V. Petrov biography of the artist. IN
Self-portrait
Perov Vasily Grigorievich - one of the best Russian painters of modern times, was born in Tobolsk on December 23, 1833. He graduated from the course at the Arzamas district school and was sent to art school A.V. Stupina in Arzamas. While there, in addition to copying originals, I began to try my hand at composition and painting from life for the first time.
In 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he was mentored by M. Scotti, A. Mokritsky and S. Zaryanka. In 1856, for a sketch of a boy's head presented at the Imperial Academy of Arts, he received a small silver medal. This award was followed by others awarded to him by the Academy: in 1858 - a large silver medal for the painting "The Arrival of the Stanovoy for Investigation", in 1860 - a small gold medal for the paintings "Scene at the Grave" and "Son of a Sexton Promoted to the First Rank" , in 1861 - a large gold medal for “Preaching in the Village.” The aforementioned four works by Perov and the “Sermon in the Village” written by him shortly after (located by K. Soldatenkov in Moscow), “Scene at the Grave” (in Tretyakov Gallery in M.) and “Tea Party in Mytintsy” (ibid.), being exhibited in Moscow and St. Petersburg, made a huge impression on the public and showed the artist as a witty genre satirist, a direct heir to P. Fedotov, no less endowed with subtle observation, deeply penetrating into Russian life, able to especially vividly expose its dark sides, but incomparably more skillful in drawing and technique than the author of “The Major’s Matchmaking.”
Arrival of the police officer for investigation
Scene at the grave
Sermon in the village
Tea drinking in Mytishchi
Having received, along with a large gold medal, the right to travel to foreign lands at public expense, Perov went there in 1862, visited the main art centers Germany and spent about a year and a half in Paris. Here he made sketches from life and painted several paintings depicting local types and scenes of street life ("Seller of Figurines", "Savoyard", "Organ Grinder", "Beggars on the Boulevard", "Musicians and Onlookers", "Rag Pickers", etc. ), but soon became convinced that the reproduction of unfamiliar, foreign customs was not as successful for him as the depiction of his native, Russian way of life, and returned to Russia before the end of his retirement.
Savoyard
Parisian rag pickers
Having settled again in Moscow, Perov began to work in the same direction that he had taken at the beginning of his artistic career, and in the period from 1865 to 1871 he created a number of works that placed him not only at the head of all hitherto Russian genre artists, but also among first-class painters of this kind in Europe. During this period, such incomparable paintings as “Another at the Fountain”, “Monastery Meal”, “Seeing the Dead Man” (located by K. Soldatenkov), “Troika” (in the Tretyakov Gallery), “ Clean Monday" (ibid.), "The arrival of the governess in merchant's house" (ibid.), "Art Teacher" (from the heir of D. Botkin), "Scene by the Railway" (in the Tretyakov Gallery), "The Last Tavern at the Outpost" (ibid.), "Bird Catcher" (ibid.), " Fisherman" (ibid.), "Hunters at a Rest" (ibid.) and some others. The fourth and sixth of these paintings earned the artist, in 1866, an academician's degree; for "Birder Catcher", in 1870, he received the title of professor. However, next to such wonderful works, Perov sometimes produces paintings that are strangely conceived and poorly executed, for example, “The Mother of God with Christ by the Sea of Life” and “Unloading Lime on the Dnieper.” In addition, he is addicted to portrait painting, for success in which although he had the necessary observation and the ability to grasp human characters, he did not have a completely life-like palette, and which, in any case, did not constitute his main calling.
Among the portraits he painted, many are remarkable in terms of sculpting, expressiveness, and conveyance of individual features in the faces depicted, but only a few are distinguished by their freshness and naturalness of color. The best among them are portraits of A.A. Borisovsky, V.V. Bessonova, A.F. Pisemsky, A.G. and N.G. Rubinshteinov, M.P. Pogodina, F.M. Dostoevsky and the merchant Kamynin. Having received a professorship at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1871 and around the same time joining the Association of Traveling art exhibitions In the first years that followed, Perov continued to paint portraits and genre paintings in the same manner, which must be recognized as generally inferior to his previous works; the further he went, the more and more he became interested in more sublime, in his opinion, tasks - he tried to be a painter of religious and allegorical subjects ("Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane", "Descent from the Cross", "Crucifixion", "Spring" and others) and, finally, he became addicted to themes from Russian history ("Lament of Yaroslavna", "The First Russian Christians", "Volga Predators", "Pugachevtsy", "Nikita Pustosvyat").
Portrait of the writer Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl
Yaroslavna's cry
In these latest works of Perov, his talent still shines through, but not as brightly as in the past; one cannot fail to recognize some merits in them, but in general they are too refined in composition, melodramatic and indicate that more of the mind than the artistic sense of their author took part in their creation. At the end of his life, Perov ventured into literature and published in the newspaper "Pchela" for 1875 and in N. Alexandrov's "Art Journal" for 1881 - 1882. several, not devoid of entertaining, stories from the artists’ everyday life and their own memories. He died of consumption in the village. Kuzminki, near Moscow, May 29, 1882. - Wed. D. Rovinsky and N. Sobko "Vasily Grigorievich Perov, his life and works" (St. Petersburg, 1892). A. N.
Perov Vasily Grigorievich (Perov Vasily) (1833-1882), Russian painter, one of the organizers of the Society of the Wanderers.
The author of genre paintings (“Rural religious procession at Easter”, 1861), imbued with sympathy for the people (“Seeing off the deceased”, 1865, “Troika”, 1866), psychological portraits (“A. N. Ostrovsky”, 1871; “F. M. Dostoevsky", 1872).
Born on December 21, 1833 in Tobolsk. Illegitimate son of Baron G. K. Kridener. The surname “Perov” arose as a nickname given to the future artist by his literacy teacher, a junior sexton.
Vasily Perov studied at the Arzamas School of Painting (1846-1849) and at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1853-1861).
Lived and worked in Moscow, and in 1862-1864 in Paris (pensioner of the Academy of Arts). Vasily Perov was particularly influenced by the work of P. A. Fedotov, as well as French magazine satirical graphics and German everyday genre Dusseldorf school.
Perov was one of the founding members of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. The early paintings of the painter Vasily Grigorievich Perov are imbued with an anecdotally “accusatory” mood, representing pictorial caricatures, including of the clergy (“Sermon in the Village,” 1861; “Tea Party in Mytishchi,” 1862); the artist Perov carefully described the characters in his paintings and the setting, striving for a moralizing effect.
Perov’s love for anecdote continued even later (the painting “The Arrival of a Governess at a Merchant’s House”, 1866, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). The satirical mood, however, weakens over the years, giving way to dramatic expression or good-natured humor. Perov’s coloring acquired a new, sharper, tonal expressiveness in such films as “Seeing Off the Dead Man” (1865) and “Troika. Artisan apprentices are carrying water” (1866; both in the same place).
Perov also made a great contribution to the art of portraiture. The painter created images of a number of famous figures of Russian culture - “A. N. Ostrovsky", 1871; "IN. I. Dal", "M. P. Pogodin").
The portrait of F. M. Dostoevsky by Perov (1872) is considered the best pictorial image of the writer.
Perov’s characters, including the peasant “Fomushka the Sych” (1868) or the merchant I. S. Kamynin (1872), are full of special inner significance, regardless of their social and cultural status; their bright individuality is sometimes combined with an unprecedented intensity of spiritual life, sometimes on the verge of painful tragedy.
Against this background, genre compositions of the 1870s (“Birdcatcher”, 1870; “Hunters at Rest”, 1871; “Fisherman”, 1871; all - Tretyakov Gallery) seem to provide a gentle humorous release against this background. Contemplating ordinary people with their by no means heroic, but still “human” soul, Perov here - if we talk about literary parallels - is approaching N. S. Leskov.
His literary sympathies are directly reflected in the painting “Old Parents at the Grave of their Son” (1874), written as an illustration for the ending of Turgenev’s “Fathers and Sons.”
The artist himself also discovers a talent for writing (stories from folk life“Aunt Marya”, 1875; "Under the Cross", 1881).
In the later period of his creativity, Perov strives to create grandiose, generalizing images national history. However, completed historical paintings Perov (“Pugachev’s Court”, 1875, Historical Museum, Moscow, version - 1879, Russian Museum; “Nikita Pustosvyat. Dispute about Faith”, 1880-1881, Tretyakov Gallery) do not belong to the number of his masterpieces, since it is precisely the proper degree of monumental generalization that cannot be achieved in them.
Vasily Grigorievich Perov died on May 29 (June 10), 1882 in the village of Kuzminki (now Moscow).
Wanderer. 1859
Sermon in the village. 1861
He received a large gold medal for the painting “Sermon in a Village” and received the right to travel abroad as a pensioner.
Procession. 1861
Amateur. 1862
Matchmaking. 1862
Organ grinder. 1863
Savoyard. 1864
Perov Songbook seller. 1864
Parisian organ grinder. 1864
Parisian rag pickers. 1864
Seeing off the deceased. 1865
Another one by the pool. 1865
Guitarist-boobyl. 1865
Craftsman boy. 1865
Arrival of the governess. 1866
Troika. 1866
For the paintings “Troika” and “The Arrival of a Governess at a Merchant’s House,” V. G. Perov was awarded the title of academician. The painting “Troika” was purchased by P. M. Tretyakov.
Round table conversation. 1866
Clean Monday. 1866
Drowned woman. 1867
Drawing teacher. 1867
Scene by the railway. 1868
Received first prize at the MOLKH competition for the painting “Scene by the Railway.”
The last tavern at the outpost. 1868
Fomushka-owl. 1868
F. F. Rezanov. 1868
E. E. Perova. 1868
V. V. Bezsonov. 1869
Was awarded the first prize of the Ministry of Artists of the Russian Federation for “Portrait of V. V. Bezsonov”
Girl with a jug. 1869
A. F. Pisemsky. 1869
Commissioned by P. M. Tretyakov, he painted “Portrait of the Writer A. F. Pisemsky.”
Bird catcher. 1870
Received the first prize of the Association of Artists for the film “The Birdcatcher”
Wanderer. 1870
For the paintings “The Wanderer” and “Birdcatcher” he was awarded the title of professor by the Academy of Arts.
On the eve of the bachelorette party. 1870
Arrival of a schoolgirl... 1870
Self-portrait. 1870
F. M. Dostoevsky. 1872
V. I. Dal. 1872
I. S. Turgenev. 1872
Old parents. 1874
Based on the plot of I. S. Turgenev’s novel “Fathers and Sons,” he painted the painting “Old Parents at the Grave of their Son.”
Botanist. 1874
Monastic meal. 1865-1876
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane. 1878
Return of the peasants... 1880
Yaroslavna's cry. 1881
Old man on a bench. 1881
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Biography of the artist Vasily Grigorievich Perov
Self-portrait
Artist Vasily Grigorievich Perov was born in December 1833. His father, the artist Baron Georgy (Grigory) Karlovich Kridener, at that time served as a prosecutor in the godforsaken Siberian province, and his mother, Akulina Ivanova, was a Tobolsk bourgeois. At the time of Vasily’s birth, his parents were not married and the shameful “illegitimate” label stuck to the little man for many years.
Literally a few months after the birth of the child, the parents got married, but the baron could not transfer either the surname or the title to his son. So Vasya became Perov - the boy received this nickname from his first teacher, a sexton, who admired the student’s elegant handwriting. And the nickname subsequently became the surname of an illegitimate child.
It is reliably known that Vasily Perov was assigned to the burghers of the city of Arzamas. Why Arzamas?
Baron Kridener was a man with a very unrestrained tongue - he loved caustic and caustic jokes, and he did not mince his words. He joked about the governor and lost his job as a prosecutor - the family moved to Arkhangelsk. In Arkhangelsk, daddy wrote satirical poems about the Arkhangelsk provincial administration - he had to go to St. Petersburg, then to the Livonian provinces, Samara and Arzamas. In Arzamas, the family settled with relatives.
During the period of Arzam's life and existence, Baron Kridener received the position of manager of Yazykov's large estate, which implied the acquisition of permanent residence on the estate. Vasily was sent to a private school in Stupin (in Arzamas) and the boy attended painting classes twice a week. Three months later, the training ended - the older comrades invited 13-year-old Vasenka to a name day with a certain local beauty, and after the party the cab driver brought home a completely drunk “painter”. This was the end of Perov's training - mother was categorically against such studies.
And a few months later, the baron once again lost his position - he could not restrain himself and made a caustic joke. The family moved to relatives in Arzamas and this sad event allowed Vasily Perov to continue his studies in painting - his mother agreed to let the “child” go to school, since he was now under constant supervision.
In 1852, Vasily Perov came to Moscow, and in 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the class famous artist and teacher Vasiliev, who immediately noted the great talent of the new student. This teacher settled with him a student who had nowhere and nothing to live on, surrounded him with truly fatherly care and gave his favorite additional painting lessons.
Already during his studies, in 1856, Vasily received his first silver medal for the “Portrait of Nikolai Grigorievich Kridener, the artist’s brother” submitted to the Academy of Arts. There would be many more medals, but the artist remembered that first medal with special warmth until the end of his life. Although this work was also closely connected with the painting traditions of the outgoing 19th century, it was precisely this work that became the first significant milestone in Perov’s work.
In 1857, the painting “The Arrival of the Stanovoi for the Investigation” was painted.
Arrival of the police officer for investigation
For this work, the artist was awarded the Big Silver Medal, and critics delivered a unanimous verdict - a “direct heir and successor of Fedotov” appeared in Russia:
The young artist picked up the brush that had fallen from Fedotov’s hands... and continued the work he had begun, as if all the false Turkish women, false knights, false Romans, false Italians and false Italians, false Russians, false gods and false people had never existed in the world.
The artist’s next notable work was the painting “Scene at the Grave,” which Perov painted under the direct supervision of E. Ya Vasiliev.
Scene at the grave
The public and critics liked the picture, but Perov himself was dissatisfied with this work and called it too artificial and rather far-fetched in composition.
The first paintings of the artist Vasily Grigorievich Perov
In 1860, for the painting “First Rank. The son of a sexton, promoted to collegiate registrar,” the artist Perov was awarded a small gold medal by the Academy of Painting.
First rank. The son of a sexton promoted to collegiate registrar
The artist received the right to participate in the competition for the Big Gold Medal and moved to St. Petersburg. In the capital, in 1861, the paintings “Sermon in the Village” and “Rural Procession at Easter” were painted.
Rural religious procession at Easter
Sermon in the village
For his sermon, Perov received a Big Gold Medal with the right to travel abroad as a pensioner, and the second work was rejected by the Academy and... acquired for his gallery by P.M. Tretyakov. Regarding this acquisition, V. Khudyakov wrote to the patron:
And other rumors are circulating that they will soon make a request to you from the Holy Synod; On what basis do you buy such immoral paintings and display them publicly? The painting (“Priests”) was exhibited on Nevsky at a permanent exhibition, from where, although it was soon removed, it nevertheless raised a big protest! And Perov, instead of Italy, would like to avoid ending up in Solovki.
The debate flared up heated and not at all funny: the famous critic V. Stasov praised the artist for his sincerity and everyday truth, as if he noticed the types, and another critic, M. Mikeshin, said that such paintings kill high true art, humiliate real painting, since it shows unsightly sides of life.
In 1862, Perov wrote “Tea Party in Mytishchi.”
Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow
This is a picture of contrast, a picture of opposition: an obese, idle, gluttonous monk on the one hand, and a disabled soldier, a true servant of the fatherland, who begs for alms. And also a guide boy, whom it is impossible to look at without tears.
A scandal broke out again, which could have ended very badly for Vasily Perov... The artist quickly got married to Elena Sheins and almost immediately, being a pensioner of the academy, left for Europe.
Perov lives in Germany for some time and then moves to Paris. And he desperately misses being abroad – he misses Russia for inspiration.
I dare to ask the Council to allow me to return to Russia. I will try to present the reasons for asking me about this: living abroad for almost two years and despite all my desires, I could not complete a single picture that would be satisfactory - ignorance of character and moral life people makes it impossible to complete any of my work.
Nevertheless, Vasily Grigorievich works a lot, paints several very interesting paintings, and regularly writes petitions asking for permission to return to his homeland.
In Europe, the paintings “Seller of Figurines”, “Organ Grinder”, “Savoyard”, “Rag Pickers”, “Musicians and Onlookers”, “Beggars on the Boulevard” were painted.
Holiday in the vicinity of Paris
Songbook seller
Parisian rag pickers
Organ Grinder
Parisian organ grinder
In the end, the artist’s requests to return to Russia were satisfied - permission for an early return was received. The Perov family returns to Moscow and the young settle in the house of the uncle of the artist’s wife F.F. Rezanova.
For competitions held by the Moscow Society of Art Lovers and the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Perov painted the paintings “Seeing the Dead Man” and “Another by the Pool.” Both films were awarded first prizes. And it started with these pictures new stage in the artist’s work, which was later defined by art critics as painting “about the humiliated and insulted.
Seeing off the deceased
Another one by the pool
Clean Monday
Famous critic V.V. Stasov, having seen these works of the artist, wrote:
Perov created one of his best paintings in 1865: “Village Funeral”. The painting was small in size, but great in content... Art appeared here in all the grandeur of its true role: it painted life, it “explained” it, it “pronounced its verdict” on its phenomena. ...This funeral is even bleaker and sadder than Nekrasov’s in the poem “Frost the Red Nose.” There, the coffin was accompanied by his father, mother, neighbors and neighbors - no one at Perov’s. Perov gave complete abandonment and loneliness to the peasant family in its grief.
After the “Village Funeral” the artist paints pictures about hard life ordinary people in Russia: “Troika”, “The Arrival of the Governess at the Merchant’s House” and “Scene at the Post Station”. Vasily Grigorievich organized the image in such a way that the characters in his paintings seemed to look at the viewer. They look with silent reproach, without condemnation, doomed and bitter. Art critics note that this appeal to the viewer will be characteristic of a number of Perov’s works of that period.
Arrival of the governess to the merchant's house
For the paintings “A Governess’s Arrival at a Merchant’s House” and “Troika,” Vasily Grigorievich was awarded the title of academician, and the painting “Troika” was purchased by P.M. Tretyakov for his gallery.
At the World Exhibition of 1867, the artist’s paintings “Seeing the Dead Man,” “Amateur,” “Troika,” “First Rank” and “Guitar Player” were presented, which were very highly appreciated by foreign art lovers.
Amateur
Guitar player
T. Tore-Burger wrote:
He is Russian both in his choice of subjects and in the manner in which he understands and interprets them.” In the same year, Perov sent four paintings to the academic exhibition: “Clean Monday”, “The Drawing Teacher”, “The Drowned Woman”, “The Mother of God and Christ by the Sea of Life” and received the title of academician.
Drowned woman
Drawing teacher
Christ and the Mother of God at the Sea of Life
The Academy of Arts, in 1868, decided to extend Vasily Perov’s pension for two years “for outstanding services.” In the same year, the artist received first prize at the competition of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers for the painting “Scene by the Railway”
Scene by the railway
Art critics noted the incredible accuracy of the artist in conveying the expressions on the faces of the men who saw the locomotive for the first time.
The last tavern at the outpost
Self-taught janitor
The artist continues to paint genre paintings, but devotes more and more time to painting portraits, in which he tries to identify new perspectives for the portrait art of that time; to show on an artistic canvas not only the material concreteness of a person, but also his inner world, his spirit. Perov stated:
Whatever the type, whatever the face, whatever the character, it is the peculiarity of the expression of every feeling. A deep artist is recognized by studying and noticing all these features, and therefore his work is immortal, truthful and vital.
By order of P.M. Tretyakov, “Portrait of the Writer A.F.” was painted. Pisemsky". And for “Portrait of V.V. Bezsonova" the artist was awarded the first prize of the MOLCH.
V.V. Bezsonov
F.F. Rezanov
In 1869, Perov actively participated in the creation of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions and became a member of the board of this creative organization.
In 1870, for the paintings “The Birdcatcher” and “The Wanderer,” Vasily Grigorievich was awarded the title of professor at the Academy of Arts.
Bird catcher
Wanderer
In the seventies of the nineteenth century, in Perov’s work, along with painting portraits, simple everyday subjects occupied a special place. The artist presented the paintings “Hunters at a Rest” and “Fisherman” for the first exhibition of the TPHV.
Hunters at rest
In 1871, the artist received a teaching position at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture instead of the deceased S.K. Zaryanko.
In 1871–1872, Perov, commissioned by Tretyakov, painted a number of portraits of Russian writers, scientists, statesmen and merchants.
Portrait of the writer V.I. Dahl
Portrait of F.M. Dostoevsky
Portrait of A.N. Ostrovsky
A.N. Maikov
I.S. Kamynin
M. Nesterov wrote:
What about his portraits? This “merchant Kamynin”, which contains almost the entire circle of Ostrovsky’s heroes, and Ostrovsky himself, Dostoevsky, Pogodin - isn’t this a whole era? Expressed in such old-fashioned colors and simple designs, Perov’s portraits will live for a long time and will not go out of fashion just like the portraits of Luke Cranach and ancient sculptural portraits.
After a trip to the Volga and Orenburg province, the artist conceived the painting “Pugachev’s Court”. That same year, Perov caught a bad cold while hunting and “developed consumption.”
Pugachev's court
At the third exhibition of the TPHV, Perov’s works “Plastuns near Sevastopol”, “Kyrgyz convict” and “Old parents” at the grave of their son were presented.”
Plastun Cossacks near Sevastopol
Old parents at their son's grave
Kirghiz convict
Art critics note that this period in the artist’s life can be called contradictory: in Perov’s works one can note both subjects and images that had already appeared in the artist’s work, as well as new religious, historical and everyday subjects.
On the eve of the bachelorette party
Sleeping children
A college girl's visit to her blind father
To Trinity-Sergius
In 1877 V.G. Perov leaves the membership of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, participates in the Paris World Exhibition, continues to work on the image of Pugachev - writes several canvases on the theme of the Pugachev rebellion, which do not satisfy the artist himself.
During this period, the painting “Nikita Pustosvyat. Dispute about faith."
Nikita Pustosvyat. Dispute about faith
Monastic meal
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane
IN last years During his life, Vasily Grigorievich writes stories for the magazines “Nature and Hunting” and “Art Magazine”, creates several canvases on religious and everyday themes.
Fishermen. (Priest, deacon and seminarian)
Wanderer in the field
Yaroslavna's cry
At the end of 1881, the artist fell ill with typhus, then pneumonia. These illnesses completely undermined Perov’s health, and at the 49th year of his life, the great Russian painter died in a hospital on the territory of the Kuzminki estate in the near Moscow region, and was buried in the cemetery of the Danilov Monastery (later the ashes were reburied in the cemetery of the Donskoy Monastery).
father.BIG HEART OF PEROV
Aunt Marya was coming from a pilgrimage. Her husband and children died, leaving only her son Vasenka. Together with him, she prayed to the saints: she asked for heaven for the dead, and for health for herself and Vassenka. And on the way back, already in Moscow, a rich gentleman became attached to Aunt Marya. He gave her money, explained that it hurt, they say, Vassenka is good, and he, sir, wants to write him off for the picture. Aunt Marya did not agree for a long time - she was afraid, she insisted that it was a sin to write people off, that people wasted away and died from this. Yes, the city gentleman convinced her - he said that kings and bishops allow portraits to be copied from themselves, what can Vassenka do?
And Vasenka sat down on a chair - tired from the pilgrimage, his mouth opened slightly, and his front tooth, broken during a fight with the boys, became visible to Aunt Marya. Aunt Marya kept jumping up and grooming her son: she pulled his shirt off and pushed back his hair from his forehead. The artist asked her to sit still. Aunt Marya sat, sat, yawned, crossed her mouth and fell asleep...
And Vasily Grigorievich Perov kept peering into the tired face of his little village namesake, kept writing, and own life passed in front of him in a line.
In all likelihood, little Vasenka was born a serf. And he, Vasily Perov, was born “illegitimately” - the bastard son of the official Kridener. He didn't even have a last name. It was first written after godfather Vasiliev. Then he became Perov. The sexton who taught him to read and write called him “Perovy” for his clear handwriting and dexterous pen.
But more pen fell in love with Vasily pencil And brush : I decided to become an artist.
He remembered his years of study as wonderful and terrible times. Beautiful - because the world was rapidly opening up before himart . Knowledge grew rapidly. When at eighteen I wroteself-portrait , it seemed to him: now he is already a real artist! The energetically sculpted face, illuminated by strong light, stands out clearly against the dark background. His left hand, like that of an inveterate maestro, casually hung over the back of the chair, a white shirt and a black tie emphasized the delicate oval of his face... The young man did not know then that he had a decade of intense study ahead of him, when it would seem that knowledge was still not enough!.. Not enough !..
And the years of study were terrible because they occurred during the last ten years of serfdom in Russia. As a thirteen-year-old boy, Perov came to Stupin’s school in Arzamas. Serfs were drawn next to him: those whom the landowner could sell tomorrow as a thing! And to bargain about the price for them... The Imperial Academy of Arts refused to teach serfs:
“When the sense of grace developed in them and when they saw that their dependent state prevented them from enjoying the advantages provided to artists, these unfortunates indulged in despair, drunkenness and even suicide.”
But the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, where Perov went through a serious schooling, resolved this issue in its own way: the landowner was required to release the serf if he received the title of artist or a silver medal. And Vasya saw how his serf comrades fought for the drawing, as if for freedom!..
Anger and pain boiled in Perov’s heart. In his paintings he wanted to tell the truth and only the truth. Vasily Perov turned out to be an inconvenient student: having brilliantly graduated from the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture and becoming a pensioner of the Academy of Arts, he horrified the academic council with his very first sketch. He depicted a “Rural religious procession at Easter”: the clergy drunk to the point of their vestments and obscenely drunk parishioners. The sketch was rejected. Perov painted a more prosperous picture - “Sermon in the Village.” Here the priest, to the satisfaction of the academic council, was sober, but the artist cruelly ridiculed the landowner and with sympathywrote the peasants. The film was a huge success. Perov received the right to travel abroad. However, the stubborn painter managed to complete the painting based on the rejected sketch “Rural religious procession at Easter”. As soon as it saw the light of day, the picture was banned. “It’s possible for Perov to avoid ending up in Solovetsky instead of Italy!” - friends were afraid.
And he kept putting off his trip abroad. Russian themes crowded into his heart. With permission to leave in his pocket, he managed to paint another angry picture - “Tea Party in Mytishchi.” The overweight hieromonk blissfully drinks tea from a saucer, while the hostess drinks an infusionhe politely pushes away with his hand a soldier begging for alms with the Cross of St. George on his chest. Yesterday's Sevastopol hero, crippled, ragged, walks along the roads with an outstretched hand, and his bitter share is shared by an emaciated child - perhaps a son...
How attractive the trip abroad was for young artists: six carefree years of art, sun, freedom!.. But after a year and a half, Perov asks to go home:
“I dare to humbly ask the council of the Imperial Academy of Arts for permission to return to... Russia. Meaning,” he explains, “severalstories from Russian life, which I would fulfill with love and sympathy and, I hope, more successfully than from the life of a people I know little about.”
And again Russia... Post-reform Russia, where the peasantry was liberated, but robbed, humiliated, deceived. And in accordance with these bitter conclusions, Vasily Perov paints the painting “Funeral of a Peasant.”
Winter. The sky hung heavily over the road. A wretched coffin in a wretched sleigh... A widow with her head bowed low, a girl tired of crying and a little boy - the only man in the house, the “master”, drowned in his father’s large sheepskin coat. And no one cares about this hopeless grief.
“It’s as if one of the millions of birds froze on the road, and no one knows about her and will never know, no one was interested in her life or death - that’s the content of this picture,” wrote critic V. Stasov.
Perov was always especially saddened by the plight of disadvantaged children. He talked about her not only in paintings, but also in stories. One of them contains the image of “crooked Petka”:
Even in sunny France the artist spotted the little Savoyard. In the middle of thousands of dwellings, a homeless man fell asleep on the streeta boy, and his only dear creature, a disheveled monkey, clung closely to his shoulder, helping him beg for money.“Many people wonder how his head won’t come off: his neck, bitten by fleas, is so thin and thin. By trade he is a shoemaker, by rank he is a tradesman. Everyone beats and scolds Petka, and only the lazy don’t touch him.”
Returning to Russia, the artist conceived “Troika” among his most bitter paintings. On a gloomy winter day, three children are pulling a sleigh with a huge icy barrel. The snow is blowing. The blank monastery wall stretches endlessly, as if fencing off all the joys of the world from the children. And in the shadow of this cold wall, children pull heavy sleighs tiredly and obediently, like exhausted village Savraskas... Some passer-by took pity on them and pushed a barrel of water over a pothole. But the passer-by will now leave, and the children will be left alone. Like the fate of the dead peasant, the lives of these children are of no interest to anyone. A desecrated, crippled childhood...
The picture is finished. Pressure public opinion was so great that Perov, the poet of people's sorrow, received the title of academician for it. To write a root - central image“troika”, and Vasily Grigorievich Perov brought twelve-year-old Vasenka to his workshop.
And four years later, Aunt Marya came to the artist. “I went out and saw in front of me a small, hunched old woman with a large white headband, from under which peeked out a small face, cut with tiny wrinkles...” Vasya died - he fell ill with black smallpox and died. Aunt Marya was left alone in this world. And she remembered the portrait that the artist copied from her son. Marya sold all her beggarly belongings and looked - there wasn’t enough money. Aunt Marya became a public figure and, without sparing herself, worked all winter, saving money for Vasya. And then, hiding a handkerchief with money in her bosom, she went to the artist to buy a painting with Vasenka’s portrait.
The painting was already in the Tretyakov collection. “At least take a look at her!” - Aunt Marya cried. The artist brought her to Bo a gaunt house with many paintings hanging on the walls, and he let her look around for herself. Instantly, among dozens of paintings, Aunt Marya found a painting with Vassenka. “You are mine, my father! - she exclaimed. “My dear, that’s your tooth that was knocked out!” “And with these words, like grass, cut by a swing of a mower, fell to the floor...”
A year later, Vasily Grigorievich Perov sent a portrait of his son specially painted for her. Aunt Marya wrote to the painter that she hung Vasenka’s portrait among the icons. And this is the last thing we know about Aunt Marya and what the great artist wrote with love and sympathy
portrait child.But as a monument people's grief As a memory of the short and difficult life of peasant children, the famous painting “Troika” hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery.
And the heart of the great Russian painter beats in it.
Vasily Perov died fromconsumptionin a small hospital near Moscow on the estateKuzminki(now the territory of Moscow). He was buried in the monastery cemetery inDanilov Monastery .
His ashes were reburied in the monastery cemetery inDonskoy Monastery; The exact date of reburial has not been established. A tombstone by sculptor Alexei Evgenievich Yeletsky was installed at the artist’s new grave.
His son -Vladimir Perov- was also an artist.
NESTEROV ABOUT PEROV
Once upon a time, a very long time ago, the name of Perov thundered as the names of Vereshchagin later thundered,Repin, Surikov, Vasnetsov.
They talked about Perov, glorified him and magnified him, loved and hated him, “critics” broke their teeth, and it was what happens when an original, great talent is born, lives and acts among people.
In the Moscow school of painting, everything lived by Perov, breathed him, bore the imprint of his thoughts, words, acts. With rare exceptions, we were all devoted, enthusiastic disciples of his.
When I moved to the full-scale class, I loved visiting Perov alone, and such visits were memorable for a long time. What I liked about Perov was not so much his ostentatious side, his bilious wit, but his “thoughts.” He was a true poet of sorrow. I loved it when Vasily Grigorievich, leaning on the wide window sill workshop, thoughtfully looked at the street with its bustle near the post office, with a keen eye noticing everything bright, characteristic, illuminating what he saw with a mocking or ominous light, and we, then still blind, began to see...
Perov, starting with a passion for Fedotov and Gogol, soon grew into a great, original personality. Experiencing his best creations with his heart, he could not help but stir the hearts of others.
Perov lived and worked at a time when the “theme,” conveyed brightly, expressively, as they said then, “expressively,” was self-sufficient.Paints same, composition paintings, drawing in themselves they had no meaning, they were a desirable appendage to a well-chosen topic. And Perov, almost without paint, with his talent and warm heart achieved an irresistible impression, gave what the magnificent painter Surikov later gave in his historical dramas...
The year I entered the painting school, Perov organized the first student exhibition of paintings in the halls of the school. We, who had just arrived, heard rumors about who was writing what and what they would put on the exhibition.
It was in 1878, I was sixteen years old. I painted two small pictures, one was a sketch: a girl builds houses from cards, the second was “Snowball Fight”. Two kids are having a snowball fight, the fight is exciting...
On the eve of the opening of the exhibition, when all the paintings were installed, we invited Perov, the initiator and our strict judge, for inspection. Everyone had an idea that Vasily Grigorievich would say something.
He also appeared... We immediately surrounded him, and the viewing began. My painting stood in the full-scale classroom, on the left by the window. I had to wait a long time before Perov reached her. My young heart beat and beat, I experienced a new, still unknown feeling: fear mixed with sweet hope.
Perov stopped against the car mud, everyone crowded around him, I hid behind my comrades. Having carefully examined the picture with his “hawk” gaze, he asked: “Whose?” “They answered him: “Nesterova.” I froze. Perov quickly turned back: finding me with his eyes, he loudly and unexpectedly said: “What, sir!” - went further. What I felt and experienced at that moment! It had to be my impressionability to see my destiny in this “what, sir,” something providential... I felt like the happiest of people, having forgotten everything, leaving both Perov and the exhibition, rushed out of the school and wandered alone for a long time through the hundred and everyone in Moscow, experiencing their happiness. I experienced a feeling of uniform strength in my life two or three more times, hardly more. Nine years later it visited me a second time, on the day when P. M. Tretyakov purchased my “Hermit” from me for the gallery, and that day was a day of great joy: then for the first time my loved ones recognized me as an artist, and this was the greatest a reward for me, more medals, titles, which were awarded later. V. G. Perov and P. M. TretyakovI was confirmed in my calling. They were and remain for many an example of how to understand, love and serve art.
Perov was not even fifty, but he seemed like an old man. He began to get sick more and more often. Early gray hair and fatigue appeared... In those days, some of my friends and I began to think about the Academy. They were going there without any special need, without a plan, “for company”... I went to Perov, told him everything, but did not receive sympathy or approval. According to him, it was too early for me to go to St. Petersburg, and there was no need. I then left Vasily Grigorievich dissatisfied - he did not convince me: the desire to go to the Academy was growing...
At the end of winter, Perov became seriously ill with pneumonia. He was diagnosed with consumption. Rumors began to circulate that he would not last long. How did it happen that Vasily Grigorievich Perov at the age of 49 became a gray-haired, broken old man and is now dying of evil consumption? Yes, it’s very simple: an abnormal childhood, Stupin’s school in Arzamas, where he, the illegitimate son of Baron Kridener, studied and received the nickname for his good handwriting more "Perov", then intemperate youth, stormy, as was often the case in those days, youth, intense nervous work, excessive waste of energy, limitless expenditure of mental strength. Then - fame gained from battle, finally glory, and then the anxiety of losing it - the appearance of Vereshchagin, Repin, Surikov, Vasnetsov - and an accidental cold was enough for the undermined body to break...
And so Perov died without finishing “The Pugachevites”, without finishing “Pustosvyat”, with which, perhaps, he was going to give the last battle to the “disappointed young innovators...
Perov's death was my first great grief, which struck me with terrible, unexpected force.
The day of the funeral arrived. In the morning they started bringing wreaths to the church. There were many of them. Deputies were expected from the Academy of Arts, from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, from the Association of Traveling Exhibitions, the founder of which was Perov, from museums, etc.
We, the youth, were in a special position on this memorable day: we were burying not only the famous artist Perov, we were burying our beloved teacher.
There were many guides. People stood along the panels. At the front of the procession stretched students with wreaths. The wreath of our full-scale class was carried by the youngest of Perov’s students - Ryabushkin and I.
Seeing such a crowded funeral, ordinary people came up to ask: “Who is being buried?” - and, having learned that it was not a general who was being buried, but only an artist, they left disappointed. The procession moved slowly to the Danilov Monastery, where for many years In the same Serpukhovka, past the Pavlovsk hospital, Gogol was seen off (and later Perov drew a picture: “The funeral of Gogol by the heroes of his works”).
This is the last parting. How hard it is for us! The coffin is being lowered, the ground is knocking dully somewhere at the bottom. Everything is over. Soon a grave mound grew... Everyone slowly disperses, we, the disciples of the deceased, are the last to leave...
Perov is no longer among us. What remains is his art, and in it his big heart.
Eternal memory to the teacher!
STASSOV ABOUT PEROV
Perov appeared, in 1858, as the direct heir and successor of Fedotov, when he exhibited his painting “The Arrival of the Stanovoy for Investigation.” Ten years separated this picture from “ Fresh gentleman" and "Major's Matchmaking", but the young artist picked up the brush that had fallen from Fedotov's hands in the place where he dropped it...
Perov began preaching a new art with his paintings. Perov's mood was deeply serious. He was little inclined to blur into beautiful and sweet sensations; he was full of indignation at what he saw; he was worried to the roots of his soul by whole crowds of Russian types and personalities who constantly stood around him everywhere; he was shocked by scenes and events that too many pass by without noticing. His nature was of the same breed as Gogol; he also had two main notes: humor and tragedy. He was just as little capable as Gogol of depicting the conventional cuteness of people and life, and calmly glorifying beauty and well-being. His people, scenes, faces, and bodies were living copies of what actually exists in the world. No moralizing, no feuilleton light laughter... he already hasdid not have. Everything about him, especially in the first years, was strict, important, serious and painful. For this last quality, many called him a “tendentious” painter, but this is precisely the side his talent and constituted the crown of his young, impetuous creativity.
...“Rural religious procession”, “Sermon in the village” (1861), “Tea drinking in Mytishchi” (1862), “Monastery meal” (1866) suddenly painted a whole new world, also untouched by anyone before, from the side that was precisely the most characteristic. Until then, it was customary to portray our clergy from only one point of view: the point of view of complacent, unctuous shepherds, representatives of heaven on earth. After Pushkin and his brilliant “Scene in the Tavern”, after Gogol and his equally brilliant scenes with sextons, priests and monks, it was difficult for new artists to wallow only in the old lies and pretense. It was necessary to show these personalities as actually people, and, moreover, as everyone knew them and saw them in real life, especially in remote corners of Russia.
Perov continues to make strides in freedom and power of presentation and even in the power of color. He now has a whole series of portraits the size of nature... "Wanderer" and “Fomushka the Owl” - these were also portraits, but even more so - sketches with the most characteristic Russian types.
The period of time between 1870 and 1875 is the period of Perov's greatest prosperity. “Birder”, “Fisherman”, “Hunters at Rest”, “Botanist”,"Dovecote"ik" - in all these tasks there is nothing great, nothing significant, nothing dramatic or exciting. But here a whole gallery of Russian people appeared, living peacefully in different corners of Russia, knowing nothing, not caring about anything, even if the grass did not grow, and only with all their souls lost in a kind and most insignificant occupation: to whom - more than anything in the world, a bird to catch a pipe, for someone to pull a fish out of the water, for someone to catch up with a hare, for someone to see how a tree or flower grows, for someone to follow the somersaults of tumblers in the air... Here in the collection there are also courtyard people, gray in the servile collar, and landowners, seasoned in idleness, and peasants, seduced from their business, and bards, and nobles, and burghers, and boys, and old people... At first glance, everything here is just humor, good-natured, sweet, naive, not malicious , humor that doesn’t think about anything in particular, simple pictures of Russian morals, yes, but it’s only this “naive” humor and these “simple” pictures that give me goosebumps. Gogol and Ostrovsky must also have been naive humorists and depicters of simple scenes. No, whoever is not blind or deaf will feel a caustic sting in these paintings. If Perov had lived longer... in all likelihood, he would have drawn many more of the same profound pictures, taken alive from our homeland.
Few people know that Perov - indeed an “extremely valuable Russian artist for us” - was also an excellent fiction writer, the author of interesting stories published in magazines a hundred years ago. We introduce our readers to V. G. Perov’s short story “Something about Portrait Resemblance.”
SOMETHINGABOUTPORTRAITSIMILARITY
A young artist, who had just received a silver medal for painting, came to the village to visit his father, who was the manager of a large estate. The personality of the artist's father was very typical and characteristic: he looked like a gypsy; was tall and very corpulent, with a black, thick, thick beard and a such black, curly and shaggy hair. Immediately upon his arrival, his son began to paint a portrait of him, which was soon ready. Once, in the front room of their house, the village authorities gathered, such as the mayor, the elder, the sotsky, the tenth and other authorities. They came to receive orders for tomorrow's work, since mowing began the next day.
The young artist, wanting to show off his successful work to them, brought out to show them an image of his parent. Putting it against the wall, on the floor, he asked them: “Well, brothers, is the portrait similar?” Everyone was delighted, even amazed, saying: “That’s a portrait! Well, as if alive. He just won’t say a word. “Oh, guys, that’s what it looks like,” and they take a closer look they looked at the portrait from all sides, they even touched it.
“Well, tell me, who was it written from?” - asked the artist, quite confident in the striking similarity of the portrait. “How is it written from whom?” those present began to speak in unison. “Eva!” that you decided to ask: from whom was it written? Well, we know, from whom: with your illness of your mother, Tatyana Dmitrievna” (who, by the way, was as thin as a sliver and constantly ill).
Confused, the portrait painter took his work and, without saying a word, hastily took it away.
"Self-Portrait"
1870
Oil on canvas 59.7 x 46 (oval in rectangle)
Moscow
Vasily Grigorievich Perov is not just one of the largest artists of the second half of the 19th century century. This is a landmark figure, standing next to such masters as P. Fedotov, A. Venetsianov, I. Repin, whose work marked the birth of new artistic principles, became a milestone in the history of art.
Perov was born in Tobolsk on December 23, 1833.
Having completed the course at the Arzamas district school, he was sent to the art school of A.V. Stupin in Arzamas. He completed the course at the Arzamas district school, and was sent to the art school of A.V. Stupina in Arzamas. While there, in addition to copying originals, I began to try my hand at composition and painting from life for the first time.
In 1853 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
In 1856, he received a small silver medal for a sketch of a boy’s head presented at the Imperial Academy of Arts. This award was followed by others awarded to him by the Academy: in 1858 - a large silver medal for the painting “The Arrival of the Stanovoy for Investigation”, in 1860 - a small gold medal for the paintings “Scene at the Grave” and “Son of a Sexton Promoted to the First Rank” , in 1861 - a large gold medal for “Preaching in the Village.” These four works by Perov and “Scene at the Grave” and “Tea Party in Mytishchi”, which he wrote shortly after, were exhibited in Moscow and St. Petersburg, made a huge impression on the public and presented the artist as a witty genre satirist, a direct heir to P. Fedotov, no less he is endowed with subtle observation, deeply delving into Russian life, able to especially vividly expose its dark sides, but incomparably more skillful in drawing and technique than the author of “The Major’s Matchmaking.”
“Arrival of the police officer for investigation”
1857
Oil on canvas 38 x 43
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
"At the Grave"
First rank. The son of a sexton, promoted to collegiate registrar. 1860 Lithograph.
"Sermon in the village"
1861
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Rural religious procession at Easter. 1861
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
In the early 1860s, Perov created a series of anti-clerical paintings. The theme of the priesthood, which has forgotten its duty, becomes the main theme. A drunken procession with icons and banners drags sadly past the viewer. Peasants with half-closed eyes wander towards the cliff, like blind people. The guide who abandoned them is a drunken priest who crushed them with his foot Easter Egg. Nearby is a woman with an icon whose face has been lost. At a distance is a beggar carrying an icon upside down. But the All-Seeing Eye on the banner is like a warning that these people cannot escape the Supreme Court. The cloudy landscape, the dissonant movements of the procession participants, and the dreary dawn emphasize the wretchedness of the entire scene. The painting was removed as an “immoral” work from the exhibition of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St. Petersburg, was prohibited from being reproduced in print, and P. M. Tretyakov was recommended not to show it to visitors.
“Tea drinking in Mytishchi, near Moscow”
1862
Oil on canvas 43.5 x 47.3
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Perov's seemingly ordinary scene of tea drinking under the shade of a tree turns into an accusatory, acutely social picture. A table turned at an angle towards the viewer with a samovar standing on it bisects a small canvas, close in format to a square. The world of the characters in the picture also splits into two parts: on one side there is a fat, well-fed priest, on the other there are a beggar old man and a boy. The impression of social drama is strengthened by the order of the hero of the Crimean War on the chest of the old man. At the same time, the idyllic background landscape and the circular rhythm of the painting’s composition serve to embody the idea of the need to restore justice and return the lost harmony to the world.
Having received, along with a large gold medal, the right to travel abroad, Perov went there in 1862, visited the main art centers of Germany and spent about a year and a half in Paris. Here he made sketches from life and painted several paintings depicting local types and scenes of street life (“Seller of Figurines”, “Savoyard”, “Organ Grinder”, “Beggars on the Boulevard”, “Musicians and Onlookers”, “Rag Pickers” and others) , but soon became convinced that reproducing foreign morals was not as successful for him as depicting his native Russian way of life, and therefore, with the permission of the Academy, he returned to Russia in 1864 before the end of his term.
Savoyard. 1863-64
Canvas, oil
"Organ Grinder"
1863
Oil on canvas 30.5 x 25
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
"Parisian rag pickers"
1864
"Parisian organ grinder"
1864
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery
Amateur. 1862
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
The main goal of the trip abroad, in his own words, was to improve the “technical side”, since, having initially taken on various subjects, complex multi-figure compositions, he felt that “despite all his desire” he could not “execute a single picture that would be satisfactory." This trip was a wonderful opportunity to gain new impressions both from meeting with masters familiar from the Hermitage, and from modern exhibitions, the material of which was no less interesting and instructive, allowing one to compare one’s own level with the “European recognized one”. But he is a complete failure. It is here that he remains, first of all, just a foreigner, recording “various scenes”, a diverse type of a foreign country.
Having settled again in Moscow, Perov began to work in the same direction that he had chosen at the beginning of his creative career, and in the period from 1865 to 1871 he created a number of works that placed him not only at the head of all Russian genre painters, but also among first-class painters of this kind in Europe.
The first painting he created immediately after his return, “Seeing Off a Dead Man,” immediately determined Perov’s indisputable role as the leader of a new movement, the emerging ideological realism. This picture lays down the basic principles of the Peredvizhniki movement, reveals a new understanding of painting, its social orientation and purpose, leading directly to the people. The appearance of this painting was prepared by Perov’s own previous work and those floating in the air artistic ideas. After this picture, critics called Perov “the father of the Russian genre.”
"Seeing off the dead man"
1865
Oil on canvas 45.3 x 57
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
"Meal"
1865-1876
Canvas, oil. 84 x 126 cm
""Troika". Artisan apprentices carrying water"
1866
Oil on canvas 123.5 x 167.5
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
In the second half of the 1860s, Perov created the best genre works, in which criticism of social society is increasingly heard. In the painting “Troika” the artist addresses the topic of child labor. This is Perov’s largest genre painting in format and at the same time the most emotional. The children's faces are turned to the viewer; they combine childish charm, meekness and suffering. The gloomily overhanging walls of the monastery create a mood of hopeless melancholy. The title of the painting makes us remember the Old Testament Trinity; a symbolically generalized image of an abnormal “dislocated” world appears, which the artist rejects in all its manifestations.
"Clean Monday"
1866
State Tretyakov Gallery
"Arrival of the Governess at the Merchant's House"
1865
Oil on canvas 44 x 53.5
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
This painting by Perov is rightly called “Fedotov’s”. From P.A. Fedotov has a vivid typical characterization of the characters, attention to the interior, “telling” details that clarify the meaning of what is happening. However, it does not become a quotation from the past, and the author does not lose his individuality. The romantic harmony characteristic of Fedotov’s paintings gives way to the embodiment of life’s conflict. The precious radiance of colors is replaced by a restrained color scheme, and the diagonal of the carpet path, along which the young governess walks towards the merchant family with her head bowed, suggests open contact with the viewer.
Drawing teacher. 1867 D., m
"The last tavern at the outpost"
1868
Oil on canvas 51.1 x 65.8
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
The end of the 1860s was marked in the work of V.G. Perov by a number of stylistic changes: the artist in his works freed himself from the abundance of characters, harsh accusatory characteristics and variegated color. The master’s pictorial palette becomes more complex, and the disclosure of the plot develops along the path of broader generalization and drama. In the gloomy light of the cold winter evening The royal eagles of the outpost appeared as an ominous symbol against the background of the lemon-yellow sunset sky. The windows of the tavern are dimly lit, where peasants who have arrived in the city drink away the pennies they have earned for the day. Under sharp gusts of wind, a pitiful figure, wrapped in a scarf, shrank chillily in a sleigh. This is a peasant woman waiting for her breadwinner who has gone on a spree. The space of the picture plays an active tragic role; dark gray and brown tones, superimposed with expressive strokes, sound in sad chords, enhancing the feeling of melancholy and hopelessness. There is not the slightest light, only the icy cold chills to the bones in this deserted, gloomy place. In the mature work of the artist Perov, the motive of deep compassion for man as a victim of cruel social injustice becomes obvious.
"Birdcatcher"
1870
Canvas, oil. 82.5 x 126 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery
"Hunters at Rest"
1871
Oil on canvas 119 x 183
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Perov was a passionate hunter. But this picture not so much a memory of a favorite activity as a well-thought-out creative task. In 1870, for the painting “Birdcatcher” (1870, Tretyakov Gallery), the artist received the title of professor and a teaching position at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Realizing the responsibility of such work, Perov decides to paint a picture whose artistic qualities would prove his skill. By this time, in his painting, he had moved away from the dramatic themes of folk life; he does not seek to “reveal the ulcers of society,” but chooses subjects about the “small” joys of “small” people. The frontally deployed composition represents three different characters: an experienced hunter-liar, a gullible beginner and one who doubts the veracity of the story. The characters are presented against the backdrop of a simple autumn landscape, and the foreground is filled with a very thoughtful still life: shot game and a hare, a hunting rifle, a game bag and a horn. Designed in a classic brownish color scheme, the painting is in tune with I. S. Turgenev’s “Hunting Stories” and demonstrates a new stage in the work of Perov the genre painter.
"On the railway"
1868
Oil on canvas 52 x 66
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Fishermen. (Priest, deacon and seminarian).
1879
Oil on canvas 104x179
Nizhny Novgorod
Old people - parents at the grave of their son.
1874
Oil on canvas, 42x37.5
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
On the eve of the bachelorette party. Seeing the bride off from the bathhouse. 1870
Oil on canvas 48x72,
State Russian Museum
Saint Petersburg
The janitor is self-taught. 1868
Canvas, oil
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
In 1866, Perov received an academician's degree; and in 1870 he became a professor. In 1871 - 1882, Perov taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where among his students were N. A. Kasatkin, S. A. Korovin, M. V. Nesterov, A. P. Ryabushkin. At the same time, Perov joins the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. In the first years that followed, he continued to paint portraits and genre paintings in the same manner of execution, which must be recognized as in many ways inferior to his previous works. In the seventies, he directed his main efforts to historical and mythological issues. These attempts were not highly appreciated in artistic circles. Only N. Ge said kind words about them: “Starting with the everyday genre, his (Perov’s) talent developed, and he rose higher and higher. He switched to religion; it did not completely satisfy him in the form in which he was looking for his ideals.
Nikita Pustosvyat. Controversy over Faith 1881
Canvas, oil.
At the end creative path Perov turns to Russian history. He chooses the theme of the religious schism of the 17th century, which arose as a result of the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon. Nikita Pustosvyat (real name - Dobrynin Nikita Konstantinovich; the nickname "Pustosvyat" was given by supporters of the official church; year of birth unknown - died in 1682), Suzdal priest, one of the ideologists of the schism. The Church Council of 1666–1667 condemned him and defrocked him. In 1682, schismatics took advantage of the Streltsy uprising in Moscow and demanded that the church return to the “old faith.” A “debate on faith” took place in the Kremlin, where Nikita Pustosvyat was the main speaker. In the center is Nikita himself, next to him is the monk Sergius with a petition, on the floor is Athanasius, Archbishop of Kholmogory, on whose cheek Nikita “imprinted a cross.” In the depths is the leader of the Streltsy, Prince I.A. Khovansky. Princess Sophia rose from the throne in anger, irritated by the insolence of the schismatics. The next day, Nikita and his supporters were beheaded on charges of indignation of the people. The painting was highly valued by V.I. Surikov.
He moved on to history and did only two things (“Pugachev’s Trial”, “Nikita Pustosvyat. Dispute about Faith”), which he did not finish, but which were of enormous importance.” Without overestimating these works, one should not ignore them.
Pugachev's court. Esq. paintings from 1875
Pugachev's court. 1875
Oil on canvas 150x238
Moscow
Pugachev's court. 1979
Canvas, oil
A stranger's welcome. 1874
Canvas, oil. 93x78
Wanderer in the field. 1879
Oil on canvas 63x94
N. Novgorod
Inveterate.
1873 Oil on canvas, m. 87, 5x113
State Historical Museum
A janitor giving the apartment to his lady.
1878 Yaroslavl
Dovecote. 1874
Oil on canvas 107x80
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Evening on Holy Saturday. 1873 B. on k., m. 20, 2x39, 1 Tretyakov Gallery
Return of peasants from funerals in winter. Beginning 1880s
K., m. 36x56, 7
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
otanic 1874
Oil on canvas 65. 5x79
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Blissful. 1879
Oil on canvas 153x103
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
And not only in the historical and mythological direction did Perov encounter failures. As Perov’s anniversary exhibition at the State Tretyakov Gallery (1984), at which his legacy was presented with almost exhaustive completeness, showed, Perov’s incorruptible lyre sometimes emitted “wrong sounds.” And the point here is not a lack of talent, but the uniqueness of the role assigned to him in Russian painting. The transition to realism in the mid-19th century was the most radical moment in the history of world art. All the previous ones represented a transition from one canon to another, from one style to another. Now, for the first time, art that is essentially non-canonical appears. Hence the unevenness of Russian painting, which fundamentally distinguishes it from many aesthetic schemes of the 20th century both here and in the West. Russian realism, in its main direction, never stooped to the “production” of well-made canvases, not inspired by the thought of man, pain for him, duty, conscience, citizenship; the greatness of his claims led him to the incompleteness of many undertakings, failures and falls. We see all this in Perov’s creative heritage. Perov not only shaped realism, but he himself, in turn, was influenced by it, absorbed much of the achievements of his contemporaries, but with the power of his talent raised these achievements to a much higher social and aesthetic level.
In addition, at this time he was fascinated by portrait painting. Among the portraits he painted, many are remarkable in terms of sculpting, expressiveness, and the transfer of individual features in the depicted faces; the best among them are the portraits of A. N. Ostrovsky, V. I. Dahl, A. N. Maykov, M. P. Pogodin, all portraits - 1872, reaching a spiritual intensity unprecedented for Russian painting. It is not without reason that the portrait of F. M. Dostoevsky (1872) is rightfully considered the best in the iconography of the great writer.
“Portrait of the playwright A.N. Ostrovsky”
1871
Oil on canvas 103.5 x 80.7
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Dostoevsky Fyodor Mikhailovich (1821–1881), great writer, the most widely read Russian author abroad, creator of the novels “Crime and Punishment” (1866), “The Idiot” (1868), “Demons” (1871–1872), “Teenager” (1875), “The Brothers Karamazov” (1879–1880 ). In 1873–1881 he published “A Writer’s Diary.” The portrait was created while Dostoevsky was working on the novel “Demons.” The psychological dramaturgy of the work is the contrast between the concentrated, frozen face (“the head with its icy suffering” - the words of I.N. Kramskoy) and tightly clasped hands, as if still remembering the shackles. For participation in the revolutionary circle of M.V. Butashevich-Petrashevsky, Dostoevsky was sentenced to death, which was commuted at the last moment to hard labor. The writer’s wife A.G. Dostoevskaya said that “Perov caught... Dostoevsky’s “minute of creativity”... he seemed to “look into himself.” Dostoevsky is depicted in a pose similar to the pose of Christ in Kramskoy’s painting “Christ in the Desert”; this similarity for the writer’s contemporaries was not accidental. According to Kramskoy, “... the main advantage [of the portrait] remains, of course, the expression of character famous writer and man."
“Portrait of the writer F.M. Dostoevsky”
1872
Oil on canvas 94 x 80.5
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
“Portrait of the writer Vladimir Ivanovich Dahl”
1872
Oil on canvas 94 x 80.5
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
“Portrait of the historian Mikhail Petrovich Pogodin”
1872
Oil on canvas 115 x 88.8
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow
Towards the end of his life, Perov took up literary creativity and published it in the newspaper “Pchela” for 1875 and in N. Alexandrov’s “Art Journal” for 1881 - 1882. several interesting stories from the artists’ everyday life and their own memories. Perov died in the village of Kuzminki (in those years near Moscow) on May 29, 1882.