Famous paintings by Kramskoy with titles. Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich

The main direction of his work is portrait and historical painting.

He was born on May 27 in the Voronezh province. Kramskoy's father was a clerk in the local duma. ABOUTIvan received his education at the Ostrog School, which he graduated at the age of twelve.

He graduated from school with a certificate of merit, he studied well. In the year he received his first education, the young man lost his father. Ivan had to work part-time in the same Duma where his father worked, serving as a scribe in the Duma.

At the age of 15, Kramskoy was a student of the Ostrog icon painter, from whom he learned his skills for a year. He also worked as a retoucher for a photographer, originally from Kharkov, and made a living by wandering around, photographing various events.

The Kharkov resident introduced Kramskoy to his business. Ivan began traveling with the photographer around the country for three years. During this time, he improved his skills in retouching.

In 1857, fate brought Kramskoy to the capital of the Empire. In St. Petersburg he worked in a photo studio and soon entered the. In 1863, Kramskoy received a small gold medal from the Academy of Arts for the painting “Moses oozes water from a rock.”

It is worth noting that Ivan Nikolaevich was endowed with a certain charisma and was a leader by nature. Over the years of study at the Academy, he managed to establish himself well and gain great authority among the team of its students.

In order to graduate from the Academy of Arts and receive a large gold medal, which promised a retirement trip to European countries, he had to write a series of works.

The Academy Council proposed to 14 graduates, including Ivan Nikolaevich, the topic of painting - scenes from Scandinavian mythology. All 14 students refused to write a paper on this topic, as they considered it very abstract from real life.

The artists made a proposal to the council that each of them choose the theme of their work. The council refused. The artists, in turn, asked the council to exclude them from the competition. This event went down in the history of Russian culture as the “Revolt of the Fourteen.”

14 rebels formed the “St. Petersburg Artel of Artists,” which was formed on the initiative of Ivan Nikolaevich. The year 1870 was marked by the creation of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions; Kramskoy should be considered the ideological inspirer and founder of this organization.

There are many good things in the artist’s biography that are still known to everyone today. Kramskoy is a significant figure in Russian history who had a great influence on the development of artistic arts in Russia. In fact, he was the educator of the subsequent generation of Russian realist artists.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy died on March 24, 1887, right at work - he was painting a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus and suddenly fell. The doctor tried to help, but was still powerless.

Self-portrait. 1867

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(1837-1887) - outstanding artist of the second half of the 19th century century, occupies one of the leading places in the history of Russian artistic culture. Having matured early, thinking and well-read, he quickly gained authority among his comrades and, naturally, became one of the leaders of the “revolt of the fourteen” in 1863, when a group of graduates refused to write graduation pictures on a given mythological subject. After the rebels left the Academy of Arts, it was Kramskoy who headed the Artel of Artists created on his initiative. Kramskoy is one of the main founders of the Peredvizhniki association, a subtle art critic, passionately interested in the fate of Russian art, he was the ideologist of a whole generation of realist artists. He took part in the development of the Charter of the Partnership and immediately became not only one of the most active and authoritative members of the board, but also the ideologist of the Partnership, defending and justifying the main positions. What distinguished him from other leaders of the Association was his independence of worldview, rare breadth of views, sensitivity to everything new in the artistic process and intolerance to any dogmatism.

The work of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy coincided with the most striking period in the history of Russian realistic art, when critical realism in painting and literature reached its highest rise and acquired great importance in the world XIX culture century. However, the role of the artist in the history of Russian art is not limited to his personal creativity: with his gift as a teacher, an ideologist of a new direction, and with all his social activities, Kramskoy had a huge influence on the minds of his contemporaries.

A girl with a loose braid. 1873

Kramskoy was born in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province. The future artist's early interest in art over time turned into a persistent attraction to creativity. The young Kramskoy worked for some time as a retoucher for the photographer Danilevsky and, as an assistant, endlessly wandered around the provincial cities of Russia. Finally, having arrived in St. Petersburg, he fulfills his dream - he enters the Academy of Arts. However, the bright hopes of getting to know the secrets of great art were not destined to be realized, since at that time the main principles of academic teaching remained the outlived ideas of classicism, which did not correspond at all to the new time. Advanced social circles set artists the task of being a broad and truthful father of reality. The appearance at this time of N. G. Chernyshevsky’s dissertation “The Aesthetic Relationship of Art to Reality” gave special weight to issues of art.

In the fall of 1863, fourteen academicians were offered a “program” on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla.” Young artists refused to write on this topic and left the Academy. The break with the Academy was led by Kramskoy. This decisive step threatened former students with political distrust from the state and material poverty and therefore required enormous courage. Having led this movement, Kramskoy assumed responsibility for the future fate of Russian art. For the purpose of mutual assistance and material support, an Artel of Artists was created, which later became the base of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. A public figure by vocation, Kramskoy becomes one of the most active members of this organization. One of the main goals of the Partnership was the development of democratic art, not only in the form of organization, but also in ideological direction. In Russian Peredvizhniki, democratic realism as a phenomenon of world art has reached high heights. The first traveling exhibition was opened on November 21, 1871 in the building of the Academy of Arts. In the spring of 1872, she was transported to Moscow and then to Kyiv. Unlike academic ones, traveling exhibitions “moved” from city to city, arousing keen interest everywhere. Thus began the activity of this public organization, which for a number of decades united all the leading artists of Russia.

Mermaids. 1871

Kramskoy participated in the first traveling exhibition big picture“Mermaids” based on the story “May Night” by N.V. Gogol. Here the artist was attracted by the opportunity to convey the moonlight in the language of painting, which so poetically changes everything around. Kramskoy wrote: “I’m glad that with such a plot I didn’t completely break my neck, and even if I didn’t catch the moon, something fantastic still came out.”

For the next exhibition of the Itinerants, Kramskoy painted the painting “Christ in the Desert” (1872), which was conceived as the first in a series of (never realized) paintings based on gospel subjects. The artist wrote that his task was to show internal struggle a person immersed in deep thoughts about choosing a life path. The painting “Christ in the Desert” was perceived by contemporaries as a symbol of a person’s high civic duty

Christ in the desert. 1972

In the summer of 1873, Kramskoy and his family settled in the Tula province, not far from the estate of L.N. Tolstoy. Taking advantage of this proximity, Kramskoy painted a portrait of Tolstoy. Strength and solidity of personality, a clear and energetic mind - this is how the writer appears in this portrait. From the whole gallery of portraits of L. N. Tolstoy, written by N. N. Ge, I. E. Repin, L. O. Pasternak, Kramskoy’s portrait is one of the best. In turn, the artist himself served as the prototype of the artist Mikhailov in the novel “Anna Karenina”. Almost at the same time, portraits of I. I. Shishkin and N. A. Ne-krasov were created. The portrait of “Nekrasov during the period of “Last Songs” (1877) was painted at a time when Nekrasov was already seriously ill, so the sessions lasted 10-15 minutes. The most powerful impression from the portrait is the contrast between the clarity of mind, creative inspiration and the physical weakness of the dying poet.

Among Kramskoy’s works there are a number of poetic female images, such as “Girl with a Loose Braid” or the famous “Stranger”, which was said to be the prototype of Anna Karenina. Back in 1874, the artist created a whole series of peasant types, the most powerful in character among them is “Forest Man” (1874).

In the 80s, Kramskoy painted the painting “Inconsolable Grief,” which is largely autobiographical: the artist survived the death of two children. Kaya and in “The Widow” by Fedotov, the theme of human grief sounds mournfully here. The face and the very image of the mother who lost her child are striking.

This woman, killed by an irreparable misfortune, exists as if outside of time, it seems to have stopped. Since 1883, the artist’s health deteriorated, and Kramskoy’s last years were extremely difficult. Constant household chores and work on orders do not allow him to finish work on the painting “Laughter” (“Christ before the people”), the idea of ​​which involved the development of the theme “Christ in the Desert”, the theme of the sacrificial fate of man.

On March 25, 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, Kramskoy unexpectedly dies.

Ivan Kramskoy painted many portraits; Of these, portraits of S. P. Botkin, I. I. Shishkin, Grigorovich, Mrs. Vogau, the family (female portraits) of the Gunzburgs, a Jewish boy, A. S. Suvorin, unknown, Count L. N. Tolstoy, Count Litke deserve special mention , D. A. Tolstoy, Goncharov and... They are distinguished by their complete similarity and talented characterization of the person from whom the portrait was painted.

Kramskoy also engaged in engraving on copper with strong vodka; Among the etchings he executed, the best were portraits of Emperor Alexander III, when he was the crown prince, Peter the Great and Taras Shevchenko.

Kramskoy did not have much education, he always regretted it and made up for this deficiency with constant serious reading and community intelligent people, as a result of which he himself was a useful interlocutor for artists (Kramskoy is known for his pedagogical activity, as a teacher since 1862 at the drawing school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists).
Without Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy it is impossible to imagine the democratic artistic culture of the second half of the 19th century. He was rightfully the ideological leader, conscience and brain of the Wandering movement.It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Kramskoy’s artistic and literary heritage for Russian culture. The main focus of his artistic activity is a deep interest in understanding the man of his era, whether the artist depicted him in the guise of a gospel tale or in the guise of his contemporary. Social activity Kramskoy, his work became a school for a whole generation of Russian artists.

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Self-portrait. 1874.

The Contemplator, 1876

Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs. 1877-1878

Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Black Sea. 1861

Herodias. 1884-1886

While reading. Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife. 1866-1869

Female portrait. 1884

Female portrait. 1867

A girl with laundry on a yoke among the grass. 1874

Peasant's head. 1874

Convalescent. 1885

Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes. 1884

Actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky as Petruchio in Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew. 1883

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1879

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. 1876

Portrait of Anatoly Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son. 1882

Portrait of the artist Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov. 1874

Portrait of the artist Mikhail Klodt. 1872

Portrait of the artist K.A. Savitsky.

Portrait of the artist I.K. Aivazovsky

Portrait of the artist I. E. Repin

Portrait of the artist Grigory Myasoedov

Portrait of the artist Alexey Bogolyubov. 1869

Portrait of the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. 1885

Portrait of Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s daughter. 1882

Portrait of the sculptor Mark Matveevich Antokolsky. 1876

Portrait of the poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky. 1875

Portrait of the poet Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov. 1877

Portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko. 1871

Portrait of the writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. 1878

Portrait of the writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (N. Shchedrin). 1879

Portrait of the writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. 1873

Portrait of the writer Ivan Aleksandrovich Goncharov. 1874

Portrait of the writer Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich. 1876

Portrait of singer Elizaveta Andreevna Lavrovskaya, on the stage in the Assembly of the Nobility. 1879

Portrait of Nikolai Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son. 1882

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Portrait of the publisher and publicist Alexey Sergeevich Suvorin. 1881

Portrait of I.I. Shishkin. 1880

Portrait of the artist Ivan Shishkin. 1873

Laughter (Hail, King of the Jews). Late 1870s - 1880s

Poet Apollo Nikolaevich Maikov. 1883

Portrait of the artist F. A. Vasiliev. 1871

Throughout his life, Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy tried to turn art face to face with life, so that it would become an effective tool for its active knowledge. An outstanding artist, who played a huge role in the formation of the national school of painting, led the famous “revolt of the fourteen,” stood at the head of the Artel of Artists and the Association of the Wanderers, and was one of those whose life and work invariably served to strengthen the most revolutionary, most advanced ideas of his time.

Paintings by Ivan Kramskoy

Heightened sense of life

Ivan Nikolaevich wrote in his biography: “I was born in 1837, May 27 (according to the old art.-V.R.), in the district town of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province, in the suburban settlement of Novaya Sotna, from parents assigned to the local philistinism. When I was 12 years old, I lost my father, a very stern man, as far as I remember. My father served in the city duma, if I’m not mistaken, as a journalist (i.e., a clerk - V.R.); My grandfather, according to stories... was also some kind of clerk in Ukraine. My genealogy does not rise any further.”

In his declining years, the artist ironically noted that he “turned out to be something like a ‘person’.” In his autobiography, one can feel some bitterness, but at the same time the legitimate pride of a man who escaped from the “bottom” and stood alongside the most outstanding figures of his time. The painter wrote about how he had strived all his life to get an education, but he only managed to graduate from the Ostrogozhsk district school, although he became the “first student” there. “...I have never envied anyone so much... as a truly educated person,” notes Kramskoy, mentioning that after training he became the same clerk in the city duma as his father was.

The young man became interested in art early, but the first person to notice and support this was the local amateur artist and photographer Mikhail Borisovich Tulinov, to whom Kramskoy was grateful all his life. For some time he studied icon painting, then, at the age of sixteen, he “had the opportunity to escape from the provincial town with a Kharkov photographer.” The future artist traveled with him “a large half of Russia for three years, as a retoucher and watercolorist. It was a harsh school...” But this “severe school” brought Kramskoy considerable benefit, strengthened his will and formed a persistent character, only strengthening his desire to become an artist.

Judging by his diary entries, young Ivan Kramskoy was an enthusiastic youth, but in St. Petersburg in 1857 a man arrived who knew exactly what he wanted and how to achieve it. The beginning of the independent path of the future painter came at a difficult time for all of Russia. The Crimean War has just ended, marking a crushing military and political defeat of the autocracy, while at the same time awakening the public consciousness of both progressive people and the broad masses.

Monolith of the Imperial Academy

The abolition of the hated serfdom was just around the corner, and progressive Russia not only lived in anticipation of the coming changes, but also contributed to them in every possible way. The alarm of the Herzen “Bell” sounded powerfully, young raznochintsy revolutionaries, led by N. G. Chernyshevsky, prepared themselves for the struggle for the liberation of the people. And even the sphere of “high” art, so far from practical life, succumbed to the charm of the wind of change.

If serfdom was the main brake on the development of all aspects of social life, then the citadel of conservatism in the field of art was created back in mid-18th century century Imperial Academy of Arts. Being a purveyor of official doctrines and already outdated aesthetic principles, she did not allow the area of ​​“beauty” to have anything in common with reality. But her students in the second half of the 50s and early 60s increasingly felt that life made completely different demands on art. The significant words of N. G. Chernyshevsky “beautiful is life” became a programmatic setting for the entire progressive Russian intelligentsia and young figures of the emerging Russian democratic art. They brought new social sentiments to the Academy of Arts, established close ties with students of the University, the Medical-Surgical Academy, where the heroes of Chernyshevsky’s novel “What is to be done?” studied. Dmitry Lopukhov and Alexander Kirsanov, both are typical commoners, peers of I. Kramskoy.

Arriving in St. Petersburg, Ivan Nikolaevich already enjoyed the reputation of an excellent retoucher, which opened the doors to him in the studio of the best capital photographers I. F. Aleksandrovsky and A. I. Denyer. But the career of a successful artisan could not satisfy him. Kramskoy thought more and more persistently about entering the Academy of Arts.

Kramskoy's drawings immediately received approval from the Academy Council, and in the fall of 1857 he already became a student of Professor A. T. Markov. Thus his cherished dream came true, and it must be said that Kramskoy studied very diligently, worked hard on drawing, the culture of which was very high at the Academy, successfully worked on sketches on historical and mythological subjects, receiving all the required awards.

But the young painter did not feel true satisfaction. A thoughtful, well-read man, he more and more definitely felt the fundamental discord between the old artistic doctrines and real life. Just a few months after Kramskoy entered the Academy, A. A. Ivanov’s work “The Appearance of Christ to the People” was brought to St. Petersburg from Italy. The artist’s return to Russia after an absence of almost thirty years, his sudden death that followed, and the impression that the painting made on his contemporaries, which became the main work of the great master’s life, played a huge role in shaping the consciousness of the emerging advanced part of the Russian intelligentsia.

"Riot of the Fourteen"

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy himself spoke best about the riot of the 14 in his letter to his old friend M. B. Tulinov: “My dear Mikhail Borisovich! Attention! On November 9, that is, last Saturday, the following circumstance happened at the Academy: 14 students submitted a request to issue them diplomas for the title cool artists. At first glance, there is nothing surprising here.

Free people, free students, can leave classes whenever they want. But the fact of the matter is that these 14 are not ordinary students, but people who have their hearts set on their first gold medal. It was like this: a month before, we submitted a request for permission to free choice plots, but our request was refused... and they decided to give one plot to historians and a plot to genre writers, who from time immemorial chose their plots. On the day of the competition, November 9th, we went to the office and decided to go all together to the Council and find out what the Council decided. Therefore, to the inspector’s question: which of us are historians and which are genre writers? In order to all enter the conference room together, we answered that we were all historians. Finally, they are called in front of the Council to listen to the task. Let's go in. F. F. Lvov read us the plot: “A Feast in Valhalla” - from Scandinavian mythology, where heroes knights fight forever, where the god Odin presides, two ravens sit on his shoulders, and two wolves at his feet, and finally, there, somewhere in the sky, between the columns, there is a month, driven by a monster in the form of a wolf, and a lot of other nonsense. After that, Bruni stood up and came up to us to explain the plot, as is always the case. But one of us, namely Kramskoy, separates and says the following: “We ask permission in front of the Council to say a few words” (silence, and everyone’s eyes fixed on the speaker). “We submitted a petition twice, but the Council did not find it possible to fulfill our request; We, not considering ourselves in the right to insist any longer and not daring to think about changing academic regulations, we humbly ask you to release us from participation in the competition and issue us diplomas for the title of artists.”

There is silence for a few moments. Finally, Gagarin and Ton make sounds: “everything?” We answer: “everything,” and leave, and in the next room we give petitions to the case manager... And on the same day, Gagarin asked in a letter to Dolgorukov that nothing should appear in the literature without first reviewing him (Gagarin). In a word, we were put in a difficult situation. So, we have cut off our own retreat and do not want to return, and may the Academy be healthy for its centenary. Everywhere we meet sympathy for our action, so one, sent from the writers, asked me to tell him the words I said in the Council for publication. But we are silent for now. And since we had held hands tightly until now, so that we would not fall into ruin, we decided to hold on further in order to form an artistic association, that is, to work together and live together. I ask you to tell me your advice and considerations regarding the practical design and general rules, suitable for our society... And now it seems to us that this is possible. Our range of activities includes: portraits, iconostases, copies, original paintings, drawings for publications and lithographs, drawings on wood, in a word, everything related to our specialty... Here is a program that is far from clear, as you can see... "

In this letter, the artist not only reveals the vicissitudes of the confrontation between young artists and the Academy, but also sees prospects for the future, which are not yet completely clear, but very bold and not limited by the selfish goals of their own survival. After this incident, secret police surveillance was established over Kramskoy and his comrades, which lasted for many years. Here are the names of the fourteen participants in the “revolt”: painters I. Kramskoy, A. Morozov, F. Zhuravlev, M. Peskov, B. Wenig, P. Zabolotsky, N. Shustov, A. Litovchenko, N. Dmitriev, A. Korzukhin, A . Grigoriev, N. Petrov, K. Lemokh and sculptor V. Kreitan.

All of them were ordered to urgently vacate the workshops, but the youth, left without a means of subsistence, still won a major victory, the significance of which at that time they could hardly understand. This was the first conquest of Russian democratic realistic art. Soon Kramskoy, together with like-minded people, began to put into practice the idea he had - the creation of the first independent “art association” - the Artel of Artists.

Kramskoy through the eyes of Repin

After being expelled from the Academy, Kramskoy gets a job teaching at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, among whose students “was a talented young man who had just arrived in St. Petersburg from Ukraine,” just like Kramskoy himself once dreamed of entering the Academy of Arts - Ilya Repin.

Ilya Efimovich himself describes his first meeting with Kramskoy: “It’s Sunday, twelve o’clock in the afternoon. There is lively excitement in the class, Kramskoy is not yet there. We are drawing from the head of Milon of Croton... The class is noisy... Suddenly there was complete silence... And I saw a thin man in a black frock coat walking with a firm gait into the class. I thought it was someone else: I imagined Kramskoy differently. Instead of a beautiful pale profile, this one had a thin, high-cheekboned face and smooth black hair instead of shoulder-length brown curls, and such a ragged thin beard only appears on students and teachers. - Who is this? - I whisper to my friend. - Kramskoy! Don't you know? - he is surprised. So that’s what he’s like!.. Now he looked at me; seems to have noticed. What eyes! You can’t hide, even though they are small and sit deep in the sunken orbits; gray, glowing... What a serious face! But his voice is pleasant, sincere, he speaks with excitement... But they also listen to him! They even abandoned their work and stood around with their mouths agape; It’s clear that they are trying to remember every word.”

Repin, like many Russian artists (Kramskoy himself wrote magnificently, just like Perov), Repin turned out to be a talented writer. In his essay “Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (In Memory of a Teacher)”, with his characteristic impulsiveness, he creates a very lively, expressive literary portrait. “Kramskoy on Repin’s pages is all in motion, in struggle, this is not a frozen wax figure panopticon, this is precisely the hero of a fascinating story, rich in episodes,” K. Chukovsky later wrote.

Repin created an image that coincides almost down to the last detail with the “Self-Portrait” painted by Kramskoy in 1867 and which was distinguished by its unusually objective characteristics. In the picture, nothing distracts us from the main thing - the hero’s face, with the stern, penetrating gaze of gray eyes. Intelligence, will, restraint - these are the main personality traits of the artist, which are clearly visible in the canvas. A proud sense of self-worth is shown without showing off or posing. Everything is simple and natural in the external appearance of the painter and in its own way harmonious in the internal. The coloring of the portrait is almost monochrome, the brushstroke is dynamic, and before us is the recognized head of the first St. Petersburg Artel of Artists.

Creation of Artel

On the facade of house number 2/10, located on the corner of Mayorova Avenue and Admiralteysky Avenue in St. Petersburg, there is a memorial plaque with the inscription: “In this house from 1866 to 1870, the great Russian artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy lived and worked. The Artel he organized, which united the leading realist artists of the 60s, was located here.” But in reality, the Artel of Artists did not immediately acquire premises in the center of the capital, not far from Palace Square.

It all started much more modestly. Recalling the organization of the Artel, Kramskoy wrote to Stasov before his death: “... then it was necessary, first of all, to eat, to eat, since all 14 people had two chairs and one three-legged table. Those who had at least something immediately fell away.” “After much deliberation,” wrote Repin, “they came to the conclusion that it was necessary to organize, with the permission of the government, an Artel of Artists - something like an art firm, workshop and office, accepting orders from the street, with a sign and an approved charter. They rented a large apartment in the Seventeenth Line of Vasilievsky Island and moved (mostly) there to live together. And then they immediately came to life and became cheerful. A common large, bright hall, comfortable offices for everyone, their own household run by Kramskoy’s wife - all this encouraged them. Life became more fun, and some orders appeared. Society is power." This is how the first association of artists, organized by Kramskoy, appeared. It allowed many talented artists not only to survive, but to achieve success, recognition and financial independence, which ultimately caused the complete collapse of the organization.

Personal life and interest in psychology

Ivan Nikolaevich was always sure that his chosen one would be his faithful friend and would share with him all the hardships of an artist’s life. Sofya Nikolaevna, who became his wife, fully embodied his dreams of personal happiness. In one of the artist’s letters to his wife, we read: “...not only do you not prevent me from being an artist and a comrade of my comrades, but it’s even as if you yourself have become a true artel worker...”. Kramskoy repeatedly painted portraits of Sofia Nikolaevna. And although it would be too bold to call her the artist’s “muse,” she undoubtedly was the ideal woman for him. The best for that confirmation is her images created in portraits of the 60s. The common features of all the paintings are the integrity, independence and pride of their heroine, which allows us to see in her a “new woman”, who at the same time has not lost her true femininity, poetry and softness.

These qualities are especially noticeable in her graphic portrait, which belongs to the Tretyakov Gallery (1860s). A young, charming and gentle woman with a strong-willed character, as evidenced by her energetic turn of the head and stern but open gaze.

Painting “Reading. Portrait of S. N. Kramskoy,” painted in 1863, reminds us of the lyrical female portraits of the early 19th century. The coloring of the painting is based on a combination of shades of light green, lilac and other delicate colors. A large role in the canvas is played by the landscape and a few, carefully selected accessories that help convey the obvious attractiveness of the heroine of the portrait. The young Kramskoy couple was photographed in 1865 by their mutual friend, “artel worker” N.A. Koshelev. In the painting “Kramskoy with his wife” we see a lyrical scene: Sofya Nikolaevna plays the piano, while Ivan Nikolaevich is lost in thought to the accompaniment of her music.

In the 60s, Kramskoy created many graphic portraits of his friends: N. A. Koshelev, the Dmitriev-Orenburgsky spouses, M. B. Tulinov, I. I. Shishkin, increasingly strengthening their psychologism. True, photography, which was rapidly developing at that time, seemed to begin to displace artistic graphic and expensive painting portraits. It seemed that absolutely everything was available to the camera, that it could not only accurately capture the appearance of the person posing, but also advantageously emphasize the necessary details of the costume, rich furnishings, jewelry, etc. But, as time has shown, there was one thing he couldn’t do - look inside a person, give him a certain social and psychological assessment. This remained achievable only in a portrait created by the artist.

This is exactly what many masters were doing - improving the psychological portrait - including N.N. Ge, V.G. Perov and I.N. Kramskoy. The powerful rise of Russian realistic portraits coincided with the beginning of the era of the Wanderers and the end of the Artel era, which lost its original meaning in time.

Association of Itinerants

The wonderful idea of ​​creating TPHV, which played a big role in the life of Russian art, belonged to a group of prominent Moscow and St. Petersburg artists, and the direct initiator of the initiative was the famous genre artist G. G. Myasoedov. He addressed a letter to Artel, finding support there only from individual members, primarily I.N. Kramskoy.

In 1870, an organization was created that was capable of liberating Russian democratic art from state tutelage and rallying advanced artists around an association based on the principle of personal material interest of all its members. The main goal of the Partnership was the development of art. The practice of traveling exhibitions opened up the possibility of direct communication between artists and a wide audience, while raising the most pressing issues of our time.

Over the course of several decades, P.M. acquired many of the best works of the Itinerants into his collection. Tretyakov. On November 28 (December 12, new style), 1871, the first exhibition of the Partnership took place in St. Petersburg. It should be noted that it was Kramskoy, a man of extremely strong principles and convictions, who owed the created Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions the fact that it very soon outgrew the tasks of an exhibition organization and became a genuine school of advanced Russian art.

Ivan Nikolaevich himself, by organizing the Partnership and directing its creative life, found in it that “nutrient medium” that allowed him to achieve his own artistic heights. The heyday of the activities of the Association of Itinerants coincided with the heyday of Kramskoy’s creativity, both as a painter and as a critic-publicist, the author of a number of very serious articles in which he expressed his thoughts on the fate of art and its high social purpose.

In numerous letters to a variety of people one can read many interesting remarks by Kramskoy about the great masters of the past and contemporary Russians and European artists. The most remarkable point in the artist’s critical reflections was that he wrote them not so much to instruct others, but to express the enormous and continuous inner work that was carried out within himself.

Kramskoy, in his aesthetic views, was a consistent supporter of the teachings of the great democrats V.G. Belinsky and N.G. Chernyshevsky. He wrote, believing that only life itself can be the basis of artistic creativity: “It’s a bad thing when art becomes a legislator!.. The serious interests of the people must always go ahead of the less significant ones.”

Kramskoy argued that “art cannot be anything other than national. Nowhere and never has there been any other art, and if so-called universal art exists, it is only because it was expressed by a nation that was ahead of universal human development. And if someday in the distant future Russia is destined to occupy such a position among nations, then Russian art, being deeply national, will become universal.”

Image of Christ

During the heyday of the Impressionist art in France, Repin, who visited Paris and admired their work, wrote that “we”, i.e. Russians, “a completely different people, in addition, in development (artistic - V.R.) we are in an earlier phase.” In response to Kramskoy’s remark that Russian artists must finally “move towards the light, towards the colors,” Repin says: “... our task is content. The face, the soul of a person, the drama of life, the impressions of nature, its life and meaning, the spirit of history - these are our themes... our colors are a tool, they must express our thoughts, our coloring is not elegant spots, it must express to us the mood of the picture , her soul, it must position and capture the entire viewer, like a chord in music.”

It should be noted that similar ideas were expressed at that time by many figures of Russian culture from F.M. Dostoevsky to M.P. Mussorgsky. They were also directly embodied in the works of I.N. Kramskoy.

The most important work in the artist’s work was the painting “Christ in the Desert” (1872), shown at the second exhibition of the Wanderers Association, the idea of ​​which he had long ago. The artist said that it became a repository of the most important ideas for him: “Under the influence of a number of impressions, a very difficult feeling about life settled in me. I see clearly that there is one moment in the life of every person, more or less created in the image and likeness of God, when he thinks about whether to go right or left?.. We all know how such hesitation usually ends. Expanding the thought further, embracing humanity in general, I, from my own experience, from my little original, and only from him alone, can guess about the terrible drama that played out during historical crises. And now I have a terrible need to tell others what I think. But how to tell? How, in what way can I be understood? By nature, the language of hieroglyphs is most accessible to me. And then one day I... saw a figure sitting in deep thought... His thought was so serious and deep that I constantly found him in the same position... It became clear to me that he was busy with an issue that was important to him, so important that he is insensitive to terrible physical fatigue... Who was it? I don't know. In all likelihood it was a hallucination; I don't think I actually saw him. It seemed to me that this best suited what I wanted to tell. Here I didn’t even have to invent anything, I just tried to copy. And when he finished, he gave it a cheeky name. But if I could write it at the time when I observed him, is this Christ? Don't know...".

We can judge how long and hard the artist worked to create that “correct” image by the huge number of drawings and sketches made in preparation for the main work. The significance of this painting for Kramskoy can be judged by the fact that he continued to complete his work even after it was hung in the Tretyakov Gallery.

The artist depicted Christ sitting on gray cold stones, the desert soil is dead, it seems that Jesus wandered where no human foot has gone before. A subtle balance of the horizon level, dividing the work space in half, His figure simultaneously dominates the space of the canvas, drawn against the sky as a clear silhouette, and is in harmony with the earthly world depicted on the canvas. This only helps the artist deepen the inner drama of his hero. There is no action in the picture, but the viewer seems to feel the life of the spirit, the work of thought of the son of God, deciding for himself some important issue.

His feet are wounded by sharp stones, his figure is bent, his hands are painfully clenched. Meanwhile, the emaciated face of Jesus not only conveys his suffering, but, despite everything, expresses enormous power will, boundless loyalty to the idea to which He subordinated his entire life.

“He sat down like this while the sun was still in front of him, he sat down tired, exhausted, at first he followed the sun with his eyes, then he did not notice the night, and at dawn, when the sun should rise behind him, he continued to sit motionless. And it cannot be said that he was completely insensitive to sensations: no, under the influence of the oncoming morning cold, he instinctively pressed his elbows closer to his body, and only, however, his lips seemed to have dried up, stuck together from a long silence, and only his eyes betrayed his inner feelings. work, although we didn’t see anything...”

The author addresses his contemporaries, raising in this work large and eternal universal problems, confronting them with the difficult question of choosing a life path. In Russia at that time there were many people who were ready to sacrifice themselves for the sake of truth, goodness and justice. Young revolutionaries who would soon become heroes of many works of democratic literature and painting were preparing to “go among the people.” Close connection between Kramskoy’s paintings and life was obvious, but the artist wanted to create a work-program: “And so, this is not Christ, that is, I don’t know who it is. This is an expression of my personal thoughts. Which moment? Transition. What follows? To be continued in the next book." The same one next book"should have become the canvas "Laughter" ("Hail, King of the Jews!", 1877-1882).

In 1872, Kramskoy wrote to F.A. Vasiliev: “We need to write another “Christ”, we definitely need to, that is, not him himself, but that crowd that laughs at the top of its lungs, with all the strength of its huge animal lungs... This laughter It's been haunting me for years now. It’s not that it’s hard that it’s hard, but that it’s hard that they laugh.” Christ is in front of the crowd, ridiculed, spat upon, but “he is calm as a statue, pale as a sheet.” “As long as we are not seriously chatting about goodness, about honesty, we are in harmony with everyone, try to seriously implement Christian ideas, see what laughter rises all around. This laughter follows me everywhere, wherever I go, I hear it everywhere.”

“Seriously pursuing Christian ideas” for the artist did not at all mean affirming the dogmas of official Orthodoxy, it was a desire to stand up for genuine morality and humanity. The main character of “Laughter” was the personification not only of the ideas of Kramskoy himself, he generally reflected the thoughts of many honest-minded representatives of that time, for whom, a direct encounter with rudeness, all-destructive cynicism, and greed clearly proved that abstract good is simply not able to defeat real real evil. .

Lyrics

In Kramskoy’s life, in the middle of his life, a certain drama took place, similar to the one that Ivanov experienced at the end of his journey. It began to seem to the artist that the creative failure that befell him (the work “Laughter” was never completed) was a consequence of the error of his chosen ideological position generally. These doubts were generated by the utopian maximalism characteristic of many of the best representatives of the Russian intelligentsia. The artist managed to solve a difficult task, which he tried in vain to realize in the form of a series of works about Christ, in his magnificent portraits of the 70-80s, embodying his idea of ​​​​personalities of high moral character in a large gallery of images of advanced Russian writers, scientists, artists and stage figures. appearance

In the same 70s, Kramskoy wrote a number of lyrical works that were previously unusual for him, a shining example which can be represented by the painting “Inspection of an Old House” (1873), which tells the story of an abandoned and crumbling “noble nest” to which its owner returned after many years of absence. “An old thoroughbred gentleman, a bachelor,” finally “arrives at his family estate after a long, very long time and finds the estate in ruins: the ceiling has collapsed in one place, cobwebs and mold are everywhere, there are a number of portraits of ancestors on the walls. He is led by the arms of two female personalities... Behind them is the buyer - a fat merchant...”

We see an elderly man slowly moving through a suite of rooms in an abandoned family estate. So he entered the living room, hung with portraits of his ancestors, darkened by time, saw antique furniture in gray canvas covers, it seems that even the air in this old house is painted in smoky and dusty tones, time has stopped here, and the timid light from the windows is unable to dispel this darkness of the past.

As N.A. mentioned in his letters. Mudrogel is one of the oldest employees of the Tretyakov Gallery; most likely, “Kramskoy portrayed himself in the painting “Inspection of an Old House.” The testimony of a contemporary is of undoubted interest, although even if this is true, the artist did not simply try on this sad and lyrical situation. Kramskoy invested broad poetic and deep social meaning into the image he created.

As you know, the painting remained unfinished. Perhaps Kramskoy, as an active, active, purely “social” person, simply did not allow himself to relax, go into the lyrical channel, overcoming this weakness in himself in order to work on works of a completely different social significance, more important, in his opinion, in conditions of the complex social and artistic situation in Russia in the 1870s. “I, in essence, never liked portraits, and if I did them tolerably, it was only because I loved and love the human physiognomy... I became a portrait painter out of necessity,” wrote Ivan Nikolaevich. It is obvious, however, that “necessity” alone could not by itself make him an outstanding master of portraiture.

Portrait of Tolstoy

The need to prove that, according to Chernyshevsky’s ideas, “ human personality there is the highest beauty in the world, accessible to our senses,” awakened in Kramskoy a keen interest in “human physiognomy.” Thanks to the artist’s interest in reflecting the human soul, the portraits created by the master in this era were an invaluable contribution to Russian fine art of the 1860-80s.

“The portraits that you have now,” I. E. Repin wrote to him in 1881, “represent the faces of the dear nation, its best sons, who brought positive benefits with their selfless activities, for the benefit and prosperity native land, who believed in its better future and fought for this idea...” Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy became one of the founders of the portrait gallery, thanks to which we can now see the faces of people who played a huge role in the history and art of Russia. Among the first of them was Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, whose first portraits were painted by Kramskoy.

Getting a portrait of the great Russian writer into the collection was Tretyakov’s cherished dream, but so far no one has been able to persuade Lev Nikolayevich to pose. On the other hand, there was Kramskoy, who tried to persuade the collector to help the young talented artist F. Vasiliev, who was dying of consumption in Crimea. As a result, in 1873, Kramskoy, in order to pay Vasiliev’s debt to Tretyakov, persuaded Tolstoy to sit for two portraits: one was intended for a collector, the second for the writer’s house in Yasnaya Polyana.

Ivan Nikolaevich worked on both canvases in parallel, while trying to avoid absolute identity. As a result, the writer’s family chose a portrait with a more intimate interpretation of Lev Nikolaevich, in which he is absorbed in himself. Tretyakov received a portrait in which the writer seems to be addressing the viewer. Thus, the artist managed to simultaneously create two fundamentally different artistic images.

Both portraits have a number of common features. Firstly, a neutral background, thanks to which the location of the figure in space ceases to play any role. Secondly, the model’s hands are depicted only in general terms. Thirdly, the artist deliberately avoided expressive picturesque coloring. Such restraint of the plastic solution made it possible to shift all attention to the face of forty-five-year-old Tolstoy - open, simple, framed by a thick beard and manly-cut hair.

The main thing in the created portraits is the eyes of the writer, expressing the hard work of thought of an intelligent and educated person. From Kramskoy’s painting, Tolstoy looks at us “unyieldingly and sternly, even coldly... not allowing himself to forget for a moment about his task of observation and analysis. He becomes a scientist, and his subject is the human soul,” this is how the prominent Soviet art critic D.V. Sarabyanov described his impression. It was the comprehension of Tolstoy’s powerful intellect that became the main goal and, of course, represented the main difficulty that the artist faced in this work.

Portraits of the greats

Kramskoy painted many portraits commissioned by Tretyakov, paying tribute to this extraordinary man. So in 1871, the artist painted a portrait of the great Ukrainian poet Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko from a photograph. And in the winter of 1876, Ivan Nikolaevich became especially close to the collector’s family, working on portraits of Tretyakov’s wife Vera Nikolaevna, and Pavel Mikhailovich himself, in whom he always saw not a merchant, but an intellectual and true patriot Russian national culture, who firmly believed that “the Russian school of painting will not be the last.” In a small portrait of 1876, distinguished by a certain “intimacy” of artistic design, Kramskoy tried to express the social significance of the personality of the person being portrayed.

By order of Tretyakov, the artist created two images of the great Russian poet-democrat N.A. Nekrasov (1877-1878), the first of them is a portrait of Nikolai Alekseevich, the second is the painting “Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs”. Work on these works was complicated by the poet’s serious illness. The artist managed to paint it sometimes for only ten to fifteen minutes a day, but by March 30, 1877, the portrait of N. A. Nekrasov was completed.

But it is not he who is of greatest value, but the painting “Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs,” in which the selection of household details helped create exact image poet. Pale, dressed in all white, seriously ill Nekrasov sits on his bed, completely immersed in his thoughts. And the photographs of N. A. Dobrolyubov and I. S. Turgenev, hung on the walls of his office, as well as the bust of V. G. Belinsky, Nekrasov’s ideological mentor and great friend, convey the atmosphere of a rich, intense creative life, making you feel that the great poet is immortal.

Interestingly, if you look closely at the surface of the painting’s canvas, it is easy to notice that several seams intersect it. The image of the poet’s head is made on a separate fragment, the original position of which is easy to establish. Apparently, at first the master depicted the terminally ill poet lying down, then rearranging the composition for greater expressiveness. Nekrasov appreciated Kramskoy’s talent, giving him a copy of his book “ Latest songs”, on the title page of which he wrote: “As a keepsake for Kramskoy. N. Nekrasov April 3.”

Kramskoy’s work on the images of the outstanding satirist M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin turned out to be even more complex, stretching over several years. One of the two portraits created by the artist was also intended for the Tretyakov collection and was created from 1877 to 1879, undergoing endless alterations. Having completed the painting, Kramskoy writes to Tretyakov that this portrait “came out really very similar,” speaking of his artistic features, the master especially emphasizes: “Painting... came out murugaya, and imagine - with intention.”

As in the portrait of Tolstoy, the coloring of the work is very dull and gloomy. Thus, the artist puts Shchedrin’s face in the center of attention, his high forehead, mournfully lowered corners of his lips, and, most importantly, his demanding, questioning gaze. A large role in creating the image of a satirical writer is played by the hands - closed, with thin intertwined fingers, they are emphatically aristocratic, but not at all lordly.

The unifying idea for the portraits of L.N. Tolstoy, N.A. Nekrasov, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, P.M. Tretyakov, became the idea of ​​high citizenship. In them Kramskoy saw the spiritual leaders of the nation, the progressive people of their time. This left an imprint on the manner of depicting those portrayed. The artist deliberately “narrowed” the boundaries of their personality to emphasize their social significance. Nothing, according to Kramskoy, should have distracted the viewer from the main thing - the spiritual component of the heroes of his portraits, which is why the color of the canvases is so dull.

When the artist painted portraits of writers, artists, who, in his opinion, did not so powerfully accumulate the “spiritual charge” of the era, he made the pictorial and plastic solution of the works freer, more relaxed, which made the images of the people he depicted alive and spontaneous. Works of this kind include the portrait of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, executed by the painter in 1873. This work, like the painting “Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs”, belongs to the category of portrait paintings, since it combines two principles into a harmonious whole - portrait and landscape.

The image of nature created in this work is not just a natural background for the image of the landscape master, but the element in which he lived and worked. The lyrical and at the same time majestic landscape (a clear blue sky with light clouds floating across it, the mysterious silhouette of the forest and tall grasses at Shishkin’s feet) does not so much recreate the appearance of a specific area, but rather represents a generalized expression of Russian nature, as it was depicted in the 70s years, including I. I. Shishkin himself.

The artist sought to emphasize his indissoluble unity with the surrounding world. The landscape painter’s slender but powerful figure, his strong-willed open face, the external simplicity and at the same time the undeniable greatness of his appearance, the way he calmly and masterfully peers into the endless distances, all this accurately conveys Kramskoy’s idea of ​​Shishkin as a “man-school” "," "milestone in the development of Russian landscape."

Later, in 1880, Kramskoy would paint another portrait of the great singer of Russian nature. In it, the artist will again be amazed by his physical power, noting that with age, Shishkin’s personality became richer and more complex.

An extraordinary gift of a portrait painter

Among the many portraits of Russian writers and artists painted in the 70s, most of which Kramskoy painted at the request of P. M. Tretyakov, there were images of I.A. Goncharova, I.E. Repina, Ya.P. Polonsky, P.I. Melnikov-Pechersky, M.M. Antokolsky, S.T. Aksakova, F.A. Vasilyeva, M.K. Klodt and many others.

Two portraits can be particularly highlighted - the writer Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich (1876) and the painter Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko (1878).

Creating a portrait of the author of the then popular story “Anton the Miserable,” the master keenly noticed the usual lordly bearing of Grigorovich and a certain condescension and complacency in his gaze, characteristic of a person not accustomed to delving into the complexity of the life around him. The gesture of the hand with a gold-framed pince-nez clutched between thin fingers is emphatically theatrical. “This is not a portrait, but just a scene, a drama!.. So Grigorovich sits in front of you with all his lies, French feuilletonism, boasting and ridiculousness,” V.V. Stasov enthusiastically wrote to Kramskoy. Although the artist himself, who a few years later wrote a letter to the famous publisher A.S. Suvorin, tried to deflect the accusation of obvious bias, assuring that he did not want to “do anything funny, other than a completely natural fascination with a visible characteristic form, without emphasis.” How true this is, we will probably never know, but one thing is absolutely clear - today we are attracted to the portrait of D. V. Grigorovich precisely by the artist’s passion for the “visible characteristic form”, which was the key to creating a surprisingly bright and living human image.

This is expressed even more strongly in the large-format portrait of A. D. Litovchenko. Dressed in a thick dark brown coat, the artist is depicted against a light gray-greenish background. By slightly “blurring” the moving contour outlining the figure, Kramskoy emphasized the natural ease of his model. Litovchenko’s pose is unusually expressive, right hand which is laid behind the back with free movement, and left hand gracefully holds a cigar with a familiar gesture. The fingers are not drawn, only outlined with several precise, dynamic strokes. It was no accident that Kramskoy “smeared” the edge of the sleeve framing this arm and made it deliberately unclear. Thus, he convincingly conveyed the natural immediacy of the gesture, exactly corresponding to the lively, changeable expression of the face of the hero of the portrait, framed by a lush beard. One can only guess about the design of the lips, but the coal-black eyes of the person being portrayed look so piercingly sharp, best expressing all the spontaneity of his nature, that the entire image of Litovchenko is perceived “as if alive.” The artist uses sparse, but extremely expressive details with amazing precision: the conical-shaped cap, with its outlines, perfectly completes the silhouette of the artist’s figure as a whole, just as the light yellow gloves, casually peeking out of Litovchenko’s coat pocket, complete his image.

The portrait of A. D. Litovchenko is, without a doubt, one of Kramskoy’s greatest creative successes. His image turned out to be so lively and brightly individual thanks to the high pictorial merits of this painting, “in terms of fire, passion and vitality of quick execution, similar to impromptu” (V. Stasov).

Ivan Nikolaevich no longer “paints” with a brush, as was the case in many of his paintings, but rather writes, broadly, temperamentally, building a plastic form with color, anticipating the best portrait paintings of I.E. Repina. Struck by his powerful expression, M.P. Mussorgsky will respond to his work in the following way: “Approaching the portrait of Litovchenko, I jumped back...,” he wrote to V.V. Stasov. - What a miraculous Kramskoy! This is not a canvas - this is life, art, power, what is sought in creativity!”

We can see what the artist himself had become by this time, thanks to his “Self-Portrait” of 1874. The painting is small in format and was clearly painted “for myself.” A rich dark red background helps create an atmosphere of emphasized concentration in the portrait. Kramskoy, peering into his own face, shows how his composure and perseverance, developed by a difficult life and constant work, have increased over the years. His gaze became much deeper and sadder than in the self-portrait of 1867, in which the master seemed to publicly declare his chosen position as an artist-fighter. Now, without retreating a single step from the chosen path, he admits to himself how enormous mental strength this perseverance and courage require.

“Until now, Mr. Kramskoy has only succeeded in male portraits“, - wrote one of the observers of the seventh mobile magazine, “but the current exhibition has shown that a female portrait, which presents incomparably more difficulties, is equally accessible to him.”

A correct remark, especially considering that before Kramskoy such a democratic variety portrait of a woman, the credit for the development of which belongs entirely to him, did not exist in Russian painting.

The image of the Russian people

Kramskoy often wrote that, living in St. Petersburg, he felt the full burden of the oppressive social atmosphere; he even said that the “St. Petersburg climate,” which he always tried to resist, “is killing Russian art and artists.” In this feeling, he had many like-minded people. Let us remember A. S. Pushkin, who said that the North was “harmful” to him, K. P. Bryullov, who, having returned from Italy, basked in the glory, but wrote that he was “moping” because he was “afraid of the climate and captivity.”

“It’s pulling me out of St. Petersburg,” wrote Kramskoy, “I’m sick of it!” Where does it pull you, why do you feel sick?.. Where is the peace? And this would be nothing if it weren’t for the rich and unimaginably enormous material lying outside the cities, there, in the depths of swamps, forests and impassable roads. What faces, what figures! Yes, the waters of Baden-Baden help another, Paris and France help another, and the third... sum and freedom! Quickly responding to the emerging “going to the people,” the artist wrote that “sitting in the center... you begin to lose the nerve of a broad, free life; The outskirts are too far away, and the people have so much to give! My God, what a huge spring! Just have ears to hear and eyes to see... It’s pulling me out, that’s how it’s pulling me!” It was in the people that Kramskoy saw the main force of life, discovering in them a new source of creative inspiration.

The images of peasants in the works of I. N. Kramskoy are very diverse. This is “The Contemplator” (1876, Kiev Museum of Russian Art), a philosophizing man, a seeker of eternal truth, and a beekeeper living a life united with nature (“Beekeeper”, 1872), and “A Little Man with a Stick” (1872, Tallinn art museum) is a downtrodden old peasant who has lived a long, joyless century. There are other images, such as the hero of the painting “Village Headman” (Melnik, 1873), full of inner dignity, or the powerful, stern man in the 1874 canvas “Head of a Peasant” (Penza Art Gallery K.A. Savitsky).

But the most significant work on a folk theme was the 1874 painting “The Forester.” Regarding her, Kramskoy writes to P. M. Tretyakov: “...my sketch in a bullet-ridden hat, according to the plan, should depict one of those types (they exist among the Russian people) who have much of the social and political system They understand people's life with their own minds, and in whom there is a deep-rooted displeasure bordering on hatred. From such people, in difficult moments, the Stenka Razins and Pugachevs gather their gangs, and in ordinary times they act alone, wherever and however necessary, but they never make peace. He’s an unattractive type, I know, but I also know that there are many like him, I’ve seen them.”

In the later period of his creativity, the artist also turned to the peasant theme. In 1882, a “study of a Russian peasant” was created - a portrait of Mina Moiseev. In 1883 - the canvas “Peasant with a Bridle” (Kiev Museum of Russian Art). In these two works, the master created two diametrically opposed images, painted, however, from the same model.

Late period of creativity

Despite the political defeat of democratic thought in Russia in the 70s and 80s of the 19th century, which was literally crushed by the regime, Russian democratic art experienced an unprecedented rise. Significant changes took place in the life of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions; the work of such titans of Russian fine art as I. E. Repin and V. I. Surikov came to the fore. Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy continued to work hard and hard. Despite the high authority that the artist had among his contemporaries, his work became increasingly difficult. Evidence of this can be seen in the unfinished painting “Laughter” for many years, the very idea of ​​which no longer met the needs of society. As a result, Kramskoy was left with only portraits.

During this period, the artist, with his characteristic skill and psychologism, painted portraits of I. I. Shishkin, an outstanding figure in Russian medicine, S. P. Botkin, and artist V. V. Samoilov. Moreover, Kramskoy not only looked decent next to younger portrait painters, such as I. E. Repin and N. A. Yaroshenko, but continued to play the role of a “teacher” for them. And their canvases, in turn, bore the reflection of Kramskoy’s art.

Nevertheless, the artist understood that he needed to grow somewhere, to look for new ways for his creativity. He tries his hand at a ceremonial portrait, looking for new lighting and color solutions, suffocating, at the same time, under the burden of constant orders. Rushing to provide for his family as best as possible and realizing that his strength was running out, Kramskoy rushed between time-consuming creative searches and quick execution of work, which sometimes did not lead to the best results. The artist, who enjoyed great respect and even honor, took these failures seriously.

The demands that life itself placed on art have changed, and therefore art system had to change. In 1883, at the MUZHVIZ, the young artist K. A. Korovin, a student of A. K. Savrasov and V. D. Polenov, wrote the sketch “Chorus Girl,” using an unusual motif and very bold painting techniques. Even Polenov, familiar with the work of the French impressionists, was amazed by this bold experiment of the artist, deciding that he was far ahead of his time. However, soon Korovin’s close friend, V. A. Serov, would write his “Girl with Peaches” (1887), turning the portrait of twelve-year-old Vera, the daughter of the famous Moscow industrialist S. I. Mamontov, into a radiant image of youth.

Trying to capture the essence of new trends, Kramskoy painted his “Unknown” (1883) - one of his most mysterious paintings. This is how art critic N. G. Mashkovtsev describes the picture: “A young woman is depicted in a stroller against the backdrop of the Anichkov Palace, painted rusty red. This color is softened by the winter fog, as are the contours of the architecture. The female figure appears in the foreground all the more clearly. She is dressed with all the luxury of fashion. She leaned back on the back of the carriage, upholstered in dark yellow leather. In her face there is the pride of a woman aware of her charm. In no other portrait did Kramskoy pay so much attention to accessories - velvet, silk, fur. The dark glove, tightly covering the hand, like a second skin, thin and translucent, through which one can feel the living body, is written with some special warmth. Who she is, this captivating woman, remains unknown.”

Many believe that Kramskoy portrayed Anna Karenina as a symbol of the new position of women in society, the way it should become. This version has both supporters and opponents, but it would be more correct to assume that the artist I.N. Kramskoy, and writer L.G. Tolstoy, creating their own female images, put into them something more than a portrait of a specific woman, namely, their idea of ​​the ideal of a modern woman. Like Tolstoy, Kramskoy, defending the human dignity of a woman, set himself the task of trying to embody his idea of ​​the moral and aesthetic category of beauty through the visible, “objective” attractiveness of the model.

In 1884, the artist completed his painting “Inconsolable Grief,” conceived back in the late 70s. The plot of the canvas is inspired by the master’s personal grief - the death at an early age of his two youngest sons. Through this work, which has an unusual number of sketches for an artist (showing how important it was for Kramskoy), he conveyed his own grief and the grief of his wife, Sofia Nikolaevna. Putting a lot of personal, deeply intimate things into the picture, the painter at the same time sought to expand and deepen its content as much as possible. Precisely and sparingly selected elements introduce us to the atmosphere of a house in which great grief has come, conveyed, however, very restrainedly, without melodramatic excesses, only the reddish glow of funeral candles flickering behind the curtain suggests its cause.

The compositional and semantic center of the canvas is the dramatic image of a woman. Her tense straight figure, the mournful look of unseeing eyes, the handkerchief raised to her lips, indicating barely restrained sobs, reveal the full depth of her suffering. Such psychological expressiveness of the image was not easy for the artist. “I sincerely sympathized with my mother’s grief,” Kramskoy wrote to P. M. Tretyakov. “I searched for a long time for a pure form and finally settled on this form...” It was the strict form, achieved without unnecessary theatricality, that allowed him to create the image of a strong-willed person, and the monumental structure of the canvas helped convey feelings and experiences as a personal drama that the master is trying to raise to the level of a large social phenomenon.

It should be noted that in contrast to the portraits of the 70s, in which the feelings of Kramskoy’s heroes were marked rather with the stamp of high citizenship, the characters of later works live in a much more closed world of personal experiences.

Kramskoy's letters to his friends tell us about how difficult it was for him last period life. In 1883 he writes to P.M. Tretyakov: “...I confess that the circumstances are higher than my character and will. I am broken by life and have not done what I wanted and what I should have done...” At the same time, a letter was written to the artist P. O. Kovalevsky: “I have been working in the dark for a long time. There is no one near me anymore who, like the voice of conscience or the trumpet of an archangel, would notify a person: “Where is he going? Are you on the real road, or are you lost?” There is nothing more to expect from me, I have already stopped expecting from myself.”

Nevertheless, the master worked until his last day. He conducted portrait sessions for five hours a day, constantly screaming in pain, but almost without noticing it, he was so captivated by the creative process. This was the case on the painter’s last day. Feeling a surge of vigor in the morning, he painted a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus. Suddenly, his gaze stopped and he fell straight to his palette. It was March 24, 1887.

“I don’t remember a more heartfelt and touching funeral!.. Peace be to your ashes, mighty Russian man, who emerged from the insignificance and dirt of the outback,” I. E. Repin later wrote about seeing off in last way his old friend.

Also in 1887, a large posthumous exhibition of works by the great Russian master was organized, accompanied by the publication of a detailed illustrated catalog. A year later, a book dedicated to the life and work of Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy was published.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, an artist of the second half of the 19th century, went down in the history of Russian painting as the founder of the realistic movement in art. He actively developed the principle critical realism in his work, as well as in articles devoted to the theory of art. Many of his paintings are recognized as classics Russian painting. The author was a master of portraits, historical and genre scenes.

short biography

Kramskoy, an artist famous for his realistic paintings, was born in 1837 into a bourgeois family. He graduated from the Ostrogorzh real school, but due to the poverty of his family he was unable to continue his education at the gymnasium. While working in the local council, he became interested in retouching photographs. Soon M. Tulinov became his teacher, who taught him the basics of painting. A few years later, Kramskoy, an artist best known for his portraits, moved to St. Petersburg, where his fruitful creative career began, which lasted until sudden death in 1887.

Studying at the academy

In 1857 he became a student of academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During his studies, he received several medals both for his paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters on religious themes. The future famous painter received his small gold medal for a painting dedicated to a biblical story.

To receive the title of artist with the right to receive a state pension, it was necessary to submit a work dedicated to a scene from the Scandinavian sagas to the competition. However, Kramskoy, an artist who strived for a realistic depiction of events and freedom of creativity, along with other thirteen students appealed to the administration of the academy with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire by the fact that they wanted to write on topics that they themselves preferred. After this, the young painters founded their own artistic artel, which, however, did not last long, since its members very soon decided to switch to state support.

"Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions"

Which already in the early period of his work became a landmark event in cultural life empire, became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of this organization. Its members defended the principles of realism in art, active social and civic position artists. In his work, the author defended the principles of realism. He believed that paintings should not only be believable, but also carry a moral and educational meaning. Therefore, his works are imbued with a special drama.

In the 1870s, the author created a number of remarkable portraits of his famous contemporaries: he painted images of Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Shishkin, Tretyakov and others. In this series, a special place is occupied by the portrait of the artist Kramskoy, created by him himself in 1867. This painting is distinguished by a high degree of realism, like his other works of this period.

Portrait of N. Nekrasov

Such, for example, is the famous work of the artist “Nekrasov during the period of the Last Songs” of 1877-1878. In this painting, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in the last period of his life. In general, the theme of a person’s emotional experiences, his struggle with death or some kind of shock played a big role in the artist’s work. In the master’s works, this theme did not have a social connotation, as in the works of other painters. He always showed the struggle of the spirit with illness and most powerfully managed to convey this idea in the above picture.

Women's portraits

Perhaps the master’s most famous work is the painting “Stranger”. The artist Kramskoy emphasized the beauty of his model. He emphasized that she was an urban fashionista, and therefore carefully described her appearance: a rich fur coat, a flirty headdress, magnificent jewelry and fabrics.

It is significant that the background in this canvas plays a secondary role: it is presented in a haze, as the author concentrates all his attention on the elegant young woman. The artist Ivan Kramskoy especially loved to draw portraits. The author's paintings have different moods.

If the woman in the above-described picture is depicted in a proud, confident pose, then the model in the canvas “Girl with a Loose Braid,” on the contrary, is shown in a difficult, even painful moment, when she seemed to have renounced everything around her and was completely immersed in herself. Therefore, her face, in contrast to the stranger’s appearance, expresses deep, concentrated thoughtfulness, sadness and light sadness.

"Inconsolable Sorrow"

This painting was painted in 1884, inspired by the personal grief of the artist who lost his son. Therefore, in the image of a woman depicted in a mourning dress, one can discern the features of the author’s wife.

This painting differs from other works of the author by the hopelessness with which it is imbued. In the center of the canvas is a middle-aged woman in a black dress. She stands next to a box full of flowers. Her grief is expressed not in her pose, which is quite natural and even free, but in her eyes and the movement of her hand, with which she presses the handkerchief to her mouth. This painting is perhaps one of the most powerful in the artist’s work and Russian painting in general.

Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic

Ivan Kramskoy

short biography

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(June 8, 1837, Ostrogozhsk - April 5, 1887, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic.

After graduating from the Ostrogozh district school, Kramskoy was a clerk in the Ostrogozh Duma. In 1853 he began retouching photographs. Kramskoy’s fellow countryman M.B. Tulinov taught him in several techniques “to finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching,” then the future artist worked for the Kharkov photographer Yakov Petrovich Danilevsky. In 1856, I. N. Kramskoy arrived in St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in retouching in the then famous photographic studio of Aleksandrovsky.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Markov.

Riot of the fourteen. Artel of artists

Portrait of the artist Shishkin. (1880, Russian Museum)

In 1863, the Academy of Arts awarded him a small gold medal for his painting “Moses Bringing Out Water from a Rock.” Before finishing his studies at the Academy, all that remained was to write a program for a big medal and receive a pension abroad. The Academy Council offered students a competition on a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla.” All fourteen graduates refused to develop this topic and petitioned to be allowed to each choose a topic of their own choosing. Subsequent events went down in the history of Russian art as the “Revolt of the Fourteen.” The Academy Council refused them, and Professor Tone noted: “If this had happened before, then all of you would have been soldiers!” On November 9, 1863, Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, “not daring to think about changing academic regulations, humbly ask the council to exempt them from participating in the competition.” Among these fourteen artists were: I. N. Kramskoy, B. B. Wenig, N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A. D. Litovchenko, A. I. Korzukhin, N. S. Shustov, A. I. Morozov , K. E. Makovsky, F. S. Zhuravlev, K. V. Lemokh, A. K. Grigoriev, M. I. Peskov, V. P. Kreitan and N. P. Petrov. The artists who left the Academy formed the “Petersburg Artel of Artists”, which existed until 1871.

In 1865, Markov invited him to help paint the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Due to Markov's illness, the entire main painting of the dome was done by Kramskoy together with the artists Wenig and Koshelev.

In 1863-1868 he taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1869, Kramskoy received the title of academician.

Wandering

The grave of I. N. Kramskoy at the Tikhvin cemetery in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra (St. Petersburg)

In 1870, the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” was formed, one of the main organizers and ideologists of which was Kramskoy. Under the influence of the ideas of Russian democratic revolutionaries, Kramskoy defended an opinion consonant with them about the high public role the artist, the fundamental principles of realism, the moral essence of art and its national identity.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy created a number of portraits of outstanding Russian writers, artists and public figures (such as: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 1873; I. I. Shishkin, 1873; Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879 - all are in the Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of S. P. Botkin (1880) - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

One of famous works Kramskoy - “Christ in the Desert” (1872, Tretyakov Gallery).

A successor to the humanistic traditions of Alexander Ivanov, Kramskoy created a religious turning point in moral and philosophical thinking. He gave the dramatic experiences of Jesus Christ a deeply psychological life interpretation (the idea of ​​heroic self-sacrifice). The influence of ideology is noticeable in portraits and thematic paintings - “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs,” 1877-1878; "Unknown", 1883; “Inconsolable Grief”, 1884 - all in the Tretyakov Gallery.

USSR postal envelope, 1987:
150 years since the birth of Kramskoy

The democratic orientation of Kramskoy's works, his critical insightful judgments about art, and persistent research into objective criteria for assessing the characteristics of art and their influence on it, developed democratic art and a worldview on art in Russia in the last third of the 19th century.

In recent years, Kramskoy was sick with a heart aneurysm. The artist died from an aortic aneurysm on March 24 (April 5), 1887, while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfuss, when he suddenly bent over and fell. Rauchfuss tried to help him, but it was too late. I. N. Kramskoy was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox Cemetery. In 1939, the ashes were transferred to the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra with the installation of a new monument.

In Tsarskoye Selo there is a sculptural composition of Kramskoy and the Unknown by sculptor Alexander Taratynov.

Family

• Sofya Nikolaevna Kramskaya (1840-1919, nee Prokhorova) - wife
  • Nikolai (1863-1938) - architect
  • Sophia - daughter, artist, repressed
  • Anatoly (02/01/1865-1941) - official of the Department of Railway Affairs of the Ministry of Finance
  • Mark (? −1876) - son

Addresses in St. Petersburg

• 1863 - apartment building of A.I. Likhacheva - Sredny Avenue, 28;
• 1863-1866 - 17th line V.O., building 4, apartment 4;
• 1866-1869 - Admiralteysky Prospekt, building 10;
• 1869 - 03/24/1887 - Eliseev's house - Birzhevaya line, 18, apt. 5.

Gallery

Kramskoy's works

Mermaids, 1871

Christ in the Desert, 1872