Genre in the visual arts. Artists of the genre

Each art direction has its own fans and critics. But the everyday genre in the visual arts occupies a special place - there are a lot of prejudices associated with it, it attracts the audience with an entertaining storyline and is often criticized for this reason, for some it seems too petty and anecdotal. Some art historians have been trying for years to answer the question of whether it is worth writing ordinary. Meanwhile, artists continue to use the everyday genre in painting, and the townsfolk - to rejoice in such paintings and gladly buy them for the interior.

How did this direction appear?

Scenes of everyday life inspired people back in ancient times. Then art was a way of interacting with the outside world, an attempt to strengthen the impact of magical rites. Therefore, the drawings are so amazing with their vitality and emotionality. Ancient samples of Egyptian painting and small plastics express everyday motives of work, contain family, love, theatrical, caricature scenes. Pliny the Elder wrote in his "Natural History" about the existence of special artists engaged in depicting the shops of barbers and shoemakers.

The everyday genre in the painting of early Christianity

The germs of the new religion developed in a hostile atmosphere, hiding in the catacombs and using secret ciphers. The household genre in the fine arts of that period also relied on secret symbols - pictures from fishing were told about baptism, sketches with construction hinted at the creation of church communities, and a merry feast was meant to reflect the bliss of souls in a heavenly abode. It is from the first Christian motifs that the direction turned into medieval art, where such images were used on columns and in manuscript texts. In addition, the architecture of the time also widely used household genre - examples can be seen in stone patterns of Gothic cathedrals depicting lumberjacks and shepherds, winemakers and bakers. Such scenes clearly illustrated the course of earthly time, filled with everyday affairs.

Development direction in the Renaissance

At the beginning of the fifteenth century, the everyday genre in painting was supplemented with a special semantic direction. Artists began to depict carnival and wedding rituals, as well as scenes dedicated to the life of different classes. As in the past, every detail painters sought to fill with symbolism. The candles were an indication of human life, flowers and fruits - fertility, a girl in a cage depicted maidenly chastity, and a broom was a way to get rid of not only litter, but also from evil spirits. Every thing and event was involved in a kind of theatrical performance. But all these allegories were combined with ultimate realism and told about the truth of life.

The focus was not on religious ideas, but on people and their earthly world in all its details. Especially noticeable is the revaluation of values in the appearance of market scenes. Instead of evangelical episodes, the artists of the genre of everyday life talked about peasants, inspired by the fruits of Mother Nature and its infinite energy. This mood is noticeable in the canvases of Peter Brueghel the Elder, Velasquez, Vermeer and Caravaggio. The lowest estates were depicted with love and charisma, which were not in art before.

Genre in the Enlightenment

Despite all the picturesqueness, Renaissance paintings carried a certain didactic nature. That is why, at the beginning of the Enlightenment, the everyday genre in the visual arts began to outlive itself. The motives that drinking and cheating badly, but living in the peace of family life - well, have become completely hypocritical and devalued this direction. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, world, including Russian, artists of the domestic genre returned the former authority to it. For example, painter Alexander Ivanov with his painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People" embodied some important ideas of this direction.

Pictures of Venetsianov depicted social ailments with tremendous emotionality and without superfluous hypocrisy, in the genre of critical realism, not yielding to the literary masterpieces of Feodor Dostoevsky. The writer himself noted that the historical painters depict what they know as what happened, and the genre painters are eyewitnesses of the events shown.

Salon painting

By the end of the nineteenth century, the genre again had to face decline. Salon paintings have reduced images to the level of empty subjects, sweet gossip. But soon the genre of everyday life in the fine arts returned to its former level - the appearance of Impressionism returned to him the meaning. Fleeting moments, skillfully noticed by the artists, were filled with meaning as much as the major historical canvases, returning the daily significance of its significance. Fairy tales, everyday symbolism - that's what the thematic picture was devoted to. The household genre was presented by such masters as Petrov-Vodkin, Borisov-Musatov, Hodler and Segantini. Lyrically sad moments of life represented Korin, and in the paintings of Kustodiev, everyday life appeared in a fair, colorful embodiment.

Household genre in the twentieth century

The new era brought to the artistic direction an incredible variety of species. There were poster images, ironic observations and philosophical reflections. The everyday genre in the visual arts has become a universal way of portraying life in its entirety, including holidays, scenes of childhood or old age, pictures full of realism. Peaceful work was celebrated in the canvases. In contrast to pseudo-monumental canvases, popular due to the political situation, an artless reflection of everyday life evoked a natural sympathy. By the end of the twentieth century, energetic, temperamental pictures appeared in the genre, perfectly reflecting the spirit of the times and at the same time enriching the tradition that has been preserved since the Middle Ages.