Artist Boris Kustodiev: the main milestones of the creative biography

Fans of Russian painting are well aware of the name of such a remarkable domestic artist, as Boris Kustodiev. Consider in this article a creative biography of this person.

Boris Kustodiev: a brief biography, stages of creative maturity

The future artist was born in Astrakhan, in tsarist Russia, in 1878. He came from an intelligent teacher's family. His parents loved Russian art and gave this love to their children. The father of the artist taught philosophy, logic and literature in the theological seminary. When Boris was 2 years old, his father suddenly died.

Nevertheless, the family was able to provide the boy with a decent education: he studied at the parish school, then at the gymnasium. The first lessons of painting Boris Kustodiev received in the local Astrakhan gymnasium.

In 1896, the young man entered the prestigious department of the Petersburg Academy of Arts. From the second year his teacher became the famous artist I. Repin.

In the last year of the academy, Boris Kustodiev, working on his diploma picture in the Kostroma province, met his future wife Yu. E. Poroshinskaya. He graduated from the academy brilliantly: with a gold medal and excellent prospects.

First successes

After the wedding and the completion of the course, artist Boris Kustodiev goes on a foreign tour to get acquainted with all the colors of European life. He visited Paris, Germany and Italy. I met with the famous European artists of that time, I was able to visit many creative exhibitions and galleries.

Returning to Russia, Kustodiev continued to work on genre paintings. They created a series of works "Village Holidays" and "Fairs". Talent of a young man drew the attention of contemporaries. According to Repin, Kustodiev was elected to the Petersburg Academy of Arts professor, became a member of the Union of Russian Artists, and began to collaborate with many literary and art magazines.

Portraits of Kustodiev: a feature of the genre

Boris Kustodiev entered the history of Russian art primarily as a very talented portraitist. It was he who created a whole series of portraits of his contemporaries, and his paintings are still considered master works.

Critics noted that in his art, the power of Repin's colors and themes, and the subtle psychologism of Serov's paintings, found their expression. However, the artist was able to create his own style: in his portraits, a person is characterized not only by his face and appearance, but also by the surrounding situation.

Consider from this point of view the famous "Merchant of Tea", written in a troubled 1918 year.

Everything in this picture is permeated with a sense of contentment and peace. The full face of the merchant woman, her bright clothes, surrounding everyday objects, even a cat that clings to her mistress, is full of a certain thought: it is a soft humor and an attempt to understand the essence of the soul of a Russian person.

In the artist's works there are a lot of things from Russian folk art, from ancient parsons, and from ancient Russian fairy-tale images of people and animals.

The most famous works

In addition to the above-mentioned "Merchants for tea", the most popular were the following portraits of Kustodiev: a portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin, painted in 1921, a portrait of Maximilian Voloshin (1924), Bolshevik (1920), Russian Venus (1925) Fair in Saratov. "

All these paintings are permeated with a sense of the beauty of the national spirit, a sense of deep patriotism, their characteristic features have become a riot of colors and monumentality of images.

Russian heroes are represented in the paintings by Kustodiev, the great Russian singer Fedor Shalyapin and the writer Maximilian Voloshin. Chaliapin stands in a fur coat unbuttoned, he is dressed like a dandy, but at the same time in his image there is something folk, powerful and inspired. The same great and magnificent is Voloshin, whose head rests against the clouds.

In the picture "Bolshevik" the main character, depicted against a bright red banner, is ready to aim at the temple. The growth of a Bolshevik is equal to the height of an architectural structure. Thus, the artist dismantles a man of a new era, who sees himself as the winner of the old system and the creator of a new life.

Many paintings were written for his creative life, Boris Kustodiev, his paintings amaze the audience with their grandeur and grandeur.

Illustrations to literary works and theatrical works

Kustodiev became famous and as a great illustrator. During his life he created many works for magazines that conveyed the image of the main heroes of the works of Russian classical literature he understands. He remarkably illustrated Leskov's works, drew engravings and even caricatures.

Various kinds of Russian art were valued by Boris Kustodiev, his paintings were actively used in theatrical environment. Especially vividly embodied the artist's talent in creating scenery for the performances of the Moscow Art Theater. This work on the works of Ostrovsky, Saltykov-Shchedrin and even Zamyatin (by the way, Kustodiev's brush belongs to one of the most famous portraits of Zamyatin). His work was popular with contemporaries for its simplicity, the power of the embodiment of the image and the magnificent selection of colors.

last years of life

Boris Kustodiev had much to do for his creative life, his biography is a direct confirmation of this.

The last 15 years of his life, the artist was chained to a wheelchair. The fact that he was tormented by a dangerous and severe swelling of the spine, which did not succumb to surgical treatment. Kustodiyev was forced to write first sitting, and then lying down.

However, he continued to engage in not only artistic, but also social activities, and even in 1923 joined the association of artists of revolutionary Russia.

Boris Mikhailovich died in 1927, was buried in Leningrad - in the cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.