GOLDEN COLLECTION. RUSSIAN ART

Portraits of merchants of the work of local artists, previously stored in the Yakutsk Museum of Local Lore, organically complemented the Russian collection. The written testimonies left by travelers and people who, by the will of fate, were on the far outskirts of the Russian Empire, always noted with surprise that there were skilled craftsmen in Yakutsk who wrote eminent citizens and painted numerous churches and cathedrals.

In portraits of Yakut merchants Solovyovs by an unknown artist of the beginning of the XIX century, the Russian tradition of portrait painting, coming from parsuna letter, still long preserved in the Russian province, can be clearly seen. The model’s face is expressive on the «Portrait of a Merchant» looking directly at the viewer. In the lively gaze of dark eyes, one feels the hardness of character and clarity of mind. Conditionally written, as if a figure spread on a plane gives significance to the figure.

The «Portrait of a Merchant» (woman portrait) paired to him unites the generality of the compositional scheme. The decorative clothing of the woman is emphasized, in which the artist is attentive to the smallest detail, reproducing the floral pattern and creases of the fabric of an elegant shawl, taken out of the trunk for a special occasion.

Depicted - a typical representative of the patriarchal life, the mistress in her home. Her face with faded eyes and slightly lowered corners of her lips expresses a state of constant concern.

... The time of creating the «Portrait of an unknown man in a black frock coat» - 1838. This is a art mature period of master. In the atmosphere of the portrait there is that characteristic of the author naturalness that distinguishes many of his works, combining portrait images with elements of the genre.

Not only the expressive face of a man is remembered, but also the skill with which the subtlety of lace, the play of silk of a bow, and the sheen of metal are conveyed.

The great Mariner Aivazovsky rarely turned to the battle genre, but the war for Greece's independence from Turkey attracted the attention of an outstanding painter. The events of those days gave birth not only to heroes, but also heroines. Here before us is Lascarina Bobolina – a native of a small island located at the entrance to the Navili Bay. In 1812 her husband was captured, taken to Constantinople and executed there.

... There was a first call to fight against the Turkish yoke. In 1821, Bobolina equips three ships at her own expense, and, as they say, according to the old cleft, Mr. Henri Belle, she, raising a banner with the slogan of Spartan women - «With a shield or on a shield» - goes to the shores Asia Minor and there with the fearlessness, worthy of Tsamados or Canaris, captures and burns Turkish vessels; then, generously donating her ships to the new government, she participates in the siege of Tripoli, imposes on Navpli a blockade that lasts for fourteen months and eventually forces the fortress to surrender.

Among Russian landscape painters, Ivan Shishkin undoubtedly occupies the place of the most powerful artist. In all his works, he is an amazing connoisseur of plant forms, reproducing them with a subtle understanding of both the general nature and the smallest distinctive features of any species of trees, bushes and grasses.
In the 1880s, the master creates a large number of paintings, in the plots of which he still turns primarily to the life of the Russian forest, meadows and fields. The main features of his art persist even now, but the artist does not remain motionless in the creative positions developed by the end of the seventies.

For example, such a canvas as «Twilight» (1883) is close in character to the work of the previous decade. However, it is interpreted with greater scenic freedom. In the best landscapes of Shishkin of this time, the tendencies common to the Russian fine art reflected by him in their own way are reflected. The artist is enthusiastically working on large-scale, epic-style paintings glorifying his native land, the Russian forest. Now everything is more tangible than his desire to transfer the state of nature, the expression of images, the purity of the palette. In many works, tracing the color and light gradations, he uses the principles of tonal painting.

In the field of portrait painting, Vladimir Makovsky touched and showed the life of almost all social groups and classes of Russia. Here merchants, officials, nobles of all ranks and states; intellectuals of different social classes and working people - artisans, workmen and peasants; commoners of different ages and characters.

Clarity of content, depth of thought and truthfulness distinguish all the best works of the artist. Portrait of Elena (?) Snegireva, performed by the painter in 1897, in 1898 was exhibited at the 26th exhibition of the Association of Wanderers (Peredvizhniki). The modest color of the portrait is subordinated to the main task - the disclosure of the inner world of the portrait.

Etude for the painting «Christ and the sinner»

Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a bright versatile artist with a wide range of creative interests. However, the main place in the work of Polenov is a huge canvas «Christ and a sinner (Who is without sin?)» (1888), in which the author sought to tell the biblical story as a real life event.

Back in his youth, under the impression of Alexander Ivanov’s painting «Christ Appearing to the People», Vasily Polenov conceived the idea to create a large canvas of ethical content capable of influencing the viewer with the power of his drama. According to the artist, such a work would meet the needs of the time, the spiritual needs of people. Writing a picture was preceded by a trip to Egypt and Palestine, the study of life, customs and color of ancient Judea. The first sketches were made during a pensioner's trip in 1873 and 1876.

The first meeting between of artists Ilya Repin and Valentin Serov happened when Serov was not even seven years old. A year later, Valentin began drawing at Repin's workshop. Subsequently, Repin greatly appreciated Serov’s talent as a painter, noting also his irrepressible hard work and perseverance. Since childhood, Valentine showed remarkable abilities that were strengthened with the help of his older friend from year to year.

Naturally, the friendship of the two artists could not help but result in drawing each other; There are two famous portraits of Repin, drawn by Serov and two portraits of Serov, painted by Repin. The portrait kept in the collection of the National Fine Arts Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakuita) is amazing in its uniqueness and special author's handwriting. When writing a portrait, Serov first carefully studied the character of a person, his features, and then in the portrait he pointed out one, the most striking feature of the character and appearance of the model.

There are at least three paintings by Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi with the same name. In addition to the National Art Museum of the RS (Y), they are located in the State Russian Museum of St. Petersburg and in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Art critics admit that «Kuindzhi discovers the color of the air, studies the weakly pulsating vibration of air jets, overcomes his own tonal system of painting».

In 1880, Kuindzhi was astonished by St. Petersburg with a unique exhibition of one painting «Moonlight Night on the Dnieper». In a room draped with black cloth, in absolute darkness, illuminated by a directional beam of electric light, the picture caused an enthusiastic stupor. Its main character was the moonlight filled with poetry. Enchanted visitors stood in prayer silence, as if the participants of a certain action, similar to the ancient Greek mysteries. Kuindzhi dubbed the «Wizard of the Light». The artist's coloristic tricks became a revelation for his contemporaries. People started to talk about the revival of romanticism.

Arkhip Ivanovich was friends with Mendeleev and often visited his laboratory. Dmitry Ivanovich, as a medieval alchemist, sought in colors the soul of light, just as Paganini sought in music the soul of sound. Kuindzhi believed that he had found a secret, and that his paintings would live and shine after him

... Vrubel's painting was
filled with mystery. A rare gift bordered with madness. And for his talent, the
artist paid a considerable price. He gave to his canvases home to demons, and
maybe it's the demons captured him. But, anyway, it was Mikhail Vrubel who
created real demonic images of the inhabitants of the other world. Everything
is strange in Vrubel's work. His way of the cross of a professional artist, he
began with icon paintings of the St. Cyril's Church in Kiev. He, who gave life
to demons, wrote with the same obsession and on Orthodox themes, created in the
colors of Christ and the mother of God, and numerous saints. These convulsive
throwing from Christ to the demons of darkness will accompany Michael Vrubel
all his life.

And the order to illustrate M.L. Lermontov, which is being prepared for publication, did not become accidental, but quite natural and even, probably, inevitable. Demon, who until now had only poetic lines, acquired his colorful flesh. The demon of Vrubel absolutely corresponded to the demon of Lermontov in the last version of the poem. This was no longer a yearning young man with a fiery gaze. It was a rebellious, evil, hungering spirit whose flesh is from the flesh of the rocks. It was a demon that was mundane, sensual and terrible in its merciless desire to destroy and conquer ...

Some antipode, an element of binary opposition to it, appeared in the work Tamara, whose appearance is captured in the «Portrait of a Young Georgian Woman» kept in the National Art Museum of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic and probably belongs to the brush Vrubel.

A thin, shaky line running along Tamara's beautiful profile - as if created to emphasize the difference, the abyss and, at the same time, the amazing unity of the essence of the young Georgian and the demon ...