Artist Bogdanov-Belsky Nikolai Petrovich: biography, features of creativity, the best pictures

NP Bogdanov-Belsky - Russian artist, whose works are stored in the most famous museums in the world. His life and work coincided with a turning point in the history of Russia. To date, there is no serious study of his creative heritage. Even in the encyclopedic dictionary "Russian Artists" published in 2000, it is not mentioned about the work of this outstanding master.

Painter of the Russian village - so you can characterize the essence of artistic handwriting, which differed NP Bogdanov-Belsky. Although he was a successful artist of the upper class, the ruling dynasty and the royal aristocracy often ordered portraits from him, but really fascinated his theme of simple village life. The son of a farmhand from Smolensk province, even having risen to the heights of creative recognition, saw the deep soul of a Russian village and passed it on the canvases of his paintings.

Childhood

He was born on December 8 (20), 1868. The mother of the future academician knows nothing, except that she was a farm laborer and a baby. The bell ringer became the first teacher. Under his supervision, the boy learned to read and write. Ability to paint began to manifest at an early age - a six-year-old village boy tried to depict on paper the life around him.

The next stage of training is the Sopotovskoe primary two-year school. Here the talented young man saw the founder of the national school in Tatevo SA Rachinsky. Under his patronage, there were 30 schools in which village children studied. A highly educated man, a professor at Moscow University, Rachinsky made significant efforts to improve the life of peasant children. In the school art workshop, he himself was engaged in painting and drawing with students. Two years of training, which NP Bogdanov held in this educational institution, largely determined his future life.

The first picture

The artistic talent of the student was so obvious that in 1881 SA Rachinsky sent him to continue his education to the master-icon painters. At the same time he determines the monetary maintenance for his pupil - 25 rubles a month.

The first painting, with which a 16-year-old painter took part in an art exhibition, is "Spruce Forest". According to the reviews of VD Polenov and VA Serov, everything breathed in it the natural simplicity and beauty of the Russian landscape. The artistic debut turned out to be successful and commercially. The painting was bought by the collector Sapozhnikov. Two years later, the young man begins a five-year education at the Moscow Art College (1884-1889).

Completion of education

Already from the age of 18 a young artist begins to earn his living by means of artistic work. His paintings are sold, and this money is enough to feed and continue education. In addition, he still receives content from SA Rachinsky, who closely follows the fate of his pupil.

After graduating from the landscape department of the art school, where he studied with the famous artists VD Polenov and IM Pryanishnikov, in 1894, N. P. Bogdanov continued education in the school at the Academy of Arts. His teacher in this period is IE Repin. A little more than a year the training lasts. In 1895, a young artist decides to continue his education abroad. In the following years he works and studies in France, Germany, Italy. NP Bogdanov graduated from the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1903. At the same time, the artist receives the second part of his surname. Signing the diploma of awarding him the title of academician, Emperor Nicholas II with his own hand to the name Bogdanov through the hyphen made a postscript - Belsky. Under this name, Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanov-Belsky, whose paintings are recognized masterpieces of painting, remained in the history of Russian and world art. The Academy of Arts recognized him as its full member at the age of 46 (1914).

Emigration

The painter could not accept the revolutionary events of 1917. His relations with the new authorities did not work out, and in 1921 N. Bogdanov-Belsky emigrated from Soviet Russia. His new residence was Latvia. He never returned to Russia. The Latvian period of the artist's life lasted 23 years.

He enthusiastically works. The calm nature of Latgale with its lakes, forests and meadows has pleased the artist. During this period, he creates many landscapes and still lifes. But the children's theme is clearly traced in the work of the painter. From under his brush comes a whole series of paintings about children. The small characters of the paintings are very touching and depicted with great love. As a high reward for creativity and enlightenment - awarding the Order of Three Stars. Throughout the world, his exhibitions were successfully held. The years of emigration were the period of the second heyday of the talent of the great Russian artist.

One painting as a mirror of creativity

A distinctive feature of the creativity of NP Bogdanov-Belsky is almost photographic accuracy in the transmission of details on his canvases. An example is the description of the picture "Virtuoso". Bogdanov-Belsky painted on the canvas a group of village children who enthusiastically listen to the play of a young balalaika. Carefully, with filigree meticulousness, the artist prescribes the smallest details of the simple village clothes of his heroes. Passionate expression of children's faces, a birch grove, detachment of a teenager playing a balalaika - Bogdanov-Belsky's painting "Virtuoso" is full of details that reveal the inner world of its heroes. And this "documentary" approach to the transfer of details can be traced in almost all the works of the great artist.

For the prescription of years

Incredibly, until now there is no complete catalog of the pictures of the recognized master. His work was exported to different countries. Although most of the paintings are well known not only to specialists, but also to a wide audience. However, there are still disputes about the period of writing this or that painting. It is believed that the already mentioned picture of N. Bogdanov-Belsky "Virtuoso" was written by the artist in 1891. But a number of researchers of the painter's work believe that it was created in a later period, approximately in 1912-1913. This is the period of creativity that took place in the village of Ostrovno, near Lake Udomlya. One of the inhabitants of the village, who was born in 1903, - Agafya Nilovna Ivanova - was among the children whom the artist depicted in this picture.

And this is only one mystery among the sequence of white spots that accompany any biography of the painter. The artist Bogdanov-Belsky, whose paintings are known all over the world, is just waiting for his biographer interested.

The last year of life

In 1944, the state of health of the great artist deteriorated noticeably. Because of this, I had to go to Germany, where he was treated in one of the Berlin clinics. However, the efforts of German doctors did not bring recovery. The great painter NP Bogdanov-Belsky passed away at the age of 77 years. The death of the Russian artist went almost unnoticed - Germany lost the war. Berlin was preparing to repel the attacks of the approaching Red Army. This happened on February 19, 1945. His last refuge in exile was the Russian cemetery Tegel on the outskirts of the German capital.

Instead of an afterword

Could a peasant woman from the Smolensk province who was hurling herself from the unbearable labor of labor, suggested that her son would go down in the history of the world painting under the name Bogdanov-Belsky? Nicholas, whose descriptions of paintings now occupy pride of place in the catalogs of the world's best exhibitions, also could not guess what a brilliant future in the art he expected. Unfortunately, the talent of the great Russian painter was undeservedly consigned to oblivion in his homeland. But the faces of hundreds of characters of his paintings continue to live in exhibition expositions and in the pages of art photo albums. And it seems that the artist himself is looking into their modern life. His view from the past is tortuous. After all, our reality is created by efforts, including the heroes of his canvases.