” (1901, ill. 185), which perfectly conveyed the historically correct appearance of the ancient capital and the characters of its inhabitants, and “The Tsar. 16th century” (1902), which was perceived by contemporaries as a satirical image autocracy.

The events of the revolution of 1905-1907 captured Ivanov and caused a new creative upsurge. Even on the eve of it, he dedicated the painting “Strike” to the workers who rebelled at the factory. The full force of his talent manifested itself in the relatively small-sized canvas “Execution” (1905). It is one of the most significant works that reflected the bloody reprisal of tsarism against the people. This is a stern, laconic image, built on the contrast of clear pictorial plans.

On the canvas there is a deserted square, flooded with the evening sun, closed by a line of shaded houses, and a lonely dark silhouette of a murdered worker. From this large bright plane and motionless figure, the artist leads the viewer’s eye into depth. To the left you can see the first rows of Cossacks in gunpowder smoke, to the right - demonstrators. The red banner - the brightest spot - highlights this part of the composition. It creates the impression of a living tragic event taking place before our eyes.

Ivanov’s painting is perceived as a symbol not only of the bloody reprisal of the rebellious people, as the artist intended, but also of the entire fate of the first Russian revolution, brutally suppressed by tsarism.

N. A. Kasatkin(1859-1930). A student of V. G. Perov, Nikolai Alekseevich Kasatkin, in his early works, turned to folk images and dramatic plots. Soon the leading theme of his work became the life of the working class and the revolutionary struggle of the Russian proletariat.

Already in 1892, Kasatkin painted the painting “It’s Hard,” depicting the sad meeting of a wounded young worker with his bride, a poor seamstress. The expression of sadness and anxiety on the girl's face contrasts with the determination and confidence of the worker. At first the painting was called "Petrel", but the artist was forced to change the name for censorship reasons. And yet the political content of the canvas reached the viewer, recalling the strikes that constantly broke out at that time.

In the same year, Kasatkin visited the Donetsk basin for the first time and since then, for nine years, he was constantly among the miners, studying their life and work. At first they were distrustful of the artist, mistaking him for a spy sent, but then they sincerely fell in love with him. They helped him a lot in working on images that Russian art had not yet known.

Kasatkin’s first work about the life of Donetsk miners was the painting “Collecting Coal by the Poor in a Depleted Mine” (1894). Lively typical images, precise drawing and modest painting consistent with the general tonality distinguish this canvas.

Kasatkin himself went underground, observed the incredible conditions of truly hard labor of miners and wrote with bitterness: “...where an animal cannot work, a person replaces it.” This idea is reflected in the small painting “Tyagolytsik Miner” (1896). Dark coloring with reddish reflections of miners' light bulbs; Like a beast of burden, the worker crawls under the overhanging arches of the drift and pulls a sled loaded with coal.

The result of Kasatkin’s work on the theme of miner’s life and numerous sketches is the canvas “Coal Miners. Shift” (1895, ill. 186). This was the first work of Russian painting to show the growing unity of the working class. The faint lights of the miners' lamps and the flickering whites of the eyes in the impenetrable darkness add tension to the picture. In the center of the composition is an elderly miner. With a weapon in his hands, he strides straight towards the viewer like a menacing, approaching force.

In a number of works, Kasatkin comprehensively and with great feeling revealed the spiritual world of the oppressed proletarian. The artist achieved a special power of penetration into the image in the canvas “The Wife of a Factory Worker” (1901), which was removed from the exhibition by the tsarist censorship.

It seems that the entire gloomy fate of the still young, but much-experienced woman is captured in a tiredly drooping figure, in a fixed gaze, and a hand falling on her knees. The complex state of mind is conveyed on the exhausted face. There is pain, bitterness, and nascent anger - everything that was naturally associated with the political events of that time and made the viewer think. The colors of the clothes, restrained in tone, are immersed in a grayish-ocher environment. The sallow pallor of the face is emphasized by a white scarf thrown over the shoulders.

Kasatkin’s enormous merit is that he saw not only the difficult situation of the working class in Russia, but was able to notice and embody its strength, energy, and optimism. The image of “Miner Woman” (1894, ill. 187) exudes the poetry of life, youth, physical and spiritual health. The warm silver color of this canvas is harmonious. The spontaneous movement of the figure, gently inscribed in the light landscape, is surprisingly true.

Kasatkin, who knew the life and mood of the workers well and deeply sympathized with them, enthusiastically greeted the revolution of 1905-1907. He was in a hurry to capture new situations and images, looking for new subjects. Many studies, sketches and paintings were the result of a lot of creative work.

In the difficult conditions of turbulent times, not everything that struck Kasatkin was able to find a complete and complete representation, but each, even a cursory sketch, had important documentary and artistic value. The artist’s paintings created at that time are significant in their ideological content and testify to the search for an emotionally intense composition. One example is the painting “The Last Journey of a Spy” (1905).

Kasatkin enthusiastically worked on the multi-figure composition “Attack of the Factory by Women Workers” (1906), where a complex dramatic action unfolds. The movement of a huge seething crowd and a variety of gestures are conveyed here with expression. I remember some sketches for this painting, especially the image of an elderly woman, angry, calling for an uprising.

The exclusively ideological and artistic significance of the small canvas “Militant Worker” (1905, ill. 188). Kasatkin saw and captured the characteristic type of an active participant in the first Russian revolution. Appearance, posture, gait, stern face - everything speaks of the spiritual world of a man of modern times - courage and determination, calmness and inflexibility, awareness of the importance of his goal and noble modesty. Such a person could really lead revolutionary combat detachments. The image echoes the hero of the story “Mother” by A. M. Gorky.

L. V. Popov(1873-1914). Lukyan Vasilyevich Popov is one of the younger representatives of the Wanderers. With particular sensitivity, he noticed social changes in the village, which at that time was actively penetrated by revolutionary sentiments. His paintings “Towards sunset. Agitator in the village” (1906), “In the village (Get up, rise up!..)” (1906-1907, ill. 183), “Socialists” (1908), imbued with warm sympathy for the brave and courageous heroes, is a true document of peasant life on the eve and period of the revolution of 1905-1907.

The work of A.P. Ryabushkin and M.V. Nesterov was also associated with the traditions of the Wanderers. However, in their works, in a special way and earlier in time, new creative quests manifested themselves, which became typical of the art of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

A. P. Ryabushkin(1861-1904). Andrei Petrovich Ryabushkin can be called a national artist. His entire life and work after his student years spent at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, as well as at the Academy of Arts, took place in the village. His art was a kind of reaction to the historical processes of capitalization of Russia, when “the old foundations of peasant farming and peasant life, foundations that had really held out for centuries, were broken down with extraordinary speed” * . Ryabushkin poeticized the old times dear to his heart, the traditional way of life, and the stable features of the national image.

* (Lenin V.I. Leo Tolstoy, as a mirror of the Russian revolution. - Full. collection cit., vol. 17, p. 210.)

Ryabushkin’s genre paintings are characterized by features of calm and silence. Depicting the patriarchal atmosphere of a village wedding (“Waiting the newlyweds from the crown in the Novgorod province”, 1891), the artist emphasizes the sedateness and decorum of the sitting peasants.

In the 1890s, Ryabushkin emerged as the original master of Russian historical and everyday painting. In Russia's distant past, he is most attracted to the daily life of old Moscow. Revival reigns during the spring thaw in the painting “Moscow Street of the 17th Century on a Holiday” (1895). Here is a girl in a red flyer, carefully carrying a candle, and rustic guys in long-skirted clothes, and an arrogant boyar driving along a dirty street, and a blind beggar. Colorful clothes decorated with Russian ornaments, blue reflections of the sky in puddles, colorful domes of churches and the general liveliness of traffic make this picture festive.

Ryabushkin’s bright personality was most fully expressed in the 1901 paintings “Riding” (ill. 189) and “Wedding Train in Moscow (XVII century)” (ill. 190). The first of them, distinguished by its bold and unusual composition, depicts Moscow residents waiting for foreigners. This is like a fragment snatched from the picture of the life of Russian people of the 17th century. Their faces reflected curiosity, naivety and self-esteem. Large color spots of yellow, red and green caftans of the archers and the colorful clothes of the townspeople give the picture a major tone and a pronounced decorative character.

The painting “Wedding Train in Moscow (XVII century)” is imbued with the poetry of Russian antiquity. The silence of the spring evening, in the lilac haze of which Moscow is immersed, and the lonely figure of a sad Muscovite woman are contrasted with the rapidly passing magnificent festive train. The sketchiness of the painting, contrasting with a more densely painted landscape, the lightened, fresco-like coloring, the subtly found rhythm throughout the central group - all this allowed Ryabushkin to soulfully convey the everyday appearance of the Russian city of distant times.

Ryabushkin’s “Tea Party” (1903), written a year before his death, is unusually expressive and figuratively capacious. This is a work of a socially critical nature. If before for his genre paintings Ryabushkin selected the positive, kind, and beautiful in peasant life, now he depicted the world of the village rich. There is something of bourgeois well-being in the elegance and cold formality of tea drinking; in the grotesqueness of the images, in the rigidity of pictorial plasticity, unusual for Ryabushkin, reminiscent of ancient parsuns, one can read the artist’s rejection of this world alien to him.

M. V. Nesterov(1862-1942). The pre-revolutionary period of Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov’s creativity is complex and contradictory.

He began his journey in art with genre paintings similar to those of the Wanderers, but at the end of the 1880s a sharp change occurred in his work. The artist enters the world of ideal beauty, glorifying the purity of religious feeling, depicting the inhabitants of monasteries and monasteries.

The old hermit Nesterov in the painting “The Hermit” (1888-1889), slowly wandering along the shore of a mirror-smooth lake, is infinitely far from the worries of life. His image is inextricably linked with the beauty of peaceful nature, its serene tranquility.

Landscape plays a huge role in Nesterov’s work. The poet of Russian nature, Nesterov, being able to penetrate deeply into the inner world of man, always connects the experiences of his heroes with the state and character of the landscape.

In the painting “Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” (1889-1890, ill. 191), the only character is a pale youth with thin hands convulsively clenched in prayerful ecstasy. But the artist’s main character is still the landscape of the Central Russian strip, spiritualized nature, where the artist truly gives life to every blade of grass, each one participates in the glorification of the homeland.

In the late 1890s - early 1900s, the artist created a series of paintings dedicated to the tragic fate of the Russian woman, submissive and suffering (“Beyond the Volga”, “On the Mountains”). In “The Great Tonsure” (1898) he shows a sad procession of the inhabitants of a small monastery, hidden among a dense forest, escorting a young woman, still full of strength, to the monastery. Sorrowful faces, dark silhouettes of figures, trembling lights of huge candles... The sadness is deep, but nearby is again the beautiful world of nature, virgin forests and Nesterovo thin-trunked young birch trees.

In the early 1900s, Nesterov’s skill as a portrait painter took shape. Here the realistic side of the artist’s work was most fully revealed. Nesterov painted most of the portraits of this time against the backdrop of a landscape, as well as in paintings, affirming the inextricable connection between man and nature. In the portrait of O. M. Nesterova (1906, ill. 192), the figure of a girl in a black riding habit stands out in a beautiful silhouette against the background of a lyrical evening landscape. Elegant and graceful, with a spiritual, slightly dreamy look, this girl personifies for the artist the ideal of youth, the beauty of life and harmony.

Back in the 1880s, the work of three outstanding Russian artists was formed - K. A. Korovin, M. A. Vrubel and V. A. Serov. They most fully defined the artistic achievements of the era, its complexity and richness.

V. A. Serov(1865-1911). The most important artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries was Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov. His work continued the development of realistic art, deepening its content and expanding expressive possibilities.

Serov's art is bright and diverse. First of all, he is a master of psychological, pictorial and graphic portraits, but his talent also manifested itself in landscape, historical genre, book illustration, decorative and monumental decorative art. Since childhood, Serov was surrounded by an atmosphere of art. His father, A. N. Serov, is a famous composer and musician, his mother is a gifted pianist. Serov's teachers were I. E. Repin and at the Academy of Arts - P. P. Chistyakov. The first largely contributed to the formation of the democratic foundations of Serov’s work and the awakening of interest in the inquisitive study of life, to the second he owed a deep understanding of the professional laws of form.

Already Serov's early works - his famous portraits "Girl with Peaches" (1887, ill. X) and "Girl Illuminated by the Sun" (1888) - glorified the young artist and most fully characterized the art of early Serov.

“Girl with Peaches” was written in “Abramtsevo”, the estate of S.I. Mamontov, with his daughter Vera. In this excellent portrait, the image created by the artist, thanks to the vital fullness of its content, outgrows the framework of an individual portrait, embodying a universal human principle. In a teenage girl with a serious face and stern gaze, in her calm restraint and spontaneity, the artist managed to convey the high poetry of bright and pure youth.

This portrait is amazingly beautiful in its painting. It is written in full light, very lightly and at the same time materially. His transparent colors, unusually pure, are filled with light and air, vividly conveying reflexes from lighting. The freshness of the color of "Girl with Peaches", which at one time so amazed contemporaries, as well as the natural simplicity of the thoughtful composition, place the picture on a par with the best works of world painting.

Serov develops the same theme of youth in “The Girl Illuminated by the Sun.” The content of the portrait is the same joyful feeling of the spiritual beauty of a person and the fullness of his being.

The 1890s are the next stage of Serov’s creativity. During these years, the artist most often paints people of art, and now he wants to reveal their creative individuality first of all. The special gaze of N. S. Leskov (1894) conveys the vigilance of an inquisitive realist writer. The thoughtfulness of I. I. Levitan is akin to the poetic feelings of the artist, the ease of pose of K. A. Korovin (1891, ill. 193) is a unique expression of the freedom and spontaneity of his art.

Back in the 1880s, in addition to portraits, Serov also painted landscapes. Most often, he found motifs in Abramtsevo and Domotkanovo, where the estate of his friends Derviz was located. In the 1890s, images of simple rural nature began to occupy an increasing place in Serov’s landscape art. Often the artist introduces figures of peasants into his paintings, as if bringing the landscape closer to the everyday genre ("October. Domotkanovo", 1895, ill. 194, "Woman with a Horse", 1898). I. E. Grabar called the artist “peasant Serov” precisely for his landscapes. The democracy of his art was particularly clearly reflected in them.

In the 1900s, Serov's work became noticeably more complex. The main place in it is still occupied by portraits. In addition, he continues to paint landscapes and works on illustrations for I. A. Krylov’s fables, begun in the 1890s. His interests now constantly include historical and monumental-decorative painting.

In the 1900s, Serov's portraiture became much more diverse. Numerous social ceremonial portraits are added to the portraits of people close to him. The artist still remains incorruptibly truthful in his characterizations and inexorably demanding of himself, not allowing the slightest negligence or dampness in his performance. As before, the basis of his portrait art remains the psychological disclosure of the image, but Serov now focuses his attention on the social characteristics of the models. In portraits of leading representatives of the Russian intelligentsia, he strives to capture and emphasize their most typical, outstanding social qualities with greater clarity than before. In the portrait of A. M. Gorky (1905, ill. 195), the artist emphasizes the democracy of the proletarian writer with the simplicity of his entire appearance, the clothes of a craftsman, and the gesture of an agitator. The portrait of M. N. Ermolova (1905, ill. 196) is a kind of majestic monument to the famous tragic actress. And the artist subordinates all visual means to the identification of this thought. The lobby of Ermolova’s mansion, in which she posed for Serov, is perceived as a stage, and thanks to the reflection of a fragment of the colonnade in the mirror, also as an auditorium. Ermolova herself, in her strict and solemn black dress, decorated only with a string of pearls, is majestic and inspired.

Serov's portraits of his noble customers are completely different. The ceremonial portraits of the Yusupov spouses, S. M. Botkina, O. K. Orlova (ill. 197) and many others resemble portraits of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries; the exquisite furnishings and elegant ladies' toilets are painted in them with brilliant skill. In his depiction of the people themselves, Serov emphasized their typical social qualities that characterize the class to which they belonged. These portraits, as V. Ya. Bryusov said, are always a judgment on their contemporaries, all the more terrible because the artist’s skill makes this judgment peremptory.

Among such portraits of Serov, one of the first places is occupied by the portrait of M. A. Morozov (1902), depicted against the backdrop of the living room of his beautifully furnished mansion. This man is educated, known for his extensive philanthropic activities and understanding of art, but the basis of the money-grubbing merchant of Ostrovsky’s time is still alive in him. Here he stands, as if alive, this Europeanized merchant of the late 19th century, filling the narrow format of the canvas with a heavy figure and looking straight ahead with a piercing gaze. Morozov's authority is not only his personal property, it reveals him as an industrialist, just as the arrogance of Princess O.K. Orlova makes her a typical representative of high-society aristocratic circles of the early 20th century. During this period, Serov achieved great expressiveness in his portraits thanks to the richness of the visual means used and the variation of his artistic style depending on the characteristics of the work being created. Thus, in the portrait of the banker V. O. Girshman (1911), Serov is laconic in a poster style, and in the portrait of Princess Orlova his brush becomes refined and cold.

As mentioned above, a significant place in Serov’s work in the 1900s was occupied by work on historical compositions. He is especially captivated by the stormy, rapid development of life in Russia during the time of Peter the Great. In the best painting of this cycle, “Peter I” (1907, ill. 198), the artist depicts Peter as a powerful transformer of the state. It is no coincidence that he is much taller than his companions. The rapid movement of Peter and the courtiers barely keeping up with him, the tense rhythm of impetuous angular lines that sharply outline the silhouettes, the excitement of the landscape - all this creates the mood of the stormy Peter the Great era.

Captivated by the living beauty of Greece, which Serov visited in 1907, he also worked for a long time and with enthusiasm on mythological subjects ("The Rape of Europa", "Odysseus and Nausicaa"). As always, he builds these works on the basis of field work and careful observations. But, solving them in terms of monumental and decorative panels, the artist somewhat simplifies and primitivizes the plastic form, while maintaining, however, the vitality of the impression.

One of Serov's significant works of the late 1890s - early 1900s - a series of illustrations for I. A. Krylov's fables - was the subject of his tireless care and attention. The artist overcame the descriptiveness that hampered him in the initial period of work on fables, and acquired wise laconicism and the expressiveness of a cleverly found form. The best of these sheets are masterpieces of Serov's art. Following Krylov, the artist did not destroy the allegory of the fables and sought to convey their moralizing meaning in his drawings. The images of animals revealed purely human qualities: Serov’s lion is always the embodiment of strength, intelligence and greatness, the donkey, as it should be, is the personification of stupidity, and the hare is an incorrigible coward.

Il. 199. V. A. Serov. “Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” K., tempera. 47.5 X 71.5. 1905. Timing

Serov's work characterizes him as a democratic artist, standing in the forefront of progressive figures in Russian culture. Serov proved his loyalty to democratic principles not only through art, but also through his public position, especially during the revolution of 1905-1907. Having witnessed Bloody Sunday on January 9, he resigned from the full membership of the Academy of Arts, because the commander of the troops that carried out massacres against the people was the president of the Academy, Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. A sharp protest against the violence and cruelty of the autocracy is also heard in the artist’s bold, accusatory drawings published in satirical magazines during the days of the revolution (“Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” (ill. 199), “Views of the harvest,” “Dispersal of the demonstration ").

K. A. Korovin(1861-1939). Konstantin Alekseevich Korovin is one of those masters who pave new paths in art and whose work is a school for many artists of subsequent generations.

Korovin is a graduate of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the landscape workshop of A.K. Savrasov, V.D. Polenov. His work was formed in line with Russian plein air painting of the 1880s ("The Bridge", "Northern Idyll", "At the Balcony. Spanish Women Leonora and Ampara", ill. XI).

Since the 1890s, the time has come for Korovin to reach creative maturity. His talent is equally brightly revealed both in easel painting, primarily in landscape, and in theatrical and decorative art.

The charm of Korovin's art lies in the warmth, sunshine, in the artist's ability to directly and vividly convey impressions, in the generosity of his palette, in the coloristic richness of artistic painting.

In the same 1890s, significant changes occurred in Korovin’s work. He sometimes strives to convey what is visible in an imessionistic manner. Long-term observation of nature gives way to the transfer of its sensations. The pictorial and plastic structure of Korovin’s art is also changing. The role of sketch forms of painting is increasing, and painting itself is becoming more impulsive, pasty, and broad; the coloring acquires greater decorative sonority, tension and richness ("In Winter", 1894, ill. 200; "Summer", 1895; "Roses and Violets", 1912, ill. 201; "Wind", 1916).

Korovin's theatrical work was formed surrounded by figures of the Russian private opera S.I. Mamontov, but he achieved his greatest fame while working in the imperial theaters in the 1900s - 1910s. For more than twenty years, Korovin headed the production department of the Bolshoi Theater. He actively participated in the fight against the conservatism and routine that reigned on the official stage, bringing high artistic culture to these theaters, and, together with a number of other famous masters, raised the importance of a theater artist to the level of a co-author of the play. Korovin is a brilliant master of picturesque decoration, effective, emotional, and life-truth. The productions he designed were truly a feast for the eyes.

Korovin’s best theatrical works are usually associated with national themes, with Russia, its epics and fairy tales, its history and, above all, with its nature (N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera “The Snow Maiden”, 1909; M. P. Mussorgsky’s opera “Khovanshchina” , 1911).

M. A. Vrubel(1856-1910). Nature was generous to Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel. She endowed him with brilliant coloristic abilities, a rare gift as a monumentalist, he painted beautifully, his flight of imagination is truly amazing. Vrubel's work is deeply meaningful and complex. He was always concerned with high ideals and great human feelings. He dreamed of “awakening the soul from the trifles of everyday life with majestic images.” His art, alien to indifference, is always romantically excited and spiritual.

But Vrubel’s ideals developed in the harsh conditions of the surrounding life. Wanting to get away from its glaring contradictions, the artist tried to withdraw into the world of abstract images. However, being a great artist, he still could not isolate himself from reality. His art reflects it and bears the features of the era.

Even in his student years, Vrubel was different from his peers. He walked towards mastery, almost bypassing school shyness and constraint. This was manifested in his multi-figure compositions on a given theme, which came to him unusually easily ("The Betrothal of Mary to Joseph"), and in his fluency in watercolor techniques, and in the subtle plasticity of his portraits.

A major role in the formation of Vrubel’s creativity was played by his teacher P. P. Chistyakov, who instilled in him a constructive understanding of form in art, as well as by advanced artists, participants in the Abramtsevo circle. Vrubel owes these connections, as well as his subsequent acquaintance with N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, with the formation of the national foundations in his work.

Vrubel stayed at the Academy of Arts for four years. In 1884, he left for Kyiv to restore and renew the wall paintings of the St. Cyril Church. Already in these works and in the unrealized sketches for the paintings of the Vladimir Cathedral, the artist’s enormous gift is revealed. Using the traditions of Byzantine and Old Russian painting, Renaissance art, Vrubel remains deeply original. The emphasized expression of feelings, intense color, and temperamental writing give his images a special drama.

In 1889, Vrubel moved to Moscow. From this time comes the time of his creative blossoming. He is fluent in many genres of art. This is an easel painting, a book illustration, a monumental decorative panel, and a theater set. Vrubel draws a lot from life and is fond of majolica. The artist tirelessly improves his skills, he is sure that “technique is the language of the artist”, that without it he will not be able to tell people about his feelings, about the beauty he has seen. The expressiveness of his works increases even more thanks to dynamic painting, color shimmering like a jewel, and spiritual drawing.

The theme of the Demon, inspired by M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem, becomes one of the central themes in Vrubel’s work. Captivated by the high romance of the poem, he illustrates it ("Tamara in the Coffin", 1890-1891) and creates images of the central characters close to Lermontov's in spirit, power of expressiveness and skill. At the same time, the artist endows them with features of increased expressiveness and brokenness, which will soon become the stamp of his time. For more than ten years, Vrubel returned again and again to the image of the Demon. Its evolution is a kind of tragic confession of the artist. He imagined this evil spirit of heaven to be beautiful, proud, but endlessly lonely. At first powerful, in the prime of his life, still believing that he will find happiness on earth ("The Demon Seated", 1890, ill. XIV), the Demon is later depicted as unconquered, but already broken, with a broken body, stretched out among the cold stone mountains ("Demon defeated", 1902). In his eyes burning with anger and his stubbornly clenched mouth one can feel both the rebellious spirit and tragic doom.

In the 1890s, another theme, primordially Russian, folklore, gradually became dominant in Vrubel’s work. The artist is still attracted to titanic strong heroes, but now they carry goodness and peace. In the monumental and decorative panel “Mikula Selyaninovich” (1896), Vrubel depicted the epic hero as a simple farmer and saw in him the personification of the strength of the Russian land. Such is “Bogatyr” (1898), as if fused with his horse, a mighty knight - not fighting, but vigilantly guarding the peace of his homeland.

The fairy-tale images of Vrubel are beautiful. They happily combine the truth of observation, deep poetry, sublime romance and fantasy that transforms everything ordinary. She is inextricably linked with nature. In fact, the spiritualization of nature, its poetic personification is the basis of Vrubel's fairy tales. His "Towards Night" (1900) is mysterious and mysterious. In "Pan" (1899, ill. 204), depicting the goat-footed god of the forests, there is a lot of humanity. In his pale eyes, which have long faded, kindness and age-old wisdom shine. At the same time, he is like a revived birch trunk. Gray curls like curls of white bark, and fingers like gnarled knots. “The Swan Princess” (1900, ill. 203) is both a blue-eyed princess girl with a long braid reaching to her waist and a regally beautiful bird with swan wings, swimming in the blue sea.

Great thoughts and feelings, a wide scope of imagination pulled Vrubel into the world of monumental art, and it became one of the main directions in his work. Since the 1890s, having found the form of monumental and decorative panels, the artist executed them on orders from enlightened patrons of the arts (panel “Spain”, ill. 202, “Venice”, a series dedicated to Goethe’s poem “Faust”). With the monumental integrity of the form, they always retained the subtlety of plastic development and the psychological depth of the image.

Vrubel's portraits are also distinguished by their originality and artistic significance. They are deep and very expressive; the artist gave each model a special spirituality, and sometimes even drama. These are the portraits of S.I. Mamontov (1897), the poet Valery Bryusov (1906), numerous self-portraits (for example, 1904, ill. 205) and portraits of his wife, the famous singer N.I. Zabela-Vrubel.

The last ten years of his life were painful for Vrubel. His wonderful gift struggled for a long time with severe mental illness. No longer able to hold a brush in his hand, he painted a lot, striking those around him with the purity of the structural forms of the drawing. Vision gradually faded. Vrubel died in the prime of his creative powers.

V. E. Borisov-Musatov(1870-1905). The tendency towards poeticization of images, characteristic of Russian art of the 1890s - early 1900s, found expression in the work of Viktor Elpidiforovich Borisov-Musatov. His lyrical talent began to manifest itself from his earliest student years in tender images of poetic nature, but only from the late 1890s the range of Musatov’s favorite themes and the figurative and pictorial system of his art were determined. With all his might, the artist strives to comprehend harmony in the world and, not seeing it around him, tries to recreate it in his imagination.

Musatov's best works are “Spring” (1901), “Reservoir” (1902, ill. 206), “Emerald Necklace” (1903-1904). The artist is still close to nature, but it seems to be reincarnated into the elegiac images of his soulful dreams, like the images of literary symbolism, losing the clarity of life’s outlines in the blurred contours and unsteadiness of color spots. He populates his thoughtful parks with girls who are slow, as if dreaming, dresses them in dresses of past times, wraps them and everything around in a haze of light sadness.

"World of Art"- a significant phenomenon in Russian artistic life of the late 19th - early 20th centuries, which played a large role in the development of not only fine arts in Russia, but also theater, music, architecture, and applied arts.

The cradle of the "World of Art" was a circle of St. Petersburg intelligentsia that arose in the 1890s. Its number included artists A. N. Benois, K. A. Somov, L. S. Bakst. By the end of this decade, the "World of Art" took shape as an ideological and artistic association. V. A. Serov took part in it, supporting him with his authority. The core of the young group was replenished by E. E. Lansere and M. V. Dobuzhinsky. S. P. Diaghilev, devoted to the interests of art, played a major organizational role. From 1899 to 1904, members of the World of Art published a literary and artistic magazine. However, he was not united in his focus. Its artistic department, headed by outstanding masters of the fine arts, differed sharply from the literary and philosophical department, which was symbolist and religious in nature.

The World of Art students considered their main goal to be the renewal of Russian art, the improvement of its artistic culture, skill, and wide familiarization with the traditions of foreign and domestic heritage. They worked hard and fruitfully not only as artists, but also as art historians, critics, and popularizers of classical and modern art.

The World of Art played a particularly large role in Russian artistic life in the first period of its existence, which lasted about ten years. World of Art students organized extensive exhibitions of domestic and foreign art and were the initiators of many artistic endeavors. They declared themselves then opponents of both routine academicism and the petty everydayism of some of the later Itinerants.

In their creative practice, the Miriskus artists proceeded from specific life observations, depicting contemporary nature and man, and from historical and artistic materials, turning to their favorite retrospective subjects, but at the same time they sought to convey the world in a transformed form, in decorative and elevated forms and one One of the main tasks was considered to be the search for synthetic art of the “grand style”.

In the early years of the association's life, the World of Art workers paid tribute to the individualism that permeated the European culture of those years, and to the theory of “art for art’s sake.” Later, in the pre-revolutionary decade, they largely revised their aesthetic positions, recognizing individualism as destructive for art. During this period, modernism became their main ideological opponent.

In two types of art, the artists of the World of Art achieved particularly significant success: in theatrical and decorative art, which embodied their dream of the harmony of the arts, of their synthesis, and in graphics.

Graphics attracted the world of art as one of the mass forms of art; they were also impressed by its chamber forms, common in those years in many types of art. In addition, graphics required special attention, since they were much less developed than painting. Finally, the development of graphics was also facilitated by advances in domestic printing.

The originality of the easel graphics of the "World of Art" were the landscapes of old St. Petersburg and its suburbs, the beauty of which the artists sang, as well as the portrait, which in their work occupied essentially an equal place with the picturesque. A. P. Ostroumova-Lebedeva made a great contribution to the graphics of the early 20th century; in her work, wood engraving is established as an independent art form. The romantic work of V.D. Falileev, who developed the art of engraving on linoleum, was unique.

The most significant phenomenon in the field of etching was the work of V. A. Serov. They were distinguished by their simplicity, severity of form and excellent drawing skills. Serov also advanced the development of lithography, creating a number of remarkable portraits in this technique, notable for their expressiveness with an amazing economy of artistic means.

The masters of the World of Art have achieved enormous success in the field of book illustration, raising the artistic culture of books to a high level. The role of A. N. Benois, E. E. Lanceray, and M. V. Dobuzhinsky is especially significant in this regard. I. Ya. Bilibin, D. N. Kardovsky, G. I. Narbut, D. I. Mitrokhin, S. V. Chekhonin and others worked fruitfully in book graphics.

The best achievements of graphic art at the beginning of the century, and primarily the World of Art, contained the prerequisites for the widespread development of Soviet graphics.

A. N. Benois(1870-1960). Alexander Nikolaevich Benois acted as the ideologist of the “World of Art”. Intelligence, broad education, and the universality of deep knowledge in the field of art characterize Benoit. Benoit's creative activity is unusually versatile. He achieved a lot in book and easel graphics, was one of the leading theater artists and figures, art critics and art critics.

Like other world artists, Benoit preferred themes from past eras. He was the poet of Versailles (the most famous are his two Versailles series - "The Last Walks of Louis XIV", 1897-1898 and the series of 1905-1906, ill. 208). The artist’s creative imagination ignited when he visited the palaces and parks of the St. Petersburg suburbs. Russian history is also reflected in Benoit's work. In 1907-1910, he, along with other Russian artists, enthusiastically worked on paintings on this topic for the publishing house I. Knebel ("Parade under Paul I", 1907; "Appearance of Empress Catherine II in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace", 1909).

Benoit populated his detailed historical compositions, executed with great imagination and skill, with small figures of people and carefully, lovingly reproduced monuments of art and the everyday appearance of the era.

Benoit made a major contribution to book graphics. Most of the artist’s works in this area are associated with the work of A. S. Pushkin. In his best work - illustrations for the poem "The Bronze Horseman" (1903-1923), Benoit chose the path of an artist-co-author, characteristic of the "World of Art". He followed the text line by line, although sometimes he deviated from it, introducing his own subjects. Benoit paid the main attention to the beauty of old St. Petersburg, rediscovered by the world artists, following Pushkin, depicting the city either clear and quiet, or romantically confused in the menacing days of the flood.

Benoit's illustrations for Pushkin's "Queen of Spades" are also executed with great professional skill. But they are distinguished by a more free interpretation of Pushkin’s text, sometimes ignoring the psychologism that permeates the story.

Benois was involved in theatrical activities throughout almost his entire creative life. He has established himself as an excellent theater artist and a subtle theater critic. In the 1910s, at the time of his creative heyday, Benois worked at the Moscow Art Theater together with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, often not only as an artist, but also as a director, and in the first years of its existence "Russian Seasons" in Europe he provided artistic direction. His theatrical works are also characterized by accuracy in recreating the artistic and everyday signs of the era, compliance with the author's dramatic intent and high artistic taste. Benois's favorite theatrical creation is I. F. Stravinsky's famous ballet "Petrushka" (1911). Benoit was not only responsible for its design. He was the author of the libretto and took an active part in its production.

K. A. Somov(1869-1939). No less characteristic of the “World of Art” is the work of Konstantin Andreevich Somov. Unlike many of his colleagues in the World of Art, Somov received a systematic art education. He studied at the Academy of Arts, where he chose the workshop of I. E. Repin. Somov tirelessly honed the strong professional skills he acquired here in the future, and his brilliant skills soon became widely known.

In the first years of his work, Somov followed realistic traditions (portrait of his father, 1897). In the painting “Lady in a Blue Dress” (portrait of the artist E. M. Martynova, 1897-1900), there is also still a psychologically subtle and deep insight into the image, which bears the stamp of the tragic fate of the young artist. However, Somov’s desire to connect him with a long-past time (Martynova is dressed in an ancient dress), the scene he introduced in the background in the spirit of the 18th century of a lady and a gentleman carefree playing music, and the painting that has become more harsh herald a new search for the artist.

In the early 1900s, Somov’s work was finally formed. Like all world artists, he willingly painted landscapes. Always starting from nature, he created his own Somov image of nature, romantically elevated, with a thin lace of frozen foliage on the trees and a complex graphic pattern of their branches, with enhanced sonority of color. But the main place in the artist’s work was occupied by retrospective compositions. Their usual characters are campy, doll-like ladies in tall powdered wigs and crinolines. Together with their languid gentlemen, they dream, have fun, and flirt. Somov painted these paintings clearly under the influence of the old masters. His painting became smooth, as if varnished, but sophisticated in a modern way (“Winter. Ice Rink”, 1915, ill. 210).

Portraits occupy a significant place in Somov’s work. His gallery of portraits of representatives of the artistic intelligentsia is truly a landmark of the time. The best of them are portraits of A. A. Blok (1907, ill. 209), M. A. Kuzmin and S. V. Rachmaninov. They are distinguished by accuracy, expressiveness of characteristics and artistry of execution. The artist seems to lift all the models above everyday life, endowing them with the common ideal qualities of a hero of his time - intelligence and sophistication.

E. E. Lansere(1875-1946). Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere is one of the multifaceted masters of the “World of Art”. He was engaged in easel and monumental painting, graphics, was a theater artist, and created sketches for works of applied art. His work is typical for the “World of Art”, and at the same time, his bright originality sets Lanceray apart from the world of art. He was also attracted to the 18th century, he loved to create impressive compositions on this theme, but they are distinguished by a greater variety of interpretation of the content and democratism of the images. Thus, the painting “Ships of the Time of Peter I” (1909, 1911) is inspired by the spirit of the heroic romance of Peter the Great’s time, and the gouaches “Empress Elizabeth Petrovna in Tsarskoe Selo” (1905) are characterized by the sober, life-like truth of the images.

The most significant place in Lansere's work is occupied by graphics - easel, book and magazine. His graphic works are elegant, sometimes intricately patterned, imbued with the spirit of the era and classically clear. The artist's central work is a large series of illustrations for L. N. Tolstoy's story "Hadji Murad". In them, Lansere managed to recreate the wise Tolstoy simplicity with the romance of the general mood and the bright expressive characters of the heroes. Later Lansere worked extensively and fruitfully as a Soviet artist.

M. V. Dobuzhinsky(1875-1957). Like Lancer, Dobuzhinsky belonged to the younger generation of artists of the “World of Art”. His work, like Lanceray’s, is typical of this association and at the same time deeply original. In easel art, Dobuzhinsky preferred the urban landscape. But he was not only its singer, but also a psychologist, not only glorified its beauty, but depicted the other side of the modern capitalist city, coldly mechanical, an octopus city ("The Devil", 1906), spiritually devastating people ("The Man with Glasses" , 1905-1906).

Both in book graphics and in theatrical and decorative art, Dobuzhinsky is characterized by an individual psychological approach to the interpretation of the illustrated work. The artist is Andersen-like kind and witty in his elegant color drawings for the fairy tale “The Swineherd”, lyrical and tenderly sentimental in the illustrations for “Poor Liza” by N. M. Karamzin and deeply dramatic in the famous series of illustrations for F. M. Dostoevsky’s story “The Whites” nights" (1922). Dobuzhinsky's best theatrical works are those that he performed at the Moscow Art Theater ("A Month in the Village" by I. S. Turgenev, 1909, "Nikolai Stavrogin" by F. M. Dostoevsky, 1913).

The work of many masters of the beginning of the century is connected to one degree or another with the “World of Art” - V. A. Serov, Z. E. Serebryakova, I. Ya. Bilibin, B. M. Kustodiev, I. E. Grabar and others. In the same row - and Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich(1874-1947) - advanced artist, scientist, prominent public figure. In the artistic environment of that time, Roerich was distinguished by his love for ancient Russian history and archeology, for the art of Ancient Rus'. In his work, he sought to penetrate into the depths of centuries, into the living and integral world of distant ancestors, to connect it with the progressive development of humanity, with the ideals of humanism, heroism and beauty (“Overseas Guests”, 1902, ill. 211; “The City is being Built”, 1902 ).

"Union of Russian Artists". In the artistic life of Russia at the beginning of the century, the Union of Russian Artists (1903-1923) played a significant role. Its background was the “Exhibitions of 36 Artists”, organized in 1901 and 1902 in Moscow. The "Union of Russian Artists" was founded on the initiative of Muscovites in order to strengthen the young artistic organization. Many leading masters of both capitals became its members, but the core of the “Union of Russian Artists” continued to be Moscow painters - K. A. Korovin, A. E. Arkhipov, S. A. Vinogradov, S. Yu. Zhukovsky, L. V. Turzhansky , A. M. Vasnetsov, S. V. Malyutin, A. S. Stepanov. Close to the “Union of Russian Artists” in their artistic positions, active participants in its exhibitions were A. A. Rylov, K. F. Yuon, I. I. Brodsky, F. A. Malyavin. In 1910, the Union of Russian Artists split. From its composition came the St. Petersburg group of artists, which restored the former name "World of Art", a group that ceased to exist as an exhibition union in 1903.

Landscape is the main genre in the art of most masters of the Union of Russian Artists. They were the successors of landscape painting of the second half of the 19th century, expanded the range of themes - they depicted the nature of central Russia, the sunny south, and the harsh north, and ancient Russian cities with their wonderful architectural monuments, and poetic ancient estates, and often introduced elements of the genre into their canvases , sometimes still life. They drew the joy of life from nature and loved to paint directly from nature with a temperamental wide brush, richly, brightly and colorfully, developing and multiplying the achievements of plein air and impressionistic painting.

The works of the masters of the “Union of Russian Artists” clearly expressed the creative individuality of each, but they also had many similar features - a keen interest in the rapid visual coverage of the world, a craving for fragmentary dynamic composition, blurring of clear boundaries between a compositional painting and a full-scale sketch. Their painting became characterized by the integrity of the plastic-colored cover of the canvas, a wide relief stroke molding the shape and sonority of color.

Art 1905-1907. The events of the first Russian revolution, which left their mark on the entire subsequent course of Russian and world history, were clearly reflected in the fine arts. Never before has Russian art played such an effective role in the political life of the country as it does these days. “The drawings themselves incite an uprising,” the Minister of Internal Affairs I. N. Durnovo reported to the Tsar.

With the greatest depth, the revolution of 1905-1907 was reflected in easel painting in the works of I. E. Repin (“Manifestation in honor of October 17, 1905”), V. E. Makovsky (“January 9, 1905 on Vasilievsky Island”), I. I. Brodsky ("Red Funeral"), V. A. Serov ("Bauman's Funeral"), S. V. Ivanov ("Execution"). We have already spoken above about numerous works on the revolutionary theme by N. A. Kasatkin, in particular about such canvases as “The Militant Worker.”

During the revolution of 1905-1907, satirical graphics, the most dynamic and popular form of art, reached an unprecedented flourishing. There are 380 known titles of satirical magazines published between 1905-1907 in the amount of 40 million copies. Thanks to its wide scope, the revolution united artists of various directions into a large and friendly group. Among the participants in satirical magazines were such major masters as V. A. Serov, B. M. Kustodiev, E. E. Lansere, M. V. Dobuzhinsky, I. Ya. Bilibin, and students of art schools, and non-professional artists .

Most of the satirical magazines were liberal in orientation. The tsarist government, even having published a manifesto on freedom of the press, actually did not allow the Bolshevik Party to publish satirical and political magazines. The only magazine of Bolshevik orientation - "Sting", in which A. M. Gorky participated, was banned after the release of the first issue, and its editors were destroyed. Nevertheless, the best satirical magazines of 1905-1907, due to their accusatory content, the sharpness of topical political thought and purposefulness, had great educational value.

Most often, their satire, both in text and in the visual part, was directed against autocracy. The ruling elite of Russia and Tsar Nicholas II himself were especially harshly criticized. Denunciation of the bloody repressions of the tsarist government also became a common theme.

“Machine Gun” was a very brave magazine of those years, which owed much to the enterprise and ingenuity of its editor N. G. Shebuev and artist I. M. Grabovsky. Generalized images of participants in the revolution - a worker, a soldier, a sailor, a peasant - repeatedly appeared on his pages. On the cover of one of the issues of Machine Gun, against the backdrop of smoking factory chimneys, Grabovsky placed an image of a worker and made the significant inscription “His Working Majesty the All-Russian Proletarian.”

Il. 212. M. V. Dobuzhinsky. October idyll. "Bogey", 1905, No. 1

A combative tone characterized many magazines (The Spectator, the most durable of them, Leshy, Zhupel and its sequel, Hell's Mail). V. A. Serov and many World of Art students collaborated in the last two magazines. Both of these magazines were distinguished by the artistry of their illustrations. The first featured Serov’s famous compositions “Soldiers, brave boys, where is your glory?” (ill. 199), Dobuzhinsky's "October Idyll" (ill. 212), Lanceray - "Trizna" (ill. 213); in the second - Kustodiev's "Olympus" - caustic caricatures of members of the State Council. Often the drawings in satirical magazines were in the nature of everyday sketches - sketches on the topic of the day. Allegory, sometimes using popular easel works by Russian artists, sometimes folklore images, was a common form of masking satire. The activity of most satirical magazines of 1905 - 1907 was born of the revolution and froze along with the strengthening of government reaction.

Art 1907-1917. The pre-October decade in Russia after the defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907 was a time of difficult trials and rampant Black Hundred reaction. In 1914, the first world imperialist war began. In difficult conditions, the Bolshevik Party gathered forces for the offensive, and from 1910 the wave of a new upsurge of the revolutionary movement grew, preparations were made for the overthrow of the autocracy. Russia stood on the eve of the greatest historical events.

The tense situation in the country further complicated Russian artistic life. Many artists were in the grip of confusion, vague moods, passionate but groundless impulses, fruitless subjective experiences, and struggle between artistic directions. Various idealistic theories became widespread, separating art from reality and democratic traditions. These theories were subjected to merciless criticism by V.I. Lenin.

But even in such a difficult situation, the development of Russian realistic art did not stop. A number of prominent Itinerants and members of the Union of Russian Artists continued to work actively. Among the artists of the largest creative associations, there have been trends towards rapprochement and points of contact on some fundamental issues. During these years, the World of Art students criticized the widespread individualism, advocated for the strengthening of a professional art school, and their search for grand style art became even more purposeful. N.K. Roerich expressed the idea that directional struggle does not exclude the possibility of raising the banner of “heroic realism” that corresponds to the time.

The interaction of individual genres of painting intensified, the domestic and classical heritage was rethought, V. A. Serov was one of the first in the 20th century to cleanse ancient mythology from the old academic pseudo-classical interpretation, revealing the realistic principle in it. In the pre-revolutionary decade, only a small number of large, significant paintings were created, but it is no coincidence that it was then that “Stepan Razin” by V. I. Surikov appeared, meeting the high goal of national art - to reflect the big ideas of our time. Significant evidence of the progress of Russian art was the desire of a number of painters - A. E. Arkhipov, L. V. Popov, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, Z. E. Serebryakova and others - to connect the image of the people with the thought of the Motherland, with their native land .

Z. E. Serebryakova(1884-1967). Zinaida Evgenievna Serebryakova sang in her best works the peasant life of the working people. The legacy of A.G. Venetsianov and the great masters of the Renaissance played a major role in the formation of her art. The rigor of monumental images, the harmony and balance of the composition, and solid, dense colors distinguish her best paintings. Especially notable are “The Harvest” (1915) and “Whitening the Canvas” (1917, ill. XII), in which the figures are so large-scale, shown from a low point of view, and the rhythm of the movements is majestic. The canvas is perceived as a monument to peasant labor.

K. S. Petrov-Vodkin(1878-1939). In the early period of his work, Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin paid tribute to abstract symbolist tendencies. A close study of the best traditions of the European Renaissance and, most importantly, the line of Russian art that can be traced in the works of painters of Ancient Rus' helped the artist to demonstrate a democratic worldview. In the canvases “Mother” (1913 and 1915, ill. 214) and “Morning” (1917), the images of peasant women reflect the high moral purity of the spiritual world of Russian people. The painting “The Bathing of the Red Horse” (1912) is imbued with a premonition of impending social changes. The sublime ideological content is met by the laconicism of the composition, the dynamics of space, the classical rigor of the drawing and the harmony of color, built on the main colors of the spectrum.

P. V. Kuznetsov(1878-1968). At the beginning of his creative career, Pavel Varfolomeevich Kuznetsov also experienced the influence of symbolism. The Kyrgyz suite of his paintings ("Mirage in the Steppe", 1912, ill. 215; "Sheep Shearing", 1912) reflected a poetic understanding of the image of a working person in the world around him. Simple life stories, unhurried gestures and calm faces of people engaged in their usual work in their native land, the musical structure of color, the solemnity of the landscape - everything recreates a holistic harmonious image.

Il. 215. P. V. Kuznetsov. Mirage in the steppe. X., tempera. 95 X 103. 1912. Tretyakov Gallery

M. S. Saryan(1880-1972). In a series of paintings based on his impressions of trips to the countries of the East, Martiros Sergeevich Saryan also poeticizes the folk life he depicts ("Street. Noon. Constantinople", 1910; "Date Palm. Egypt", 1911, etc.). His laconic works are built on bright and solid color silhouettes, contrasts of rhythm, light and shadow. The colors are emphatically decorative, spatial plans are clearly drawn. The poetry of Saryan's art is determined by his ability to preserve a vibrant sense of life with intense sonority and beauty of the pictorial palette.

The best works of the above-mentioned artists, who later made an invaluable contribution to Soviet art, opened up the prospect of further development of monumental realistic art, the creation of which belonged to a new historical era.

Portraits with deep psychological images did not receive such wide development in the pre-revolutionary decade as in the previous period, however, a number of examples show their enrichment in the works of outstanding masters. It is enough to recall the self-portraits of V. I. Surikov and M. V. Nesterov, where the complex spiritual world of a man of art is revealed with his anxieties, reflection on life, or the sharp portrait characteristics of V. A. Serov.

The continuation of this line of the portrait genre can be seen in the works of S. V. Malyutin (for example, portraits of V. N. Baksheev, 1914, ill. 216, K. F. Yuon, 1916). Pose, posture, gesture and facial expressions convey character and testify to the extraordinary personality of representatives of Russian art. In the same way, I. I. Brodsky painted a portrait of A. M. Gorky (1910).

The painting “The Nun” (1908, ill. 218) by B. M. Kustodiev is significant in its psychological interpretation of the image. Although the author did not set out to create an accusatory work, the power of realistic penetration into the spiritual world of the person being portrayed gave this image a certain symbolic meaning. Before us is the keeper of the foundations of the church: kind, and cunning, and gracious, and powerful, merciless. However, Kustodiev’s art, full of optimism, is primarily addressed to the traditions of Russian antiquity, folk customs and festivals. In his canvases he combines lively observation of nature, imagery and bright decorativeness ("Merchant's Wife", 1915, ill. 219; "Maslenitsa", 1916).

The 1910s are associated with great successes in the field of a new genre - theatrical portraiture, where the artist faces a difficult creative task - to show the inspiration of the actor, his transformation into a stage image. The championship here belongs to A. Ya. Golovin. Knowing very well the peculiarities of the stage and dramaturgy, he created a majestic and tragic image in the portrait of F. I. Chaliapin in the role of Boris Godunov (1912, ill. 220).

Landscape in one way or another attracted all artists: they were united in this genre by pictorial and coloristic searches. However, for many, the image of nature turned into a solution to a sketch rather than a painting problem, as was the case in the 19th century. In the pre-revolutionary period, only a few major masters managed to convey the epic feeling of their homeland when depicting nature - lyrical motifs predominated. A. A. Rylov turned to the traditions of landscape paintings (“Green Noise”, 1904, ill. 217). His romantic painting “Swans over the Kama” (1912) foreshadowed the painting “In the Blue Expanse”, created after the Great October Socialist Revolution. The ever-increasing interest in national heritage led to the appearance of a number of pictorial suites dedicated to ancient Russian cities. By including everyday scenes in the composition, artists showed nature and man equally active in a landscape painting (“In Sergiev Posad” by K. F. Yuon and others).

Landscape painters, mostly representatives of the Union of Russian Artists, significantly enriched their painting skills. It was here that sketches and a lyrical interpretation of motifs, often rural, dating back to A.K. Savrasov, V.D. Polenov and I.I. Levitan, prevailed, which testified to the preservation of democratic traditions. Plein air painting was replenished with such integral in color and poetic landscapes as “Kem” (1917) by K. A. Korovin, “Towards Evening” by N. P. Krymov, the best works of S. A. Vinogradov (“Flower Garden”, “Spring”, 1911, ill. 221) and S. Yu. Zhukovsky ("Dam", 1909, ill. 222; "Joyful May", 1912).

The still life. Now this genre is represented by the works of a number of artists from various creative associations, and is diverse in motives, content and objectives. In his numerous still lifes, K. A. Korovin attached great importance to decorativeness and the beauty of color. The same beginning is characteristic of the works of S. Yu. Sudeikin and N. N. Sapunov. The achievements of impressionism enriched the painting of I. E. Grabar (“The Untidy Table”, 1907, ill. 223, etc.).

The artists of the “Jack of Diamonds” association, which arose in 1910, actively worked in the field of still life, as well as landscape and portrait: P. P. Konchalovsky, I. I. Mashkov, A. V. Lentulov, A. V. Kuprin and others. In search of national originality of art, they used the traditions of the national primitive (popular prints, signs, tray painting, etc.), but also discovered connections with contemporary French art, primarily with Cezanne and his followers. The best works of the masters of this group, written with material weight and decorative scope, were reflected in their love of life and great artistic culture. Such are, for example, the grotesque "Portrait of G. B. Yakulov" (1910, ill. 224) and the still life "Agave" (1916) by P. P. Konchalovsky, "Pumpkin" (1914, ill. 225) and "Still Life with Brocade" (1917) I. I. Mashkova.

Theatrical and decorative arts experienced a brilliant flourishing: many leading painters worked for the theater. It is enough to name the names of V. A. Simov, V. A. Serov, A. Ya. Golovin, A. N. Benois, K. A. Korovin, L. S. Bakst, N. K. Roerich, I. Ya. Bilibin , B. M. Kustodiev and a number of performances designed by them ("Petrushka" by I. F. Stravinsky - A. N. Benois; "Prince Igor" by A. N. Borodin - N. K. Roerich; "Masquerade" by M. Yu Lermontov - A. Ya. Golovina, etc.). The “Russian Seasons” in Paris and other cities of Western Europe, organized by S. P. Diaghilev, in which many of the above-mentioned masters participated in the design of the productions, glorified Russian art in the international arena. The high artistic level of scenery and costumes, and the entire appearance of the stage action, amazed foreigners with a synthesis of arts, a spectacle of extraordinary beauty and national originality.

As mentioned above, the process of development of realism in 1907-1917 was complicated by the crisis of bourgeois culture. The least stable part of the artistic intelligentsia, although captured by the general spirit of protest against bourgeois reality, succumbed to decadent moods, moved away from modernity and public life, denied democratic traditions in art, and this protest itself usually had the character of an anarchic rebellion. These negative phenomena were first reflected in the works shown at the Blue Rose exhibition, organized in 1907 and uniting symbolist artists. The participants of this short-lived group asserted the dominance of intuitionism in artistic creativity and retreated into the world of mystical, ghostly fantasies. But the most gifted and purposeful (P.V. Kuznetsov, M.S. Saryan and some others) already in the pre-October decade took the democratic path of development in their creativity.

A number of artists, especially young ones, were involved in the 1910s in the mainstream of modernist movements. Some of them - supporters of cubism and futurism - claimed that their form-creation corresponded to the age of engineering and technology, others - primitivists - on the contrary, sought to return to the immediacy of the perception of the world by an uncivilized person. All these trends were intricately intertwined in the art of the pre-October decade. They affected the painting of the “Jack of Diamonds,” while the stylistic and primitivist tendencies were especially clearly reflected in the representatives of the group with the daringly shocking name “Donkey’s Tail.” Ultimately, all the varieties of formalism that then spread in Russian art led to a distortion of reality, the destruction of the objective world, or, finally, to the dead end of abstractionism (Rauchism, Suprematism) - the extreme expression of modernism.

The contradictions in Russian artistic life of 1907-1917 did not stop the progressive development of realistic art in this difficult time. Leading Russian masters sensed the approach of social change and consciously or intuitively felt the need to bring their creativity into line with the scale of events of the turbulent historical era. After the Great October Revolution, artists of all generations, some earlier, others later, became involved in the construction of a new socialist culture, putting their art at the service of the revolutionary people; under the influence of Soviet reality, a restructuring took place among those who had previously rejected realism as a method.

In his final years at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Sergei Ivanov turns to pressing social problems. In particular, his attention was drawn to a phenomenon characteristic of the Russian village in the last quarter of the 19th century: in the second half of the 1880s, resettlement to Siberia began.

In the image: “Displaced people. Walkers." 1886.

After the reform of 1861, a need arose to resolve the land issue. The government saw a solution in relocating landless peasants to this vast, sparsely populated region. In the last decades of the 19th century alone, several million peasants left their insignificant plots and wretched huts and went in search of “fertile lands.”

In the image: "Misplaced woman in a carriage", 1886.

Alone, with their wives and children, in small parties, taking with them their fragile belongings, on foot and on carts, and if they were lucky, then by rail, they rushed, inspired by utopian dreams of “Belovodye” or “White Arapia”, towards difficult trials and, most often, severe disappointments. The tragedy of landless peasants leaving their original places, from the central provinces to the outskirts of the country - to Siberia and dying in their hundreds along the way - is the main idea of ​​Ivanov’s series of paintings. He captured scenes of peasant life in deliberately dull, “mournful” in color paintings about immigrants.

In the image: “On the road. Death of a migrant." 1889.

In the mid-1890s, a new period began in the artist’s work, associated with the creation of historical works. Ivanov’s historical painting has features that make it similar to the art of Surikov and Ryabushkin. The painter understands the state of the excited masses in acute dramatic moments (“The Troubles,” 1897, I. I. Brodsky Apartment Museum); “According to the verdict of the evening”, 1896, private collection), he is attracted by the strength of Russian folk characters and he, like Ryabushkin, finds beauty in the phenomena of folk life, affirms the understanding of this beauty by Russian people. Ivanov sensitively captures the pictorial search for time; his works of these years acquire a special coloristic sonority.

In the image: "Time of Troubles" (Tushino camp)

Ivanov was an innovator of the historical genre, composing episodes of the Russian Middle Ages - in the spirit of the Art Nouveau style - almost like film stills, captivating the viewer with their dynamic rhythm, the “effect of presence” (The Arrival of Foreigners in Moscow in the 17th Century, 1901); "Tsar. XVI century" (1902), Campaign of the Muscovites. XVI century, 1903). In them, the artist took a fresh look at the historical past of his homeland, depicting not heroic moments of events, but scenes of everyday life from ancient Russian life. Some images are written with a touch of irony and grotesque. In 1908-13 he completed 18 works for the project “Paintings on Russian History”.

In the image: "St. George's Day." 1908

In the image: “Campaign of the Army of Moscow Rus'”, 16th century, painting 1903.

In the image: “Review of service people”, no later than 1907

The peculiar features of nervous “proto-expressionism” appeared with particular force in his images of the first Russian revolution, including in the famous painting “Execution” (1905, Historical and Revolutionary Museum “Krasnaya Presnya”, a branch of the State Center for Historical and Social Sciences), which struck his contemporaries with the piercingly desperate sound of protest.

During the armed uprising of 1905 in Moscow, he was a witness and participant - he provided assistance to students wounded in street battles right in the building of Moscow University on Mokhovaya Street. His drawings of gendarmes and Cossacks, who during the uprising were quartered in Manege, near the Kremlin, have been preserved.

Later, the artist works on the painting “They’re going! Punitive detachment" (1905-1909, Tretyakov Gallery).

In the image: They're coming! Punitive squad.

Pictured: Family, 1907

In the image: Arrival of the governor

In the image: German, 1910

Image: Village riot, 1889

In the image: At the prison. 1884

In the image: Arrival of foreigners. 17th century 1901

In the image: Boyar slaves. 1909