Life and work of Surikov. Creativity Surikov (briefly)

Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916), a Russian artist, an unrivaled master of historical canvases, was born in Krasnoyarsk, in the family of an employee. The first drawing experience was in the school, with the teacher NV Grebnev. The teacher noticed the boy's ability to paint and advised his parents to send him to St. Petersburg for special education, which was done in 1869. In the northern capital, the future artist was admitted to the Academy of Arts, graduated in 1875.

Carier start

Two years later, Vasily Surikov moved to Moscow, where he settled. Even in the student years, the young painter was able to prove himself as a master of historical associative images, his first significant work was the painting "View of the monument to Peter the First," in which he depicted the equestrian statue of the emperor against the background of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The canvas was created in 1870.

The first masterpieces

Creativity of Vasily Surikov was continued in 1877, when the artist created sketches of four Ecumenical Councils for the painting of the Moscow church of Christ the Savior. Then, under the impression of the ancient architecture of the capital, Surikov began his first masterpiece of the Moscow period, the painting "Morning of the Strelets Execution". The work was completed in 1881. The execution of the rebels with the personal participation of Peter I on Red Square was reflected by the artist with frightening reliability. The life and work of Surikov always had a stamp of some special indisputability, not a single stroke did not give reason to doubt something.

Antiquity as a style in creativity

The artist masterfully mastered all the techniques of drawing, which enabled him to address the topic of the historical past of Russia. He showed the conflict of the Russian New time with the medieval period, and this conflict does not imply the dominance of either side and can last for centuries. Creativity Surikov thoroughly permeated with "the spirit of antiquity," as figuratively expressed by N. Kramskoy in his correspondence with V. Stasov in 1884.

Menshikov and Morozova

Painter historian Vasily Surikov periodically confirmed his role, creating one masterpiece after another. In 1883 he painted the painting "Menshikov in Berezovo", and in 1887 he created another masterpiece of painting called "Boyarina Morozova". The first painting told of the exile to Siberia of one of the most powerful courtiers, a favorite of Peter the Great, Duke Menshikov. The second painting portrayed the transportation from the prison to the Miracles monastery sentenced to the seclusion of the schismatics Theodosius Morozov.

Creativity Surikov, his deep talent, embodied in a huge canvas measuring 5 x 3 meters - a grandiose phenomenon in the world of painting. "Boyarina Morozova" was purchased by the Tretyakov Gallery, where the painting is still today.

Festive theme

Vasily Surikov's previous masterpieces are not inferior to the painting "Taking of a Snowy Town", written by him in 1891 and dedicated to Maslenitsa.

The characters depicted on the canvas impress with their expressiveness, the festive action is depicted by the artist as an all-destructive element. In the center, the Cossack, attacking the snow "bastion", around the spectators who came to Maslenitsa fun.

Creativity Surikov reflected this time in the removal of the Russian people, who can create a dashing attack on the level ground, without any excuse, but from this necessarily there is a whole event. So it happened with the picture "Taking a Snowy Town", a simple game resulted in a real storm of fortifications, though dramatized. These are Russian games in the paintings of Russian painters, such is the work of the artist Surikov. Russian art is impulsive.

Subsequent work

Subsequent work of Vasily Surikov became a definite stage in his work. The canvases created by him for the period from 1895 to 1907 are still full of drama, but the perspective of the events reflected in the pictures is already different, with less expression. These are the canvases: "Stepan Razin" (1907), "Suvorov's crossing the Alps" (1899) and "The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak" (1895). All the works are written masterly, but they lack the polyphony of drama.

Striving to strengthen the degree of convincing plot of the picture, Surikov reduces the number of characters, shifting the semantic load to the remaining images in this way. This technique always brings results. The artist expands the color of the texture and enhances the expressiveness of each character separately and all together, forcing them to interact.

The lack of expression in the paintings Vasily Surikov compensates for the emphasis on the plot component. And this method also brings its results. For example, the painting "The Conquest of Ermak Siberia" is written in the best battle traditions, with a lot of guns, bright bursts of shots suggesting death and destruction. In reality, of course, everything happened less dramatically, as evidenced by the research of scientists concerning that time. However, painting is a kind of art that requires repeated exaggeration.

The canvas "Suvorov's crossing through the Alps", of course, is also written with some grotesque. There is a political rebuke to the aggressive ambitions of the Frenchmen who have sailed. Through his transition through the Alps, Suvorov painfully snapped the French military chiefs in the nose. All these nuances were fully reflected in the artist.

Creativity Surikov, whose paintings, like a mirror, reflect some aspects of social life at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, in no small measure contributed to the development of Russian art.

The painting "Stepan Razin" reveals the worship of simple warriors to his commander. He is an indisputable authority for them, the chief military leader. When Stenka Razin, without hesitation, threw the princess overboard, it was an inhuman act, which could become a reason for the disappointment of the warriors in the leader. However, they continued to extol their ataman. Dissatisfied with himself, as gloomy as a cloud, Stepan Razin sits in the middle of the boat, surrounded by loyal subjects. Seriously concerned ataman, and his mood was also able to convey the artist. All the work of Surikov consists of his attempts to reflect on his canvases a real reality, even if it sometimes is impartial.

Surikov as a realistic artist

Each painting of the painter is the quintessence of Russian life, its separate fragment, which is presented by the master in true reflection. In this approach, which excludes the distortion of reality, is the creation of Surikov, a brief description of which is not possible, an in-depth analysis is needed.

To the deserved title of the artist-historian, one more definition can be added-a "realist painter." Creativity Surikov, a brief description of his paintings, the main milestones of life are studied for many years by art historians. The conclusions of the studies are not always unambiguous, but one thing is clear: the artist Vasily Surikov is certainly the property of the Russian culture of the first magnitude.