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Victor
Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
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Vasnetsov created a new style, inspired by Russian fairy-tales. His
painting influenced greatly the development of modernism and
symbolism in Russian art.
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Son of a village
clergyman, Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov prepared himself for the
same career, but the passionate love for art brought the 19-year-old
student of ecclesiastical seminary to St. Petersburg's Academy of
Arts. During his years (1868-75) in the Academy Vasnetsov got
a thorough professional training; an especially big role in his
education was played by professor
Pavel
Tchistyakov.
Victor Vasnetsov started as a scene painter; the influence of
Fedotov
and
Perov
in his early works is evident
Moving
House (1876),
At
a Bookseller's (1876),
News
from the Front (1878),
A
Game of Preference (1879). In the late 1870s early 1880s,
Vasnetsov tried himself in historical genre
Battle
of Slavs and Scythians (1881),
After
Prince Igor's Battle with the Polovtsy (1880). He borrowed the
subjects from ancient history. He found another source of subjects
in Russian mythology – legends, ballads, fairy-tales. Vasnetsov
was born and grew up in a northern Russian village and almost to the
age of 20 lived in an environment where the ‘folklore outlook’
was still alive; his very soul was steeped in the poetry of Russian
epic literature. He wasn't only the first artist to use subjects
from folklore, but also the first to borrow methods and techniques
from national folk art. Thus he became the founder of new
style in Russian painting.
Vasnetsov was an active member of the Abramtsevo circle (Abramtsevo
is the estate of the well-known patron of arts Savva Mamontov),
which sought to revive national traditions. Many undertakings by the
Abramtsevo Colony, whether the construction of a church at
Abramtsevo, where Vasnetsov, as the designer, first coped with the
problem of creating a whole, integral ensemble, or the erection of
the ‘Witch’s Hut” (also to his design), or the sets and
costumes for the production of Alexander Ostrovsky’s lyrical
fairy-tale The Snow Maiden and for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera
of the same name, staged at Mamontov’s private Opera in 1885, were
to become milestones not only for Vasnetsov but also for the Russian
art in whole.
In 1882, Vasnetsov received a commission to produce a decorative
panel for the rotunda of the Historical Museum in Moscow, which was
his first big monumental project. Yet the most significant and
time-consuming work of this type was the decoration of the Cathedral
of St. Vladimir in Kiev, which Vasnetsov began in the autumn of 1885
at the invitation of the art historian Adrian Prakhov, who
supervised the construction of the cathedral. Vasnetsov jumped at
this offer as it gave him the opportunity to create an integral
ensemble comparable to those done by ancient fresco-painters. Work
on the decoration of the cathedral took over 10 years, during which
Vasnetsov executed nearly 400 sketches and studies. The murals he
painted with his assistants covered almost two thousand square
meters. Fulfilling this assignment Vasnetsov relied on his favorite
range of motifs and characters, painting the walls with the images
of princes Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky, Andrey Bogoliubsky, Princess
Olga, the chronicler Nestor, and other outstanding figures from
Russian history.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vasnetsov actively worked
in different fields. He produced a number of architectural designs,
including those for his own house in Moscow (1894), for a pavilion
at the World Fair in Paris (1898), and for E. Tsvetkov’s house on
the Moskva River (1901-03), as well as designs for decoration of the
Great Kremlin Palace (1898), the Faceted Chamber (1901-03), and
other buildings in the Kremlin. In 1904, he designed the façade of
the Tretyakov Gallery.
During the last 20 years of his life Vasnetsov turned to his
favorite lyrical subjects inspired by Russian fairy-tales. These
include
Three
Bogatyrs (1898),
The
Frog Tsarevna (1918), The Tale of the Sleeping Beauty (1900-26),
and the
Unsmiling
Tsarevna (1916-26). Thanks to his enchantment with Russian epos
and history, thanks to his search for a genuinely Russian pictorial
idiom, Vasnetsov was able, of the eve of the 20th century, to
inspire many artists to reaffirm the moral and aesthetic ideals of
the people, to revive Russian’s spiritual legacy.Bibliography:
Victor Vasnetsov by A. Lazuko. Russian Painters. Leningrad.
1990. |
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| Three
Bogatyrs, or three knights, are the heroes of many
legends: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Aliosha Popovich.
Each of the character has his own set of legends. Though every
hero had his own adventures, every one defended his land, the
poor, and fought the enemies of Russia; and they were all
adored by the people. Here the painter depicted them all
together, guarding the Russian borders. |
A
Knight at Crossroads. In many Russian folk-tales there is
such an episode when a traveling vityaz (knight) at the
crossroads meets a rock with a not-very-much-inspiring choice:
If you go to the right – you'll loose your horse;
If you go to the left – you'll loose your life;
If you go forwards – you'll loose both… |
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Many thanks to
www.abcgallery.com
www.russianartgallery.org
www.elibron.com |
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