Evgeny Charushin: biography, works, paintings, photo

Creativity Yevgeny Charushin, humane, kind, pleases several generations of young readers, teaches children to love the magical world of birds and animals.

Charushin Evgeny Ivanovich, whose biography is presented in this article, is a graphic artist and writer. Years of his life - 1901-1965. October 29, 1901 in Vyatka was born Evgeny Charushin. The photo is presented below.

Eugene Ivanovich's father - Charushin Ivan Apollonovich - provincial architect, one of the best architects of the Urals. More than 300 buildings in Izhevsk, Sarapul, Vyatka were built according to his projects. Like any architect, he was a good draftsman. Very amicably lived the family of Ivan Apollonovich. In the house often gathered artists, musicians. Parents from childhood instilled in their son a love of nature.

Charushin's favorite book

Yevgeny's favorite readings were books about our younger brothers. AE Brem's Animal Life was for him the most precious and beloved. He re-read it all his life. The fact that the novice artist depicted more and more birds and animals, there is a significant share of Brem's influence. Charushin began to paint early. The beginning artist went to a stuffed workshop, which was nearby, or he watched the animals at home.

"Sopohud"

At the age of 14 he and his friends organized an alliance of artists and poets "Sopohud". Eugene from a young age wanted to capture what he saw in order to preserve the rapidly changing world. And drawing came to the rescue. Eugene Ivanovich said that the artist was born in it earlier than the writer. Somewhat later came the right words.

Work in the Political Department of the Staff, study at the Academy of Arts

In 1918, Yevgeny Charushin graduated from high school in Vyatka. He studied in it together with Yuri Vasnetsov. Then Yevgeny Ivanovich was drafted into the army. Here he decided to use "by profession" - appointed assistant decorator in the Political Department of the headquarters. After serving four years, almost the entire civil war, Yevgeny Ivanovich returned home only in 1922.

He decided to study for an artist. In the winter I studied at the workshops of the Vyatka Gubernia Committee, and in the same year, in the autumn, I entered VKhUTEIN (the Petrograd Academy of Arts), to the painting faculty. For five years Yevgeny Charushin worked here, from 1922 to 1927. His teachers were A. Karaev, M. Matyushin, A. Savinov, A. Rylov. However, as Yevgeny Ivanovich later recalled, these were the most fruitless years for him. Charushin was not interested in finding a new word in painting, as well as academic drawing. It was much more pleasant to go to the bird market or to the zoo. The young artist at that time loved to dress in fashion. According to the memoirs of Valentin Kurdov, his close friend, he wore colorful stockings and golfs, wore a tuxedo hat and a short variegated fur coat of fur.

Travel, work in the Leningrad State Publishing House

Taking advantage of the advice of V. Bianchi, in 1924 Yevgeny Charushin went to Altai for a fascinating journey together with Valentin Kurdov and Nikolai Kostrov.

In 1926 Charushin went to work in the Leningrad State Publishing House, the children's department, which was headed by Vladimir Lebedev, a famous artist. Before the artists in those years was tasked to create for the young inhabitants of the Soviet Union fundamentally new books, highly artistic, but at the same time, informative and informative. Lebedev liked the painted animals of Charushin, and he began to support him in every possible way in creative searches.

Collaboration in magazines, first illustrations for books

Evgeni Ivanovich by that time (since 1924) had already worked in Murzilka, a children's magazine. A little later he began to work in "Ezhe" (from 1928 to 1935) and in "Chizh" (from 1930 to 1941). Evgeny Charushin received his first order from the Leningrad State Publishing House in 1928 - to issue the story "Murzuk" by V. V. Bianchi. The first book with his drawings attracted the attention of both young readers and connoisseurs of book graphics. Illustration from it was acquired by the State Tretyakov Gallery itself.

Charushin in 1929 illustrated several more books: "Free Birds", "Wild Beasts", "How a bear became a bear". In these works, Evgenii Charushin's extraordinary skill in conveying the habits of animals was manifested to the full. Orphaned a little bear, sitting on a branch; A ravenous crow that was about to peck a bone; Wild boars, wandering with babies ... All this and much more is painted expressively, brightly, but at the same time capaciously and concisely. The artist, creating an image of an animal, was able to identify the most important, characteristic features.

The first stories of Eugene Charushin

A lot of illustrations were made by Evgeny Charushin. The works of Bianchi, as well as S. Ya. Marshak, MM Prishvin and other famous writers with his drawings attracted a lot of readers. At the same time, at Marshak's insistence, he tried to compose small children's stories about the life of animals. His first story appeared in 1930 ("Schur"). Already in this work showed not only an excellent knowledge of the characters of different animals, but also a sense of humor. In all the other stories of Yevgeny Ivanovich, there is also a palpable, sometimes mild, sometimes slightly ironic, then kindly condescending smile. Charushin Evgeny Ivanovich is an illustrator and writer who sought to understand animals, their facial expressions and movements. The accumulated experience helped him to convey this in words and illustrations. In the fact that created by Eugene Ivanovich, there is no fiction - animals always do what is peculiar to them.

New books Charushin and illustrations to them

Charushin Evgeny Ivanovich, whose paintings were very well known at that time, began to illustrate his own compositions: "Different Beasts" (1930), "Volchishko and others", "Nikita and his friends", "About Tomku", "About Big and small "," My first zoology "," Vaska "," Bear cubs "," About the magpie ", etc. However, this turned out to be the most difficult, because, according to Yevgeny Ivanovich himself, it was much easier for him to illustrate other people's texts than own. In the 1930s, Charushin was recognized as one of the best artists specializing in children's books. At that time, its design had already formed in a separate direction in art. About stories Charushin very warmly responded M. Gorky. Working in the technique of color or monochrome watercolor painting, Evgeny Ivanovich recreated an entire landscape environment with one easy dynamic spot. His stories about animals are elegant and lexical.

More about the creation of Charushin

With great respect, Charushin treated his readers. He was glad that the animals they painted did not appeal to editors and critics, but to the kids. Considering the books of Charushin, one can safely say that both the illustrations and the texts themselves reflect the integral, single inner world of their creator. Figures and stories are informative, laconic, strict and understandable to anyone, even a small child. In the collection "Nestlings" (1930), consisting of short stories about the Owls, Korostelyat, Ryabchaty, Eugene Charushin skillfully highlights the most catchy and memorable features of the characters.

Charushin knew the habits of animals well. In the illustrations, he portrayed them with extraordinary character and precision. Each of his drawings is individual, in each of them the character is depicted with his own special character, which corresponds to this or that situation. Charushin responsibly solved this problem. He said that if there is no image, there is nothing to portray. Charushinsky animals are emotional, touching. Background and environment are barely outlined in his early books. The main thing - to show the animal close-up, while not just creating an artistic image, but also to portray the hero as truly as possible. Evgeni Ivanovich did not like bad animals drawn from the point of view of biology. He also believed that the drawings in the children's book should be breathing, alive. Eugene Charushin did not like Ivan Bilibin, believing that he was not drawing, but painting the dead, cold contours.

Of the many textures, the picturesqueness of Charushin's animal images is formed, which skillfully convey the wool of the beast, the feathers of a bird. Create picturesque by texture, complex drawings were most convenient in lithography technique. Most often, the artist used natural pastel colors. He did not recognize lithographic rules and laws, temperamentally leading a pencil, scratching the lithographic stone with a razor and a needle. On many occasions Eugene Ivanovich could seal up the parts that had not turned out on the drawing or cover them with whitewash.

About 20 books were created in the pre-war time by Eugene Charushin. His biography was marked by the appearance of the following works: 1930 - "Chicks"; In 1931 - "Volchishko and others", "Chicken City", "Oblava", "Jungle - bird's paradise"; In 1935 - "Animals of hot countries." Simultaneously, he continued to illustrate such authors as S. Ya. Marshak, VV Bianki, MM Prishvin, AI Vvedensky.

Military years

Charushin during the war was evacuated from Leningrad to Kirov (Vyatka), home. Here he created paintings on guerrilla themes, drew posters, arranged performances, painted the walls of the kindergarten and foyer of the House of schoolchildren and pioneers, taught children drawing.

Charushin Evgeny Ivanovich: a short biography of the post-war years

The artist returned to Leningrad in 1945. In addition to working on books, he began creating a series of prints depicting animals. Charushin was carried away by sculpture even before the war. He painted tea sets, and then, already in peacetime, created figures of animals from porcelain and even entire decorative groups. He tried differently to design books for children. In the drawings of Charushin, a perspective began to appear, space began to be designated. The technique also changed: he began to work with watercolors and gouache, but not with broad strokes, but working very carefully on small details. In 1945, Charushin became Honored Artist of the RSFSR.

The last picture he illustrated is "Babes in a cage" by Samuil Yakovlevich Marshak. Works Charushina today translated into many languages of the peoples of the former USSR, as well as a number of foreign countries. His prints, illustrations, books, porcelain sculpture were exhibited at exhibitions in Paris, London, Sofia. The total circulation of Yevgeny Charushin's books exceeds 60 million copies.

February 18, 1965 in Leningrad, Eugene Charushin died. He was buried at the Bogoslovsky Cemetery.