Development of Russian painting. Russian painting as a reflection of the worldview of the Russian people and their centuries-old history

Main trends in the development of painting in the XIII - XV centuries

The development of painting in the $13th - $15th centuries continued in line with the development of Russian art in the pre-Mongol period. After the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the centers of painting moved from the south to northern cities Yaroslavl, Rostov, Pskov and Novgorod. In which not only monuments of old art have been preserved, but also bearers of cultural traditions have survived. The isolation of Rus' from Byzantium, as well as the feudal fragmentation of Russian lands, stimulated the flourishing of local trends in art. In the $13th century. the final formation of the Novgorod, and in the $XIV$ century. - Moscow schools of painting. The flourishing of painting in the $XIII$ - $XV$ centuries. can be seen more clearly in Novgorod monuments, which have been preserved in greater numbers than in other cities. In Novgorod icons, the drawing acquired color, became more graphic and was based on contrast bright colors. The red-background icons created in Novgorod became a real “rebellion” against Byzantine traditions ( “The Savior on the Throne with Etymasia” and “Saints John Climacus, George and Blasius”).

Novgorod school. Feofan the Greek

XIV century - the heyday of Novgorod painting, which was greatly influenced by Feofan the Greek arrived in the $70s. $XIV$ century. to Rus' from Byzantium. In $1378 he completed work on the painting of the Church of the Savior on Ilyin. From the surviving fragments of this painting, we can say that this master is characterized by wide brush strokes, confident highlights, and a predominance of yellow and red-brown colors. Theophan's influence, for example, can be seen in the frescoes of the Church of Fyodor Stratelates, created by Russian masters in the late $70s - $80s.

Unlike frescoes, it developed more slowly in the $XIV$ - $XV$ centuries. Novgorod icon painting. All monuments that have reached us from that time are characterized by an archaic style, dating back to the 13th century.

Example 1

Among the icons, where the features of the local style can already be traced, one can include the icon "Fatherland" , in the “New Testament” version, interpreting the Trinity - not in the form of three angels, but anthropomorphically, i.e. God the Father as a gray-haired old man, God the Son as a youth, and the Holy Spirit as a dove.

A new iconographic form appeared in Novgorod when the church waged a fight against heresy that rejected the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity. New type icons that reflected historical subjects appeared in the $15th century.

Note 1

For example, an icon "The Miracle of the Icon of the Sign" Holy Mother of God» (or "Battle of Suzdal with Novgorod"), which depicts the victory of the Novgorodians over the superior forces of the Suzdalians in $1169, reflects a certain freedom of the Novgorod icon painters, who were interested not only in sacred history, but also in their own.

Moscow school. Andrey Rublev

The rise of Moscow painting $XIV$ - $XV$ centuries. had no equal in scope and ramifications. Around $1390, Feofan the Greek moved to Moscow from Novgorod.

With his direct participation, the main monuments of painting were created: paintings of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel and Annunciation Cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin, etc. The most reliable work of Feofan himself in Moscow are the $7$ icons of the Annunciation Cathedral early. $XV$ c. ( “Savior”, “Our Lady”, “John the Baptist” and etc). Several icons of the iconostasis of the Annunciation Cathedral are associated with the name of one of the greatest icon painters Rus' Andrey Rublev. Little reliable information has survived about his creative life.

Example 2

For example, Andrei Rublev was first mentioned in $1405, when he, together with Feofan the Greek and Prokhor from Gorodets, worked on the painting of the Kremlin Annunciation Cathedral. In addition, the name of Rublev was mentioned in $1408, when the icon painter, together with Daniil Cherny, created the painting of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir, from the frescoes of which the scenes depicting Last Judgment.

Subject doomsday, had a significant influence on the work of Russian icon painters. However, in its interpretation by artists of the Moscow school, an enlightened motif is noted, most characteristic of Andrei Rublev. He depicted the Last Judgment with the unconventional optimism characteristic of Russian hesychasm. This was determined both by popular expectations (belief in universal forgiveness, characteristic of a significant number of believers), and by the attitude of the artist himself, who predicted the coming revival of Rus' after the Tatar-Mongol invasion. The “Last Judgment” depicted by Andrei Rublev and Daniil Cherny does not generate feelings of fear and impending retribution. This is not a trial in anticipation of punishment, but the final triumph of good, the victory of justice, a reward to humanity for the suffering it has endured. In addition, for the Assumption Cathedral, icon painters created a grandiose three-row iconostasis, including a $61 icon, among which - "Our Lady of Vladimir". Your most important work is an icon "Trinity ", Rublev created in the $10s - $20s. $XV$ c. for the Trinity Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Deeply overestimating Byzantine composition, Andrei Rublev abandoned genre details and focused on images of angels. The cup with the head of a calf placed in the center of the icon symbolizes the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The three angels depicted by Rublev are one, but not the same. Their agreement is achieved by a single rhythm, a circular movement. The circle, which has symbolized harmony since ancient times, is formed by the poses, movements of angels, and the correlation of their figures. Thus, Rublev managed to solve the most difficult creative problem, expressing two complex theological ideas about the sacrament of the Eucharist and the trinity of the deity. Andrei Rublev died between $1427$ and $1430$ and was buried in the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery in Moscow.

In $XIV$ -$XV$ centuries. in the most difficult conditions of the national liberation struggle and the strongest patriotic upsurge, the unification of North-Eastern Rus' was carried out. Moscow becomes the political and religious center of the rising united Russian state, the center of the formation of the Great Russian nation. The rise of national consciousness, the idea of ​​unity, the tendency to overcome centrifugal tendencies in social thought, literature, art - all this testified to the emergence of all-Russian (Great Russian) culture.

The beginning of the history of Russian painting is considered to be the era of the adoption of Christianity - the end of the 10th century. With the ideology of Christianity, Byzantine traditions spread in Rus'. pictorial art, which will remain dominant until the 15th century. Musiy images (musiyny – made on dye wood) are first made by visiting masters from Greece, from whom talented Russian young men study. One of them is St. Alimpiy of Pechersk, the first Russian icon painter.

The strict supervision of church authorities, who only allow the copying of Greek models and suppress any attempts to deviate from the canon, hampers the development of pictorial art for a long time. Until the 15th century, there was only one school of painting - Korsun (Greek). But in the 15th century the situation changed due to the spread of European ones decorated with polytypes and engravings. The work of Andrei Rublev, a representative of the Byzantine school, the author of the paintings of the Moscow Annunciation Cathedral, the cathedrals of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, etc., dates back to this period.

In the 17th century, the lag of the Russian icon painting school became obvious even to church authorities. Sovereign Alexei Mikhailovich invites Western masters who are capable of painting from life to paint the palace chambers - such a skill was absolutely absent in the domestic school. Simon Ushakov, a royal icon painter, tries to combine Byzantine and European techniques and creates a new icon painting style - Fryazhsky.
17th century The beginning of the development of secular painting
Since the 17th century, secular painting began to develop in Rus', especially decisively during the reign of Peter the Great. In Italy and Holland, Matveev, Zakharov, and the Nikitin brothers are studying the Western style of writing, and they are opening engraving and drawing classes at the Academy of Sciences.

Fashion and the desire for luxury became the reason for the high demand for painting during the time of Elizabeth Petrovna. But the works of foreign artists are in demand - Russian painters lag significantly behind in skill.

In 1757, the Academy of Arts was founded in St. Petersburg with 5 departments: painting, sculpture and sculpture, engraving, medal art (making coins and medals), architecture. People of all classes and even women (with the consent of the father or husband) were accepted into it - such was the need for domestic talents. However, the French leadership of the teaching for a long time determined the main types of painting - historical and heroic landscape painting in the style of Poussin and Claude Lorrain, which became the reason for the monotony and high conventionality of the images.

But development, albeit slowly, is taking place. In the portraits of the best artists of that time, Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Rokotov, Kiprensky, the truthfulness of nature is becoming more and more clear. D. G. Levitsky becomes the most fashionable portrait painter of the times of Catherine II. His ceremonial, very beautiful works are in great demand among the aristocratic environment; a characteristic example of Levitsky’s manner is a full-length portrait of Catherine II. Orest Kiprensky is ranked among the best Russian portrait painters. His best works are the portrait of Thordvalsen, the paintings “Sibilla of Tiburtine”, “Girl with Fruits”, etc.

For a very long time, until the first half of the 19th century, Russian painting remained predominantly imitative. Painters copied the techniques and subjects of French and Italian (Bolognese) masters. The reason was academic education and secular demand, which, like the church authorities, instilled ideas of imitation.

The first artists to take a step towards independence and vividness of the image were Basin, Warnek, Bruni. However, a fundamental break from the tradition of classicism is made by Karl Bryullov, who wrote “The Last Day of Pompeii.” Bryullov managed to awaken public interest in living art, and his romantic style of painting became a harbinger of Russian realism.

XIX century. The formation of national painting
The second half of the 19th century is characterized by a constant increase in love and simple interest in art. Many exhibitions are held. Rich connoisseurs appear, buying up paintings and creating private galleries. Private drawing schools are springing up.

In 1825, a department of Russian painting was organized in the Hermitage for public access. The break with imitative academicism is expressed in an appeal to everyday and peasant life, plots of simple reality. And even though Venetsianov’s paintings are more about the search for beauty than about beauty, they are of great importance for the formation of the Russian realistic school.

In 1863, a group of artists led by Kramskoy, condemning the policy of the Academy of Arts, left its membership, and in 1872 they formed a “association of traveling exhibitions”, in the future - the center of the national Russian school of painting. Over time, the most talented and original artists join them.

During these years, the Tretyakov Gallery appeared, many museums not only in both capitals, but also in provincial cities. The dominant direction becomes socially tendentious, designed to portray influencing, fighting, denouncing and preaching. The paintings of Perov, Pukirev, Pryanishnikov, Korzukhin, Savitsky, Myasoedov, Klodt are inspired by the ideas of literature and social thought.

Time for a change

The end of the 19th – beginning of the 20th centuries was a time of revolutionary changes and expectations of the revival of Russia. During this period, the famous “Bogatyrs” by Vasnetsov and “Cossacks” by Repin, “Suvorov’s Crossing of the Alps” by Surikov appeared. The paintings express patriotic ideas of national greatness and the innermost thought of its revival.

But not only turning to the great pages of history is characteristic of a time of great change. The younger Itinerants - S. Korovin, S. Ivanov, N. Kasatkin and others - turned to the life of the deaf, creating acutely social canvases that were revolutionary in their truthfulness.

“Evolution of Species” - Carl Linnaeus – the founder of systematization. Evolutionary theory Microevolution Macroevolution. Basic rules of evolution: Basic laws of biological evolution. Evolutionary doctrine. The most important concepts of evolution: Species criteria: Such speciation always proceeds rather slowly. Reproductive - genetic isolation of one species from others, even closely related ones.

“Russian painting of the 19th century” - Painters creating paintings on everyday stories, began to be called genre artists. Russian painting of the first half of the 19th century." It has spread to various spheres of human activity. “Portrait of a Son” 1818 “The Appearance of Christ to the People” 1837-1858 In the 18th century, everything strange, fantastic, picturesque and existing in books and not in reality was called romantic.

“History of Painting” - In Russia, the masters of still life were P. Konchalovsky, I. Mashkov, K. Petrov - Vodkin, M. Saryan and others. I. Ostroukhov. Dürer reveals to the viewer the value of individuality, awareness of one’s own significance. Daemon. Greyhound. The small (45x34 cm) painting "The Adoration of the Magi" is a unique work.

“Factors of evolution” - Hereditary variability Natural selection Isolation. The main provisions of the teachings of Charles Darwin. Modern interpretation of the main provisions of the theory. Why is population genetics necessary? Assignment for independent work. French biologist Jean Baptiste Lamarck (1744 – 1829). The concept of "evolution". Draw a conclusion: what are the factors of directional change in the gene pool and directional.

“Russian landscape painting” - “Savvinskaya Sloboda near Zvenigorod”. 1884 K. Korovin. Polenov. "October. Domotkanovo". 1895. "Summer Morning". 1920. Kuindzhi. " Golden autumn" 1893. “Autumn. On Bridge". 1910. "Gurzuf". 1915. Kuindzhi, a bright and talented artist who occupies a special place. Russian landscape painting. Somov. "Spring". 1917.

“Painting of the 20th century” - Fauvism. Igor Stravinsky. Topic: Aesthetics of experiment and the early Russian avant-garde. P. P. Konchalovsky. Albert Matisse. Picasso. In 1910 he became one of the organizers artistic association"Jack of Diamonds". Various types of dodecaphonic technique are known. Dodecaphony. Velemir Khlebnikov. V. V. Kandinsky.

In the second half of the 18th century, a style was formed in Russian art classicism. The originality of Russian classicism lay in the fact that its masters turned not only to antiquity, but also to their native history, that they strived for simplicity, naturalness and humanity. In classicism, the ideas of the absolutist state, which replaced feudal fragmentation. Absolutism expressed the idea of ​​firm power, and the eternity of the absolutist system was promoted. In the second half of the 17th century, along with other types of art in Russia, painting experienced serious changes. To a certain extent, they prepare for the radical reforms that took place in it at the beginning of the 18th century. Entering the position of modern art with a significant delay compared to other advanced artistically European countries, Russian painting in its own way reflects general patterns this stage of development. Comes to the fore secular art. Initially, secular painting was established in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but already from the second half of the 18th century it became widespread in other cities and estates. A traditional branch of painting, icon painting is still widely practiced in all levels of society.

Russian painting developed throughout the 18th century in close contact with the art of Western European schools, joining the common heritage - works of art of the Renaissance and Baroque, and also making extensive use of the experience of neighboring states. At the same time. as researchers have long established, art in general and painting in particular, throughout the 18th century, are connected by a single direction and have a pronounced national character. During this period in Russia they created greatest masters their work - representatives of the domestic art school and foreign painters. The most interesting phenomenon in the art of Peter the Great's era was the portrait. At the origins portrait painting worth new time I.N. Nikitin (approx. 1680 - 1742).

I.N. Nikitin vividly embodies the power of human possibilities opened by the era of Peter the Great. The greatest reformer of Russian painting, he shares with him triumphs, and in the end - tragic misfortunes. The portraits created by Nikitin in the early period are already quite European in nature, images closest to the works of the French school early XVIII century. Using pan-European experience, the Russian artist realizes his own ideas about peace, beauty and individual characteristics models. This is how a version of the portrait arises - generally understandable and completely unique. The brush of this great artist includes such works as: a portrait of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna and Tsarevna Praskovya Ioannovna (presumably 1714). Perhaps the most powerful work after Nikitin’s return from Italy is the portrait of State Chancellor G.I. Golovkin (1720s). In addition to increased literacy in drawing and painting techniques, he demonstrates the spirituality of expression and the interaction of the image with the viewer. No less seriousness is inherent in the “Portrait of a Floor Hetman” (1720s). The author's independence is manifested in the portrait of S.G. Stroganov (1726) and in the painting “Peter I on his deathbed” (1725). With the death of Peter, the life of the artist himself ended tragically - he was tried on false charges and exiled to Tobolsk. The work of another Russian painter also belongs to the Peter the Great era in spirit - Andrey Matveev (1701-1739). By order of Peter, he was sent to Holland to study, which provided the necessary level of knowledge. Even during his training, he created paintings - “Allegory of Painting” (1725) and “Venus and Cupid”. Matveev’s most famous work is “Self-Portrait with his Wife” (1729). Makeev’s work distinguishes this artist from his new culture of relationships. The husband and wife not only act as equals: the artist carefully and proudly presents his wife to the viewer. Interest in art and hard work. In the mid-18th century, A. Antropov was a major master of pictorial portraiture, combining a variety of artistic techniques. The son of a soldier, at the age of sixteen he began to study with Matveev, with whom he created a number of decorative paintings in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities. In the portrait of Peter III there is no idealization, usual for ceremonial royal portraits, created by artists- foreigners, although the same compositional solution. Antropov painted a very truthful, sharp, almost caricatured image of the tsar - narrow-shouldered, with long, skinny legs. The magnificent surroundings - a column, a canopy, a throne and a gilded table with royal regalia - emphasize the physical and spiritual insignificance of the king. Many artists of the 18th century came from serfdom, and some remained in serfdom until the end of their days. Count Sheremetyev's serf was Ivan Petrovich Argunov, a representative of a very talented family who gave many artists to Russian art. He is known primarily as a portrait painter. By order of the owner, he had to paint portraits of the St. Petersburg nobility, Sheremetyev’s acquaintances and members of his family. Usually they did not pose, and Argunov, as he himself said, painted them while observing them during ceremonial holidays in the owner’s palace. Sheremetyev did not appreciate the artist in Argunov, often gave him a variety of instructions and, finally, sent him to Moscow to manage his Moscow house, thereby almost depriving the artist of the opportunity to paint. Argunov's creative activity unfolded in the years 1750-1760. His fame was brought to him by the portraits of B. Sheremetyev and V. Sheremetyeva - self-confident and arrogant nobles of a noble family. Argunov, who studied with Groot, mastered the style of Western European ceremonial portraiture. It is no coincidence that he received an order to paint a portrait of the new empress, Catherine II. Although classicism reached full maturity at the beginning of the 19th century, it was already in the second half of the 18th century. portrait art reaches its true peak. The greatest painters create at this time F. Rokotov, D. Levitsky and V. Borovikovsky , who created a brilliant gallery of portraits of their contemporaries, works full of deep thought, glorifying the beauty and nobility of human aspirations. These portraits not only brought to us the images of many wonderful people, but also were evidence of the high artistry of Russian artists, their originality, as well as the maturity of pictorial and plastic culture. Artists knew how to recreate a real image using various pictorial means: exquisite color shades, additional colors and reflections, a rich system of multi-layer paint application. Among the largest Russian portrait painters of the second half of the 18th century, F. Rokotov was the most original. Already as a young man, he became widely known as a skillful and original painter. His creative heritage much. Rokotov was already a student at the Academy of Arts in 1760, and three years later became its teacher and then an academician. The service distracted the artist from creativity, and official orders became a burden. In 1765, Rokotov left the Academy of Arts and moved permanently to Moscow. There began a new, very creative fruitful period his life. He became the artist of the enlightened nobility in independent and sometimes freethinking Moscow. His works reflected the desire of the best, enlightened part of the Russian nobility to follow high moral standards, characteristic of that time. The artist loved to depict a person without a formal entourage, without posing. People in Rokotov's later portraits become more attractive in their intelligence and spirituality. Rokotov usually uses soft lighting and focuses all the attention on faces. People in his portraits almost always smile a little, often looking intently, sometimes mysteriously, at the viewer. They are united by something in common, some kind of deep humanity and warmth. In terms of spirituality, picturesqueness, and general sophistication, many of Rokotov’s portraits have an analogy in the portraiture of the best English masters of the 18th century. When Rokotov's work flourished, the work of another major painter began - Dmitry Levitsky, who created a series of truthful, deep-characteristic portraits. He was probably born in Kyiv and initially studied fine art with his father, a famous Ukrainian engraver. In 1770, at an exhibition at the Academy of Arts, Levitsky presented a number of portraits, immediately appearing as a mature and major master. For one of them - the architect A. Kokorinov - he was awarded the title of academician. The artist still relies on the traditions of Baroque portraiture. Soon Levitsky created the famous series of portraits of Smolyanka girls - students of the Smolny Institute. Made by order of Empress Catherine II, it brought him real fame. The artist depicted each of the pupils of this privileged noble educational institution doing their favorite pastime, in a characteristic pose. Levitsky perfectly conveyed the charm of youth, the happiness of young life, different tempers. Levitsky's intimate portraits from the heyday of his work, which occurred in the 1770s and 1780s, represent the pinnacle of the artist's achievements. In St. Petersburg, he painted the French philosopher Denis Diderot, who visited the Russian capital, deliberately depicting him in a dressing gown and without a wig. M. Lvov’s portraits are filled with grace and femininity; Ursula Mniszech appears to be an empty social beauty; calculating coquettishness is inherent in the Italian prima donna comic opera singer A. Bernuzzi. Levitsky treated the models of his portraits differently: some - with warmth and sympathy, others - as if indifferently, and condemned others. Like many Russian artists of that time, Levitsky received much less for his portraits than visiting foreign painters. He died in dire need as a very old man, without leaving his brush until his last days. V.L. Borovikovsky (1757-1825) as it were, he closes the galaxy of the largest Russian portrait painters of the 18th century. Borovikovsky, like Levitsky, he comes from Ukraine. Already in the first years of St. Petersburg, he became close to the circle headed by N.A. Lvov, and repeatedly portrayed people close to this society. Quite quickly, with the support of friends, acquaintances and the Austrian painter I.B. Lampi, who enjoyed success at the court, Borovikovsky became popular among a wide circle of the St. Petersburg nobility. The artist portraits entire family “clans” - the Lopukhins, Tolstoys, Arsenyevs, Gagarins, Bezborodkos, who spread his fame through related channels. Portraits of Catherine II, her many grandchildren, Finance Minister A.I. Vasilyev and his wife date back to this period of his life. Predominant place in creativity Borovikovsky occupy intimate portraits. The artist’s canvases are very elegant thanks to the graceful posing of the models, graceful gestures and skillful use of costume. Heroes Borovikovsky usually inactive, most models are intoxicated with their own sensitivity. This is expressed by the portrait of M.I. Lopukhina (1797), and the portrait of Skobeeva (mid-1790s), and the image of the daughter of Catherine II and A.G. Potemkin - E.G. Temkina (1798) . Much attention The artist devotes his time to small-format miniature portraits that have been very successful. Also Borovikovsky- author of a number of double and family group portraits that appeared after the 1800s. From all of the above, we can conclude that throughout the entire 18th century, Russian art of painting passed big way formation according to the laws of new times. The needs of the era were reflected in the predominant development of secular painting - portrait, landscape, historical and everyday genres.

Bibliography

• 1. History of Russian art. In 6 volumes 1956
• 2. Encyclopedic dictionary of Russian artists. Pedagogy. 1983
• 3. Album “Russian artists from “A” to “Z””, M., Slovo 1996
• 4. Children's Encyclopedia 12, Moscow, Pedagogika Publishing House, 1977
• 5. G. Ostrovsky “The Story of Russian Painting”, Moscow, art, 1987

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Realism and Direction
Realism is usually considered the main moment in the history of Russian painting and its hallmark ahead of all other schools. Since then, however, realism has ceased to be a “modern” phenomenon and
moved back into
historical perspective,
its outlines entered into true proportions with the other phases of Russian painting, and it lost its predominant significance. From now on, realism can only be considered as
one of significant movements in our school.
In the 18th century, with the exception of portraitists and landscape painters, realism appeared partly on the basis of amateur and imitative, partly on the basis of ethnography. A class was founded at the Academy of Arts household painting, called a “home exercise class” and had the goal of educating Russian Teniers and Wauwermans for lovers of Russian painting. But the works of various foreign ethnographers and individual series of engravings by foreign artists, who for the first time drew attention to the peculiarities of Russian life, were of much greater importance for our everyday painting.
Of course
these draftsmen
–
Leprince,
Geisler, Damam, Atkinson and others were not realists in
in the real sense of the word.

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Benois: History of Painting, 67
Realism and Direction
The principle of their creation was not the desire to depict lovely Everyday life; they just brought it in curiosities special way of Russian life. But what was important was that they drew the attention of Russian society to the picturesqueness and beauty of folk life. Several Russians followed on their heels: under Catherine II -
curious, but still unexplored
Ermenev, as well as Tankov, Mikh. Ivanov, sculptor
Kozlovsky; Later
Martynov, Alexandrov,
partly Orlovsky (discussed above),
Karneev; illustrators: Galaktionov, I. Ivanov,
Sapozhnikov and others. Of all these artists, the most interesting is Tankov (1740 (41?)–1799).
He took on complex subjects, like "Fair"
or “Fire in the Village,” and dealt with them quite successfully with the help of reminiscences of Dutch and Flemish paintings.
The real first realist undoubtedly remains Alexei Venetsianov (1780–1847), one of the most amazing figures of the Russian school. IN
the beginning of its activities,
not being a professional painter, he escaped the leveling influence of the Academy. Venetsianov was not touched by the successes of his peers Egorov and
Shebueva in classic taste. He modestly chose a special path for himself and methodically, calmly

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Benois: History of Painting, 68
Realism and Direction passed him by,
and laid the foundation for a small school of artists, just like him,
engaged in an ingenuous depiction of the surrounding reality.
From the subsequent phase of realism art
Venetsianova is distinguished by one very characteristic and
in a purely artistic sense, a valuable feature:
it
meaningless. They didn’t touch the stories, they didn’t touch the jokes,
In most cases,
Venetsianova
6
, but purely picturesque motives,
purely colorful tasks,
directly offered to him by nature. And Venetsianov was at his best, which allowed him to solve these problems very simply and artistically. In technical terms, Venetsianov received more than many of his peers. He was lucky enough to be a student of Borovikovsky at one time, and from this virtuoso he learned more than one secret of painting skill,
subsequently completely forgotten.
Best paintings
Venetsianov: his portraits, his “Threshing Floor”, in which he set out, in imitation of Grana,
depict the inside of a poorly lit building, its charming “Landowner busy with housework”,
reminiscent of light effect paintings by Pieter de Hooch, his group

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Benois: History of Painting, 69
Realism and the Direction of the Peasants “Cleaning the Beetroot” – belongs undeniably to classical works Russian school.
Venetsianov was aware of his separate significance and sought to strengthen the art he had planted on his native soil. At the same time, he even dared to enter into some struggle with
Academy and created his own academy,
in which his only guidance was a careful study of nature.
There were also patrons of this idea, and at one time Venetsianov’s school flourished. They came out of it
Plakhov,
Zaryanko,
Krylov,
Mikhailov,
Mokritsky, Krendovsky, Zelentsov, Tyranov,
Shchedrovsky, all modest, invisible people, but who passed on to posterity a very true image of their time. Among them, Krylov (1802–1831) and Tyranov were distinguished by their special subtlety
(1808–1859);
did the most
Shchedrovsky, who left a long series of types of Gogol's Petersburg. Unfortunately, Venetsianov’s school did not have time to put down strong roots, and the master himself, in his old age, had to see
like his best students, blinded by success
Bryullov, cheated on him and moved one after another to the workshop of the author of "Pompeii", where they quickly lost their freshness and turned into

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Benois: History of Painting, 70
Realism and the Direction of Cold and Pompous Academicians. There was only one faithful student of Venetsianov left
Zaryanko (1818–1870), good technician, but unfortunately,
very limited person
who turned the living instructions of his teacher into a motionless and dead formula. Portraits
The Robins are impeccably drawn and painted with remarkable method, but they are dry and lifeless, reminiscent of colorized photographs.
Separately from Venetsianov, in the first half
In the 19th century, several more realists worked,
engaged, however, almost exclusively in portraiture. These include Warnek (a very vital artist and an excellent draftsman,
Unfortunately,
had an unpleasant coloring) and subtle watercolorists: P. F. Sokolov,
M.
Terebenev and
A.
Bryullov.
Several first-class interieurs were written, completely in the spirit of Venetsianov, by Count F. P. Tolstoy. IN
In them, the harsh atmosphere of the empire is softened by a sweet and sincere coziness in the execution. These are some of the most touching paintings in Russian painting.
In the 1920s, the so-called “genre” began to play a prominent role in the West.
those.
sentimental,
ridiculous or

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Benois: History of Painting, 70
Realism and Direction are moral stories from life conveyed in pictures. This type of painting was brought to us in
30s.
He acquired several followers among Russian artists: Sternberg, who died early, and partly Neff,
a little later Iv. Sokolov, Trutovsky,
Chernyshev and others. Their art differed from Venetsianov’s in that their main task was no longer painting itself, but one or another subject,
told through painting
7
They laid the first foundations for “meaningful art,” and soon, again following the West, realism on a tendentious basis flourished in our country.
The trend embraced almost the entire next generation of artists. Only the faithful sons of the Academy and such artists remained on the sidelines,
who, by the very essence of their field, had to remain within the limits of simple rendering of nature: landscape painters and portrait painters
(among the latter is Zaryanko and the talented, dexterous
Makarov). A special place, however, is also occupied by the magnificent, although extremely uneven Peter
Sokolov
(1821–1899).
Of the entire series of artists of the 40s - 70s, he was the only one who remained faithful to painting and its direct tasks. Unfortunately,
Peter
Sokolov was a man too

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Realism and Direction are disorderly, and this trait was reflected in his work in an eloquent way. The vast majority of his things are improvised bad taste. Just some of his portraits,
some dull typically Russian landscapes,
some of his hunting scenes show us how great master And
a true artist. Next to it you can also call
Sverchkov (1818–1891), an artist who was not particularly gifted or skillful, but who nevertheless created a special field for himself and expressed in it his simple-minded love for the “Russian horse.”
The founder of tendentious, "ideological"
painting in
Russia was
P.
A. Fedotov
(1815–1852), a poor officer, an ardent art enthusiast, who turned to the “small” kind of everyday painting partly because he had more “serious” and higher tasks -
self-taught amateur -
not available. However,
significant role in
talent formation
Fedotov was also played by the conditions of his life. The son of a modest retired officer, Fedotov grew up in semi-provincial freedom,
amidst the characteristic peculiar atmosphere of the Moscow philistinism. Here Fedotov could learn to the very roots all the peculiarities of the customs of provincial inhabitants. In the building and, later, in

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Realism and Direction in the company of his comrades, he became acquainted with the world of the military, so significant in Nicholas times. Finally, with artistic world he came into contact as a fully formed person, when it was already too late for him to learn again, when all his concepts had formed and he had developed his own manner of grasping and capturing phenomena.
“Direction” was already in the air in the mid-1840s. After world grief and the abstract aestheticism of the romantics, the first calls for
reconstruction of reality.
U
us Westerners and
the Slavophiles formed camps and from recent friends turned into bitter enemies;
a powerful galaxy of our great writers has matured,
contributed Russians thoughts into general culture, and despite the bronze government of Nicholas -
there was a suffocating mood of conspiracy in the air.
I felt the need to change my skin,
renew, improve. Society has outgrown the forms in which it was bandaged.
In painting this mood was to find its echo; but it is quite natural that this echo could not sound from the walls
Imperial Academy of Arts, from this bureaucratic, semi-court world, and completely

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Realism and Direction are natural too,
that's not methodical
Venetsianov and his unpretentious students could provide the first examples of "thinking"
painting. Fedotov alone was almost entirely suitable for this, but he, a pensioner from the sovereign, a former officer, a modest man,
simple-minded and
despite your intelligence
childishly naive, could not become on par with literature.
He limited himself to
what Gogol had limited himself to fifteen years before, i.e.
a rather sharp, but not particularly caustic mockery of the weaknesses and stupidities of his compatriots.
This was the first time he spoke to the public in
1849 with his oil paintings:
"Fresh Cavalier" (a rather bold satire on bureaucratic ambition for its time) and with its "Major's Matchmaking", a more cheerful than evil illustration merchant environment. After that, he created a series of pictures in which the first attempts at female emancipation were ridiculed,
funny sides of the petty nobility, bureaucratic world- all themes that were sufficiently used by humor magazines of the time.
A special place is occupied by his last works, in which he seemed to turn towards

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Realism and Direction more poetic,
calm and
artistic direction: “Widow” and the charming picture, exceptional in its aching melancholy, “Anchor, more anchor!”
Fedotov was torn away from art,
still relatively in
young years,
severe mental illness, which was soon followed by death. If we take into account that he took up painting seriously only for thirty years, it becomes quite understandable why his work seems more like just a talented “introduction” than a complete whole.
The best that this sensitive artist could give,
unusually quickly developed from an inept self-taught person into a subtle and sometimes even a beautiful painter(let us remember the pieces of dead nature in his paintings, worthy of the “old Dutch”) -
He took this best to his grave. His direct heir was another Muscovite, according to the changed spirit of the times, much more daring, but less attractive, almost inept - Perov.
Perov was born in 1834. His childhood and youth passed in the village and in the provinces (he was a student of the Stupino art school in
Arzamas), and his youth in Moscow, where he graduated
School of painting and
sculptures
WITH
him

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Realism and Direction the Mother Throne decisively enters into
the history of Russian art, and this is quite natural, not so much because typically Russian life was in full swing in Moscow,
attracted
in the coverage of realistic literature, everyone’s attention is paid to themselves, because
what in
In Moscow there was an art school in which reigned full
Liberty
and even more likely stupid and
unscrupulousness. Zeitgeist of the 50s and 60s,
who set the ideal of the emancipation of the human personality,
should have had a negative attitude towards all kinds of fetters,
to all traditions connecting creativity, and therefore to St. Petersburg Academy with her Areopagus. In this, however, lay a great danger for young Russian art: it became freer and
more interesting,
But,
overwhelmed by the splendor of literature,
it was losing its independence and at the same time decisively turning away from its special laws.
Has begun new period Russian painting,
the so-called “original Russian school” was born, and at the same time it was precisely
school
went out,
equipment was lost
painting was forgotten.
Perov was a true son of his time.

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Realism and Direction
A person with a great gift of observation,
inquisitive, courageous, passionately devoted to his work - he certainly belongs to very large phenomena of Russian culture, but his paintings are bleak as such; he wrote stories in colors that would be much brighter and clearer in verbal presentation. He was not occupied pictorial themes, but stories that can be depicted through painting. Even in
Paris,
where did he go as a pensioner
Academy, he completely missed the whole storm that was bubbling at that time. artistic movements, and in Parisian life, almost from the first day of his arrival, he began to look for motives for the same “meaningful” paintings for which he had already become famous in his homeland. Of course, nothing came of this, and, confused in the study of a world alien to him, he, with rare frankness and conscientiousness, abandoned his idea and asked permission to return to his homeland. IN
This fact is a whole page of history.
TO
unfortunately,
not for our art alone,
but for our entire culture the feverish rise of social life,
which followed the Crimean campaign and the accession to the throne of Alexander II, too soon settled down on half measures, on cruel

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Realism and Direction of the mutual misunderstanding of the government and
intelligentsia, on the inert savagery of the vast majority of the people.
After several “liberal” years, during which we seemed to begin to catch up with the general civilization of mankind, a gloomy reaction set in, and this reaction had the most deplorable effect on our art: even those modest sprouts of some kind of unique understanding of the tasks of art,
which
we appeared in
works of Fedotov and Perov, froze and withered. Perov, who went abroad in 1864 after creating his crude, but pleasant in his harshness of accusatory paintings, he returned to his homeland at a moment when there was nothing to even think about continuing such painting.
As a result of this, his art, and after him the art of the masses of other artists, remained some kind of unspoken word.
Perhaps the least artistic thing that Perov did were his first paintings,
written by him during the period of "great reforms". But at the same time, these works of his - “The Arrival of the Chief for Investigation”, “Sermon in the Village”, “Tea Party in
Mytishchi" and especially "Rural religious procession at Easter"
8
belong to the most valuable of what he has done. They have flaws

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Realism and the Direction of painting are redeemed (just as in the contemporary painting
Jacobi "Halt")
historical character and
courageous straightforwardness. Like works of art
- they are bad, like historical documents - they are priceless.
IN
further works
Perova is found, however, not alone fine line observation and touching attention to life, but in general they are inferior to his first attempts. From the style of Courbet, Perov moved in them to a sentimental caricature in the spirit of Knaus, and since his painting did not manage to acquire anything, the result was something boring and tasteless. In the same spirit, he performed only “Meal”
and "The arrival of the governess in merchant's house", an unusually typical picture, worthy of the best scenes
Ostrovsky. The last paintings in which
Perov suddenly turned to Bryullov and began to depict historical anecdotes in enormous proportions, which are hitherto a mystery and indicate
anyway,
at the artistic lack of culture of the master, at the complete stupidity in his views. Wanting to get away from the “direction,” he found no other way out than into banal academicism.

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Realism and Direction
Despite all his shortcomings, Perov is the largest figure of all the artists of the time
Alexandra II. But next to him, and for several years after his death, many curious craftsmen worked, almost without exception, collected
P. M. Tretyakov in his gallery. One circumstance united some of these artists and created from them the core, which later grew into
Association of Traveling Exhibitions. This circumstance is known in history as the “failure of 13 competitors.”
At that time, among academic youth central figure I. Kramskoy appeared cheerful, intelligent and incomparably more mature than all his comrades. He managed to group around himself a galaxy of the freshest young men, and little by little the passion of this group for new ideas (a passion that initially found some encouragement from the academic authorities) took on a more conscious, more programmatic character. The silent struggle gradually turned into an open one and ended with the fact that at the act of November 9, 1863, thirteen competitors for gold medals refused the given
Academy themes with a mythological plot and,
having failed to achieve the conditions they set for a freer competition,
left
Academy.

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Realism and Direction
Finding themselves suddenly in the whirlwind of life, yesterday’s students were forced to unite more closely and found a kind of community, which they called
Artel.
The very fact that a group of young and brave people were rejected from the Academy was of great significance. The seed of protest against the imposed school formula had been sown. Everything that was fresh and
independent in
Russian artistic youth, now pestered
Artel, and if it was not part of it, then, in any case, it was fed by those theories, and most importantly,
that fortitude
which were developed and
were supported by the first private artistic community in Russia.
Later, with the founding of the Association of Traveling Exhibitions (in 1870), the role of such a “headquarters”
of advanced Russian art passed to the Partnership, which it remained with for more than 20 years, until the emergence of the World of Art exhibitions.
And yet the most important of our artist-preachers and denouncers was not a member of the Artel and not a member of the Partnership.
The completely isolated figure of V.V. Vereshchagin has the honor of being, after Perov, the most prominent representative of new artistic

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Realism and Direction of Views.
Vereshchagin (1842–1904) is a very typical personality for Russia in the 1860s and 1870s. IN
the opposite of most of his comrades, who came from the people and remained semi-cultured all their lives and, as a result, somewhat closed, cut off from the “good”
society by people,
Vereshchagin,
on the contrary,
by its origin,
education and
partly even by position he belonged to this “good” society. IN
this is the basis of an incomparably more widespread meaning and
a more conscious program of his work, greater courage and consistency in his preaching.
It is not without reason that Vereshchagin is the most famous Russian artist abroad. Touching on Russian topics, he approached them from the point of view of a completely cultured person - a global citizen. IN
there is no trace of naive Russophilia in his paintings,
stubborn and stupid separatism from the general culture,
characterizing many of his peers. Vereshchagin was a typical Russian "master"
person with
Very broad-minded, with a very sympathetic mind, with great nobility in intentions and absolutely no knowledge of petty and narrow nationalism.

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Realism and Direction
Unfortunately, this feature of “lordship” loses almost all meaning,
as soon as we turn to the study of the works themselves
Vereshchagin. And this is very typical for a Russian artist. Vereshchagin was a “European” in his entire program, in his entire idea, but in the execution of his idea he remained some kind of barbarian. His affiliation with " to a better society"didn't save him, and Vereshchagin couldn't get correct views to art from communication with people in one’s circle, in most cases with
contempt and
perplexed about his calling. He could learn even less for his art from communication with our advanced artistic camp,
completely occupied with social tasks and completely indifferent to
purely aesthetic purposes. True, Vereshchagin came to Europe as a young man, but his little aesthetic preparation in his homeland did not show him such phenomena there from which he could draw beneficial instructions for himself.
Menzel, Degas, Manet, Monet and many others,
alive and vigorous, remained for him - alive and vigorous - absolutely incomprehensible.
This is the reason for the bleak impression,
received from Vereshchagin's creativity. Not that

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Realism and Direction It’s bad that he was more of an ethnographer than an artist, not that he was a preacher of complete sincerity, telling in his paintings what he saw and experienced, but that
that in all his creation there is too little
picturesque
advantages.
This cultured person He was cultured only mentally. He was interested in ideas, but he was indifferent to forms.
Nevertheless, Vereshchagin will retain a place of honor in the history of Russian art.
To begin with, his paintings have not yet lost their interest. This means that great power is hidden in them,
great creativity. True, they are poorly written and helplessly drawn, but they were conceived with great wit and
arranged with
outstanding "director's" talent. And this is not the last thing in art. But even in a purely picturesque sense, Vereshchagin, despite his shortcomings, is not without significance. He was a pioneer in his time, and many of his discoveries of light and color can still serve as valuable indications. Some of his Indian sketches are indeed saturated with light and heat, and in other costume studies the brightness and brilliance of his colors are striking.

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Realism and Direction
The largest, next to Vereshchagin,
among the generation of Russian artists of the 1870s,
undoubtedly
is
AND.
E.
Repin,
found the Academy of Arts back in the days of Bruni’s rectorship, but is in fact the most bright student and follower
Kramskoy. It is curious that Kramskoy himself, in his work, remained aloof from the movement he encouraged. He was too smart and sensitive to give himself entirely to the rather naive art program of his time. But
Kramskoy felt relative the temporary importance of this program and
dialed in
representatives of everyone who could be useful to her. He took on their education or re-education with special zeal, regardless of the damage that he caused them by such imposition of a narrow formula.
One of victims Kramskoy was also Repin,
undeniably a wonderful talent
cheerful and
broad, his whole life, however, spent in some kind of wanderings in areas that have little in common with the true tasks of art.
Repin by his very nature - painter.
During the period of complete decline of our picturesque
schools, when the Academy was dominated by those who were excellent in themselves, but completely unsuitable for their

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Realism and Time Direction are Bruni's recipes, when otherwise art society, following Perov, everyone abandoned all concern for painting, when in our high society the last word remained with the mannered and cloying Zichy - Repin managed to create for himself a unique and strong style of painting and develop a very fresh and true palette for that time. It is remarkable that in this area he remained completely independent from
Kramskoy, from his teacher’s pedantry and timid copying of nature. Repin took one step completely to the side and in his painting resembled the energetic old masters who knew no other school than the persistent study of nature.
Unfortunately, Repin was also prevented from
lack of education. Repin worked a lot on himself and has come a long way from the peasant apprentice he was from Chuguev to
Petersburg in 1863. However, at the root of the matter, Repin remained a man unconscious of his calling. And he, like
Vasnetsov, left the naive and sensitive folk understanding of art, but never came to a conscious,
cultural attitude.
IN
In particular, the meaning of painting remained an unsolved mystery for him. All his life Repin

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Realism and Direction applied his magnificent, but underdeveloped pictorial gift to the service of non-artistic tasks, and, of course, neither Stasov’s sermon, sympathetic in its sincerity, nor the influence of the politician Kramskoy could save him from delusions.
Repin was not corrected even by foreign lands, where he was sent by the Academy after he had created energetic and
beautifully composed "Barge Haulers on the Volga". In Rome, with the sincerity of a barbarian, he criticized the classics of painting, and in
In Paris, following the example of all Russians, he became completely confused and began to rush from side to side,
not being able to draw anything from the only sources useful to him. Upon returning home, Repin never recovered. He rewrote all the outstanding people of his time, created whole line incriminating pictures with
stories from the “nihilist” and “gendarmerie” times,
finally, he tried his hand at the “historical genre”, but almost never set himself the tasks of pure painting; everywhere he subordinated the technique and beauty of the colorful effect to some kind of rational considerations.
Repin’s misfortune is that, having believed in the formula of “meaningful” painting, he believed

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Realism and Direction and the fact that he has a strong dramatic talent.
Of course, Repin great artist and as such,
very impressionable
a person who grasps things vividly. But still, his vocation was not in “meaningful” painting,
but in painting itself, taken an und für sich.
Through clever calculation
Repin managed to adjust his paintings with great effect, with great clarity (“Religious procession in
Kursk province"), sometimes with a note of true tragedy ("Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan"),
sometimes with humor ("Cossacks"), almost always with successful directorial dexterity, but nowhere can one find a genuine mood in them,
living revelation, what is in Ivanov and in
Surikov.
Best of all about Repin are his portraits. But rudeness casts an unpleasant shadow on them. Repin is a purely external talent,
Meanwhile, he tried his best to give “characteristics” of faces in his portraits. As a result, his portraits are tasteless in color and composition, haphazardly drawn and sculpted,
carelessly and ugly written and at the same time,
in the sense of characterization, they are full of rude and unpleasant underlinings. In this respect they lag far behind the clever portraits of Ge and

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Realism and Direction of even accurate portraits of Kramskoy.
Perov, Vereshchagin and Repin are the main foundations of our “meaningful” realism, but many artists worked alongside them, whose works are of great interest for the history of art and especially for the history of our culture.
Particularly typical “directors” are: the stern Savitsky,
conscientious dry Maksimov and Yaroshenko,
perpetuating the image of "nihilist" youth
1870s and 1880s. Less strong, but still characteristic things were given: the same age as Fedotov
Shmelkov (1819–1890), “competitors of 1863”:
Korzukhin
(1835–1894),
Lemokh,
Morozov and
Zhuravlev (1836–1901), as well as
Zagorsky,
Skadovsky, Popov, Solomatkin, M. P. Klodt and others.
Finally,
epigones of this trend,
who continue in our time to repeat the backs of the program
1860s,
are:
Bogdanov-Belsky, Baksheev and Kasatkin.
TO
epigones should also be included
Vladimir Makovsky (born in 1846), although he is only two years younger than Repin. Makovsky has all the characteristic features of an epigone. His art contains no attentive rigor
Perov, neither the cheerful persuasiveness of Savitsky or Yaroshenko, nor the strong artistic

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Realism and Direction of Repin's temperament.
Vladimir Makovsky among all his gloomy, even gloomy,
strict and thoughtful comrades - “joker”,
having a constant smile on his face, constantly winking at the viewer to make him laugh.
But this laughter of Makovsky is not the cheerful laughter of the simple-minded Fedotov or the evil laughter of Perov.
Jokes
Vladimir
Makovsky
–
jokes of a proud person who considers it his duty to amuse the audience and tries to attract attention even in such moments when everyone is absorbed in common and heavy grief. Strange affair,
but this feature of Vladimir’s art
Makovsky became clear only little by little, and in his time he was considered the same full-fledged warrior of the “serious trend” as Perov,
Repin or Savitsky. Technically
Vladimir Makovsky in his heyday was better than many of his comrades.
Only later did his coloring become heavy and unpleasant, his painting timid. The paintings “Nightingale Lovers” 1872–73, “Bank Collapse”
1881, "Acquitted" 1882, "Family Affair"
1884 and several of his portraits belong to the most perfect paintings of the “Wanderers”. They have a certain quickness of the brush and mastery of paint that cannot be found in

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Realism and Direction in the works of Savitsky and Yaroshenko.
Another artist
–
"director"
deserves special consideration
–
This
Pryanishnikov (1840–1894) – His first painting “Jokers. Gostiny Dvor in Moscow”, painted a year after Perov left abroad,
is next to the "Procession" and "The Arrival of the Governess"
one of the most significant paintings of the 1860s. However
Pryanishnikov is even more interesting because over time he tried to break out of the narrow rut of direction and was one of the first to begin looking for new paths. Let's say his "Spassov day on
North" 1887 strongly resembles a photograph and is not an exemplary painting, but it was also important that while Repin was busy with his version of the "Religious Procession",
Vladimir Makovsky continued to write his humorless jokes, and everyone else tried to write “necessary” things. Pryanishnikov suddenly abandoned all intentions to teach, tell,
impose his thoughts and turned to simple image reality. At that time this was still a bold innovation, but less than ten years had passed before pure realism became the slogan of all young Russian art.