Nikolay Nevrev. "Bargaining. A scene from serf life." 1866
One landowner sells a serf girl to another. Imposingly shows the buyer five fingers - five hundred rubles. 500 rubles - the price of a Russian serf in the first half of the 19th century. The girl's seller is a European-educated nobleman. Pictures on the walls, books. The girl humbly awaits her fate, other slaves crowd at the door and watch how the bargaining will end. Yearning.

Vasily Perov. "Rural religious procession at Easter." 1861
Russian village of the 19th century. Orthodox Easter. Everyone is drunk as hell, including the priest. The guy in the center is carrying the icon upside down and is about to fall. Some have already fallen. Funny! The essence of the picture is that the Russian people’s commitment to Orthodoxy is exaggerated. Addiction to alcohol is clearly stronger. Perov was a recognized master genre painting and a portrait. But this painting of his was prohibited from being shown or reproduced in Tsarist Russia. Censorship!

Nikolay Nevrev. "Prododeacon proclaiming longevity at merchant name days." 1866
Merchants , for the most part, yesterday's peasants are having a walk. The priest is entertaining drunken guests. Apparently, the priest has already done the same. By the way, the guy on the left (with the bottle) has cool pants, the Cherkizon is resting.

Grigory Myasoedov. "The zemstvo is having lunch." 1872
The times of Alexander II. Serfdom was abolished. Local self-government - zemstvos - was introduced. Peasants were also chosen there. But between them and the higher classes there is an abyss. Therefore - dining apartheid. Gentlemen are in the house, with waiters, peasants are at the door.

Fedor Vasiliev. "Village". 1869
1869 The landscape is beautiful, but the village, if you look closely, is poor. Poor houses, leaky roofs, the road is buried in mud.

Jan Hendrik Verheyen. "Dutch village with figures of people." 1st half 19th century.
Well, that's it, for comparison :)

Alexey Korzukhin. "Return from the city." 1870
The situation in the house is poor, a child is crawling on the shabby floor, his daughter older dad I brought a modest gift from the city - a bunch of bagels. True, there are many children in the family - only in the picture there are three of them, plus perhaps one more in a homemade cradle.

Sergey Korovin. "On the world". 1893
This is already a village of the late 19th century. There are no more serfs, but a division has appeared - fists. At a village gathering there is some kind of dispute between a poor man and a kulak. For the poor man, the topic is apparently vitally important; he almost sobs. The rich fist laughs at him. The other fists in the background are also giggling at the loser beggar. But the comrade to the poor man’s right was imbued with his words. There are already two ready-made members of the committee; we just have to wait until 1917.

Vasily Maksimov. "Auction for arrears". 1881-82.
The tax office is furious. Tsarist officials auction samovars, cast iron pots and other peasant belongings. The heaviest taxes on peasants were redemption payments. Alexander II “the Liberator” actually freed the peasants for money - they were then obliged to pay their native state for many years for the plots of land that were given to them along with their will. In fact, the peasants had this land before; they used it for many generations while they were serfs. But when they became free, they were forced to pay for this land. Payment had to be made in installments, right up to 1932. In 1907, against the backdrop of the revolution, the authorities abolished these taxes.

Vladimir Makovsky. "On the boulevard." 1886-1887
At the end of the 19th century. Industrialization came to Russia. Young people go to the city. She's going crazy there. Previous life they are no longer interested. And this young hard worker is not even interested in his peasant wife, who came to him from the village. She's not advanced. The girl is terrified. The proletarian with an accordion doesn’t care.

Vladimir Makovsky. "Date". 1883
There is poverty in the village. The boy was given away to the public. Those. sent to the city to work for an owner who exploits child labor. The mother came to visit her son. Tom obviously has a hard life, his mother sees everything. The boy greedily eats the bread he brought.

And further Vladimir Makovsky. "Bank collapse." 1881
A crowd of defrauded depositors in a bank office. Everyone is in shock. The rogue banker (on the right) is quietly getting away with the dough. The policeman looks in the other direction, as if he doesn’t see him.

Pavel Fedotov. "Fresh Cavalier" 1846
The young official received his first order. They washed it all night. The next morning, putting the cross directly on his robe, he shows it to the cook. A crazy look full of arrogance. The cook, personifying the people, looks at him with irony. Fedotov was a master of such psychological paintings. The meaning of this: flashing lights are not on cars, but in heads.

More Pavel Fedotov. "Aristocrat's Breakfast". 1849-1850.
Morning, the impoverished nobleman was taken by surprise by unexpected guests. He hastily covers up his breakfast (a piece of black bread) with a French novel. Nobles (3% of the population) were a privileged class in old Russia. They owned a huge amount of land throughout the country, but they rarely made good farmers. Not a lord's business. The result is poverty, debt, everything is mortgaged and re-mortgaged in banks. In Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard, the estate of the landowner Ranevskaya is sold for debts. The buyers (rich merchants) are destroying the estate, and one really needs the lord’s cherry orchard (to resell as dachas). The reason for the problems of the Ranevsky family is idleness over several generations. No one was taking care of the estate, and the owner herself had been living abroad for the last 5 years and wasting money.

Boris Kustodiev. "Merchant". 1918
Provincial merchants are Kustodiev’s favorite topic. While the nobles in Paris squandered their estates, these people rose from the bottom, making money in a huge country, where there was plenty of room to invest their hands and capital. It is noteworthy that the picture was painted in 1918, when the Kustodiev merchants and merchant women throughout the country were already being pushed to the wall by fighters against the bourgeoisie.

Ilya Repin. "Religious procession in the Kursk province." 1880-1883
Different layers of society come to the religious procession, and Repin depicted them all. A lantern with candles is carried ahead, followed by an icon, then the best people go - officials in uniforms, priests in gold, merchants, nobles. On the sides there are guards (on horseback), then there are ordinary people. People on the side of the road periodically rake in order not to cut off the bosses and get into his lane. Tretyakov didn’t like the police officer in the picture (on the right, in white, hitting someone from the crowd with his whip as hard as he could). He asked the artist to remove this cop chaos from the plot. But Repin refused. But Tretyakov bought the painting anyway. For 10,000 rubles, which was simply a colossal amount at that time.

Ilya Repin. "Gathering". 1883
But these young guys in another painting by Repin no longer go with the crowd to all sorts of religious processions. They have their own way - terror. This is "People's Will", an underground organization of revolutionaries who killed Tsar Alexander II.

Nikolai Bogdanov-Belsky. "Oral calculation. At the public school of S.A. Rachinsky." 1895
Rural school. Peasant children in bast shoes. But there is a desire to learn. The teacher is in a European suit with a bow tie. This is a real person - Sergei Rachinsky. Mathematician, professor at Moscow University. On a voluntary basis he taught at a rural school in the village. Tatevo (now Tver region), where he had an estate. Great deal. According to the 1897 census, the literacy rate in Russia was only 21%.

Jan Matejko. "Chained Poland". 1863
According to the 1897 census, literate people in the country were 21%, and Great Russians - 44%. Empire! Interethnic relations in the country have never been smooth. The painting by Polish artist Jan Matejko was written in memory of the anti-Russian uprising of 1863. Russian officers with angry faces shackle a girl (Poland), defeated, but not broken. Behind her sits another girl (blonde), who symbolizes Lithuania. She is groped dirty by another Russian. The Pole on the right, sitting facing the viewer, is the spitting image of Dzerzhinsky.

Nikolay Pimomenko. "Victim of fanaticism." 1899
The painting shows real case, which was in the city of Kremenets (Western Ukraine). A Jewish girl fell in love with a Ukrainian blacksmith. The newlyweds decided to get married with the bride converting to Christianity. This worried the local Jewish community. They behaved extremely intolerantly. The parents (on the right in the picture) disowned their daughter, and the girl was obstructed. The victim has a cross on his neck, in front of her is a rabbi with fists, behind him is a concerned public with clubs.

Franz Roubo. "Assault on the village of Gimry." 1891
Caucasian War of the 19th century. Hellish mixture of Dags and Chechens by the tsarist army. The village of Gimry (Shamil’s ancestral village) fell on October 17, 1832. By the way, since 2007, a counter-terrorist operation regime has been in effect in the village of Gimry again. The last (at the time of writing this post) clearing by riot police was on April 11, 2013. The first is in the picture below:

Vasily Vereshchagin. "Opium eaters." 1868
The painting was painted by Vereshchagin in Tashkent during one of the Turkestan campaigns of the Russian army. middle Asia was then annexed to Russia. How the participants in the campaigns saw the ancestors of today's migrant workers - Vereshchagin left paintings and memoirs about this. Dirt, poverty, drugs...

Russian painting of the 19th century.

A remarkable painter, the creator of a unique national-romantic movement in Russian painting was Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov (1780-1847) , Borovikovsky's favorite student. Venetsianov created a unique style, combining in his works the traditions of capital academicism, Russian romanticism of the early 19th century. and the idealization of peasant life. He became the founder of the Russian everyday genre. At the beginning of 1819, the artist left for the small estate of Safonkovo, Tver province. At the age of forty, it is as if he begins to work in painting again. He was attracted by people from the people, serfs, who courageously and heroically fought in the war with Napoleon, who preserved high human dignity and nobility, despite the heavy oppression of serfdom. And although in further artist occasionally returned to portraits; his main interests from the early 1820s were associated with the everyday genre. Already Venetsianov’s first paintings in the new genre: pastels “Beet Peeling”, “The Reaper” - convincingly evidenced that Venetsianov consciously strived for realistic fidelity to the image, considering main task the painter “not to depict anything other than in nature, which is to obey it alone without the admixture of the manner of any artist.”

Russian peasants in the image of Venetsianov are people filled with spiritual beauty and nobility, moral purity and internal integrity. In an effort to poeticize the Russian people, to affirm his high dignity, the artist somewhat idealized the work and life of the peasants and did not show the true hardships of serf labor. But the very fact of addressing such a “base” theme of peasant life from the point of view of official aesthetics deserves special attention. Venetsianov, like no other artist of the first half of the 19th century century, boldly and confidently, with unusual consistency, asserted in art the right to depict ordinary peasants. Its true heyday creative talent

falls on the 20-30s of the 19th century. It was during this period that such masterpieces as “On the arable land. Spring”, “At the harvest. Summer”, “Children in the field” and a number of sketches appeared. The working peasants in Venetsianov’s paintings are beautiful and full of nobility. In the painting "On the Plowed Field. Spring" the theme of labor is intertwined with the theme of motherhood, with the theme of beauty native nature . The best and most artistically perfect genre painting artist - "At the Harvest. Summer" is distinguished by its lyrical-epic perception of the surrounding reality. If in the first picture Venetsianov depicted a spring landscape with wide expanses of fields, the first shoots of foliage, light clouds on, then in the second the artist made one feel the height of the Russian summer - the time of village suffering - with sparkling golden fields and a sultry sky. Both canvases are painted with light, clear colors.
In 1824, Venetsianov’s paintings were presented at an exhibition in St. Petersburg, which evoked an enthusiastic response from the progressive Russian public. “Finally, we have waited for an artist who turned his wonderful talent to the depiction of one native, to the representation of objects surrounding him, close to his heart and to ours...” wrote P. P. Svinin, the creator of the “Russian Museum” in St. Petersburg. In subsequent years, Venetsianov painted many portraits of young peasant girls: "Peasant Woman", "Peasant Woman with Mushrooms in the Forest", "Girl with Sewing", "Peasant Woman with Cornflowers" and others. With all the originality of each of these works, they are united by the artist’s desire to embody new ideas about beauty in art, about folk beauty, spiritual and noble.

Venetsianov’s significance in the history of Russian art is extremely great. He was one of the first artists who devoted his work to depicting peasants and established the everyday genre as an equal and important area in art. In the artist’s canvases, folk images appeared, filled with spiritual nobility and great human dignity.
At the same time, romanticism, which at that time combined with academic classicism, was dominant in official artistic life.

In the 30s and 40s years XIX V. The leading role in the fine arts belonged to painting, mainly historical painting. Its characteristic feature was the reflection of the events of ancient history at tragic climactic moments. In contrast to the historical painting of the previous era (A.P. Losenko), which gravitated towards national history with moralizing subjects, where the bright principle triumphs over the forces of evil, historical compositions K.P. Bryullova, F.A. Bruni, A.A. Ivanov are of an abstract symbolic nature. As a rule, their paintings are painted on religious subjects, the emphasis in the image is transferred from the central figure of the main character to the crowd at a critical moment.
The leading role here belongs Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852) , who combined in his work a romantic concept with the classic canon of images. Contemporaries unanimously considered Bryullov’s main work to be a large historical canvas "The last day of Pompeii". Having visited the vicinity of Naples, where archaeological excavations of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum were carried out, he finally determined the theme of his future painting. Shocked by the sight of the city buried under a layer of lava and ash during the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79, he began to implement his plan.

The artist is fascinated by fidelity, sublime love and ineradicable faith in justice. The raging elements only helped to reveal their extraordinary spiritual beauty in people. The three foreground groups on the right represent these high feelings. The sons are trying to save on the shoulders of their frail old father, who cannot come to terms with the death of the white marble gods falling down from the roofs of the palaces. Their fall is perceived as the collapse of his ideals about a rationally arranged life. Young Pliny, carefully lifting and persuading his mother to gather the rest of her strength and try to escape, cannot leave the most dear person in the world. The young groom, not noticing the lightning and not hearing the roar of falling stones, holds the dead bride in his arms. The best day of their lives became the last day of their earthly happiness. The idea of ​​the painting was based on a romantic emotional contrast between the perfection of the people depicted and the inevitability of their death: buildings collapse, marble idols fall, and no one, be they brave, beautiful or noble, can be saved during a catastrophe. K. P. Bryullov refuses the classicist requirements for highlighting the main character. The entire human mass becomes his hero, where everyone is an equal participant in the historical drama, everyone experiences the power of an inevitable natural disaster.

Bryullov was also one of the most significant and popular Russian portrait painters of his time. He is a master primarily of ceremonial oil portraits, where a person is presented at full height in a solemn setting, as well as excellent pencil and watercolor portraits. Bryullov's portraits reflect the romantic ideal of a beautiful and proud personality, standing above his surroundings. Such is, for example, “The Horsewoman,” executed in shining golden-fawn, pink and greenish-brown tones, reminiscent of lush valerine painting of the 18th century.
In its full splendor, Bryullov’s enormous talent, despite his academic training, manifested itself in two portraits of Countess Yu.P. Samoilova- with the pupil Giovannina and the little black and with the pupil Amacillia in a masquerade. IN last portrait simplicity of composition and laconism of color, built on rich color contrast blue and red, give the canvas a special decorativeness and at the same time monumentality. The countess’s beautiful, cold face framed by black curls against the backdrop of a bright red curtain, her attire of a masquerade queen, her young companion in oriental attire, a motley crowd of masks in the back of the hall - everything contributes to the creation of a bright romantic image.
Bryullov's name became a symbol of a new pictorial academicism with elements of romance.

Even more academic romanticism manifested itself in creativity Fyodor Antonovich Bruni (1799-1875) . The artist worked on the painting “The Copper Serpent” for fifteen years, and this is explained not only by the huge size of the canvas, but also by the difficulty of comprehending and writing the Old Testament plot, which is deep in philosophical content. The Jewish people, rescued from Egyptian captivity under the leadership of Moses, wandered in the waterless desert for forty for long years. The tired people, tormented by thirst and hunger, grumbled, and the Lord sent punishment on them - a rain of poisonous snakes. Then the people repented and began to pray for mercy, to which the Lord commanded Moses to erect a colossus and place a serpent on it. Anyone who looks at him with true faith in salvation through the Lord will have mercy.

The artist set himself a difficult task - to depict the varied reactions of a diverse crowd, to show the degree of faith and submission to the divine will of each person. But the people represented on the canvas are more likely to be gripped by fear than filled with deep humility to the commands of Heaven. The artist’s attempt to imagine the action in night lighting, capturing figural compositions moonlight, gives the sound of the picture notes of symbolism and produces a mystical impression. His “Copper Serpent” belongs entirely to its era: faces merge into a crowd gripped by common fear and slavish obedience. The rhythm of the distribution of human figures, the distribution of light and shadow seems to repeat the rhythm in which the emotions of the crowd rise and fall. The religious and mystical orientation of the painting reflected the fashionable mood at court and in high society circles.

The most significant phenomenon in Russian painting of the 30-50s of the 19th century. – works Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858) . Italy became Ivanov’s spiritual homeland, where he came to continue his studies and work. Here he carefully considered the theme of his future canvas, which he wanted to devote to a turning point in the life of mankind - the appearance of the Savior in the world. In history, he is looking for a perfect image that can shake the soul of an inexperienced viewer and become an impulse for his spiritual rebirth. Unlike Bryullov, who sang the anthem wonderful person Antiquity, Ivanov plunges into the world of the New Testament, studies the history of spiritual insight and the formation of humanity, freely making its moral choice. He really hoped that the future work could also provide answers to many contemporary questions. Majestic picture “The Appearance of Christ to the People (The Appearance of the Messiah)” became the main result of his creative biography.
It took the artist twenty years to implement his difficult plan. The persistent search for composition, persistent and constant work on nature were caused by the desire to achieve maximum persuasiveness. Mastery academic school was clearly visible in the many created preparatory sketches, full-scale sketches, sketches (there are more than 300 of them!) related to separate fragments future canvas.
The substantive center of his canvas is not the actions of the heroes, but their reasons, not a deliberate demonstration of the ideal and heroic, but barely noticeable movements and transitions of feelings (from surprise, curiosity and distrust to awe and delight). Combining in the picture two evangelical events of different times - the preaching of John the Baptist and the appearance of Christ - he achieves an amazing integrity of perception of the significant event.
People of different ages and temperaments came to the banks of the Jordan in their own way, each has their own life experience behind them, each heard something different in the words of John the Baptist, each makes their own choice. Some are gladly ready to believe the inspired words of the prophet who announced the coming of the Savior, others remain indifferent to them, and others are filled with hopes of deliverance from suffering. Despite the fact that everyone is at a certain stage of their spiritual and moral development, all together they express the universal human dream of finding truth.

The embodiment of the author's main idea is reflected in the composition of the painting. At first glance it seems quite traditional. Following classical principle, the artist places the participants in the scene in the foreground along the picture plane, balancing both parts of it and focusing the audience’s attention on the figure of John the Baptist. At the same time, he directs the movement deeper, where the figure of the walking Christ is depicted. The multidirectional movement along and inside the space is greatly enhanced by the turns and glances of the characters turned towards Christ. This is understandable, because it is here, according to the author’s plan, that the center of the entire composition is located. All the invisible threads connecting disparate groups of people reach out to him. It is no coincidence that the cross in the hands of John and the spear of the Roman horseman are directed in his direction. Let us also pay attention to the fact that Jesus does not go to the righteous (John’s group), but to the Pharisees, accompanied by Roman horsemen.

The natural school, which has the features of critical realism and an acute social orientation, arose in the middle of the 19th century. initially in Russian literature and appeared in the works of N.V. Gogol, N.A. Nekrasova, F.M. Dostoevsky, I.A. Goncharova, D.V. Grigorovich. Simultaneously with the new literature, whose representatives strived for “naturalness, naturalness, an image of life without embellishment,” by the mid-40s of the 19th century. A whole generation of artists appeared - adherents of the natural school. And the first among them should be considered Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815-1852) , whose paintings represent scenes from life, where the tragic essence of the situation is hidden under the cover of the everyday. These are a kind of moral sermons, the purpose of which is the correction of others. These are “Fresh Gentleman”, “The Picky Bride”, “Breakfast of an Aristocrat”, “Major’s Matchmaking”.
In the picture “Major's Matchmaking” There was a typical phenomenon of life at that time - a marriage of convenience: a rich merchant and his entire family dream of going “from rags to riches” through the marriage of his daughter to a bankrupt major. Here, the art of mise-en-scène, characteristic of Fedotov, is most noticeable: in the center, the cutesy bride breaks away from the hands of her mother, who roughly grabs her by the skirt to hold her in the room, the rest of the characters are united in groups, each of which in its own way “tells” about the patriarchal merchant life. The extraordinary precision, expressiveness of the characters’ poses, gestures, and facial expressions allow us to see for a moment the true morals of this family. In a minute, the daughter will straighten her dress, the mother will smile kindly and bow, the cook and household members will disappear into the back rooms. The characters were chosen by Fedotov with an amazing knowledge of Russian life and represent a curious and precious collection of physiognomies characteristic of the 40s.
The painting represents a true masterpiece in pictorial terms: its color scheme built on an expressive juxtaposition of pink, lilac, greenish-ocher and yellow. The shimmer of thick silk fabric, the shimmer of old bronze, and the shine of transparent glass are conveyed with a remarkable sense of material. In the soft lines of the bride’s thrown back head, in her gesture, in addition to affectation, there is a lot of femininity, emphasized by the airiness of the white and pink fabrics of her outfit. In all this, in addition to Fedotov the satirist, one senses Fedotov the poet.

The painting "Fresh Cavalier" was painted in 1846. This is a painting by P.A. Fedotova conveys to the viewer an episode from the life of an official. The official received his first award - an order - and appears to us as the main character of the picture. His pride and arrogance attracts the eye. The artist depicted his hero in a caricature that makes the viewer smile. After all, the order received by an official is the lowest award that an official of those times could receive. But the main character, a minor official, sees this award as a promotion. He dreams of a different life. The furnishings in the hero’s room are poor and explain the hero’s reaction to such a low reward.

The comical nature of the image was achieved due to the contrast of his image. In the painting he is depicted in a huge robe, barefoot, wearing curler curls, standing in a squalid room. There is an award on the robe. A serious facial expression against the backdrop of a robe and homely furnishings makes you smile. After all, the gentleman boasts to his maid. Most likely, he has no one else to show his reward to. The maid's gaze is condescending. She has not stopped performing her daily chores, and is standing next to the gentleman, holding a boot in her hands. The hero’s room is small, many things are piled on top of each other. On the dining table, which is most likely a work table, there is sausage cut on newspaper. There are fish bones lying under the table. Every corner of the room is a mess, things are piled on top of each other. The uniform is hanging on two chairs, and there are some things lying around. The cat is tearing the upholstery on one of the chairs. The hero's curling irons and curling irons, which lie right there on the table, speak of the hero's desire to be fashionable and well-groomed. But all the hero’s things don’t have proper care. The image of the hero and his desire to be higher in rank than he is looks ridiculous and ridiculous. Even the cat on the chair is thin and unkempt.

In the 60s, they began to demand from the artist “content,” “explanation of life,” and even “a verdict on the phenomena depicted.” The main thing in Russian painting was the predominance of moral and social principles over the artistic. This feature in the brightest way manifested itself in the work of democratically minded artists. In 1863, the Academy of Arts set a program for a gold medal with a plot from Scandinavian mythology. All thirteen applicants, among them I.N. Kramskoy, K.G. Makovsky, A.D. Litovchenko, who did not agree with this program and with programs in general, refused to participate in the competition and left the Academy. Having defiantly left the Academy, the rebels organized the “Artel of Artists”, and in 1870, together with Moscow painters - “Association of mobile art exhibitions” . Starting with Perov and ending with Levitan, all outstanding representatives of Russian painting were participants in these exhibitions - the Wanderers.
The Peredvizhniki artists turned their gaze to hard fate a simple person. In the portrait gallery Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy(1837-1887) There are many wonderful peasant types who express faith in the people, their spiritual strength, intelligence, talent and kindness. The artist’s best paintings on this topic are "The man in the bullet-ridden hat" and “Mina Moiseev.” Kramskoy’s “preaching” activities to a certain extent hindered him as a painter: he tried to solve by pictorial means what only journalism could do, and his plans did not find adequate pictorial embodiment. That’s why he moved from “Christ in the Desert” to “Mermaids”, from “Herodias” to “Inconsolable Grief”, from “ moonlit night” to “Unknown”. And yet it should be said that it was Kramskoy’s brush that created the portraits of such geniuses of Russian literature as L.N., which are remarkable in their depth of psychological characterization. Tolstoy and N.A. Nekrasov. From the portrait of Tolstoy, an intelligent, wise and extremely vigilant man looks at us.

The plot of the picture "Christ in the Desert" associated with the forty-day fast of Jesus Christ described in the New Testament; in the desert, where he retired after his baptism, and with the temptation of Christ by the devil, which occurred during this fast. According to the artist, he wanted to capture a dramatic situation moral choice, inevitable in the life of every person.
The painting depicts Christ sitting on a gray stone located on a hill in the same gray rocky desert. Kramskoy uses cool colors to depict early morning - the dawn is just beginning. The horizon line is quite low and divides the picture approximately in half. In the lower part there is a cold rocky desert, and in the upper part there is a pre-dawn sky, a symbol of light, hope and future transformation. As a result, the figure of Christ, dressed in a dark cloak and red tunic, dominates the space of the picture, but at the same time is in harmony with the harsh landscape that surrounds it.
Restraint in the depiction of clothing allows the artist to give primary importance to the face and hands of Christ, which create the psychological persuasiveness and humanity of his image. The tightly clenched hands are located almost in the very geometric center of the canvas. Together with the face of Christ, they represent the semantic and emotional center of the composition, attracting the viewer’s attention.

"Unknown" is considered one of the most significant and famous works of Ivan Kramskoy. By giving the canvas such a name, the artist gave it an aura of mystery and intrigue. In ideological and artistic terms of the content of the image of the “Unknown”, the painter managed to create a work that stood on the verge of a portrait and a thematic painting.

Among the first Russian artists who, in the spirit of the progressive press of the 60s, turned their paintings into flagellating sermons, was Vasily Grigorievich Perov (1834-1882) . Already in his first film “Sermon in the village”, published in the year of the liberation of the peasants, there was not a trace left of Fedotov’s harmless ridicule: the obese landowner, indifferent to the priest’s words, fell asleep on the chair; his young wife, seizing the moment, whispers with her admirer, thereby demonstrating disdain for spiritual values ​​on the part of the “enlightened” society. Next picture “Procession for Easter” was quite “Bazarov-esque” in its sharpness and consonant with the darkest accusatory novels of that time.
Procession in in full force with banners and icons he comes out of the tavern, having just had a great meal there: drunken pilgrims tumble out of the tavern in disarray and splash through the spring slush; the priest, barely moving his feet, leaves the porch with great difficulty; the deacon with the censer stumbled and fell.

Both clergy and men are presented in the most unattractive form, leaving no doubt that everything in Russia is worthless and requires a radical overhaul and reconstruction. All other paintings by Perov, with the exception of “The arrival of the governess” and “Troikas,” more of a sad rather than accusatory nature, filled with sorrow for “poor humanity.” Compared to early paintings, which were distinguished by excessive narrative details, fragmentation of form and lack of a sense of color, in later works Perov's integrity appeared. Especially good portraits of F.M. Dostoevsky and A.N. Ostrovsky, great Russian writers. These works rightfully allow us to rank Perov among the founders of the psychological portrait in Russian painting - he was able to accurately and completely show the spirituality of his heroes. Despite the “ideological nature” of his art, Perov remains very major master in terms of accuracy and persuasiveness of characteristics.
One of the most expressive is the picture "Seeing off the dead man". Written

upon Perov's return from abroad, where he studied painting, it brought him the first prize from the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. The skinny horse slowly and dejectedly trudges along the hill towards the gusts of wind. In the sleigh there is a roughly put together coffin, covered with matting and tied with ropes. On both sides of him, children perched on sleighs. The girl looks sad. Opposite is a boy in a huge fur hat that slides down over his eyes. He is shivering from the cold, wrapping himself in his father’s large sheepskin coat. Next to the sleigh, seeing off in last way the owner, the dog runs, even more expressively emphasizing the loneliness and homelessness of the orphaned peasant family. We don’t see the mother’s face, but how eloquent are her bowed head and drooping shoulders! No one is around, no one is accompanying them on their last journey to the only breadwinner of a peasant family. And because they have no sympathizers, even in to a greater extent we feel the tragedy of what is happening. This impression is reinforced by the bleak, dull landscape: snow-covered fields, deepening twilight, low-hanging gloomy, leaden clouds. All around there is cold silence and endless, painful silence...

Among the Itinerant artists, the largest is Ilya Efimovich Repin (1844-1930) . He, like the rest of the Peredvizhniki, saw the content of paintings in what could be subtracted from them, so he constantly resorted to literary topics, tried to write as expressively as possible an evil satire (“The Procession in the Kursk Province”), a cheerful sermon (“Cossacks”), a gloomy tragedy (“Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581”), everyday scene with political overtones (“Arrest of a propagandist”, “Seeing off a recruit”, “We weren’t expecting”). In almost every one of his paintings one can feel not only rationality, but also a burning temperament, albeit with a touch of theatricality, and absolute psychological accuracy. The characters in his paintings, very precisely positioned, expressively gesticulating, are still actors playing a role, and not deeply feeling people. Only in “Barge Haulers on the Volga,” written in his youth under the direct impression of what he saw while traveling along the Volga, is the drama simply and clearly expressed.
From a painting "Barge Haulers on the Volga", which became the highest achievement of the art of realism in the 1870s, began his “glory throughout Great Rus'.” In it, he abandoned edification and reproof, familiar to household painting, and for the first time expressed not only the suffering of people of hard labor, but also a formidable social force. With amazing skill, Repin gave a socio-psychological “biography” of the people and recreated the unique individuality of each character. In eleven figures of barge haulers, a typical portrait of folk Rus' was created, and all classes of Russian society appeared before the viewer. In a letter to V.V. Stasov about this painting, Repin wrote: “The judge is now a man, and therefore it is necessary to reproduce his interests.” It was not the barge haulers who inspired the author with contemptuous disgust, but their respect and admiration. inner strength and beauty. According to F. M. Dostoevsky, the canvas was revealed the real truth“without any special explanations or labels.” Dostoevsky gave the artist his greatest credit for the fact that not a single one of his barge haulers shouts from the painting: “Look how unhappy I am and to what extent you are in debt to the people.”

The multifaceted talent of I. E. Repin was clearly expressed in historical paintings, striking with the authenticity of the depiction of events and the depth of psychological characteristics. In events that went into the distant past, he looked for the culminating moments of life, dramatic situations in which the true essence of a person was most fully manifested. He could masterfully show his heroes in turning points life, to take them by surprise, in moments of extreme tension of mental strength. At the same time, Repin was generously gifted with the ability to sense continuity and draw parallels between the historical past and the present.
So, the idea of ​​the painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" arose in connection with the murder of Alexander II by the Narodnaya Volya. “Feelings were overloaded with the horrors of our time,” Repin wrote in those days. Repin found “a way out for the painful in history” in the depiction of the terrible moment of insight of the son-killer, who suddenly realized the impossibility of changing anything in his life. The picture clearly conveyed the idea of ​​the crime of murder, of violating the immutable commandment “thou shalt not kill.” Equally terrible are the loneliness and repentance of the crouching old man, trying to lift the heavy body of his son, and the merciful gesture of forgiveness of the son, touching his father’s weakening hand. The polysemy and versatility, the psychological depth of the work could not leave anyone indifferent.

The picture is filled with other life-affirming content “The Cossacks write a letter to the Turkish Sultan”, expressing the element of the people's character, the spirit of their chivalry and camaraderie. With a sense of optimism, Repin managed to convey the strength of the Cossack freemen, her inexhaustible sense of humor and desire for freedom. For the first time in Russian painting, the feeling of unity between the masses and the leader - the leader of the military brotherhood - was conveyed. In a huge canvas (203 x 358 cm), he created a kind of hymn to the national spirit, an entire “symphony of laughter.” Repin worked on this painting for more than 15 years: the work never let go of the artist’s imagination. He wrote with pleasure to V.V. Stasov about its heroes: “What a bunch of people!!! Their din and noise makes your head spin, you can’t part with them! Damn people!

I. E. Repin made a significant contribution to the art of portraiture. Successfully developing the best traditions of Russian painting, in each work of this genre he revealed the “dialectics of the soul,” the complex emotional world and the unique characteristics of each individual person. In each portrait of the artist, rare observation, psychological vigilance, the desire for truthfulness, and rejection of falsehood were expressed. Repin never “corrected” individuality, did not strive to “improve” or idealize it, he did not like it when models deliberately “posed for him.” In most cases, the portrait was born in an atmosphere of lively communication, conversation, and sometimes heated debate. That is why their artistic solutions are so diverse.
Repin could paint a portrait in one session, on a sudden impulse, captured by the world of his model, but at the same time he could work long and painfully, rewriting and changing canvases more than once. With exceptional interest, he wrote about people close to him in spirit, “dear to the nation, its best sons,” with many of them he had deep connections friendly relations. Even when he painted the same face several times, he discovered something new and unique in it.
The pinnacle of the artist’s portrait art is portraits of the composer M. P. Mussorgsky and the writer L. N. Tolstoy, in which the “power of the immortal spirit” is conveyed, the impression of the integrity of the individual and the harmony of being.
The portrait has always remained the artist’s favorite genre; he turned to it throughout his entire creative life. Researchers have repeatedly argued that if Repin would have painted only portraits, he would have remained a great artist in the history of Russian art.

An outstanding contribution to the development of the historical genre of painting was made by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916). For his canvases, he chose historically significant, turning points in the life of Russia, showing their incredible complexity, tragedy and psychological depth. He fully mastered the art of identifying in specific, real facts general historical patterns, show the origins of internal national contradictions. Creating artistic image historical past, he often saw it through the fate of an individual who embodied the “heroic soul of his people” (M. V. Nesterov). At the same time, he drew material for his paintings from modern reality, seeing in it suitable associations, characteristic strokes and significant details. Surikov never denounced, passed sentences or made assessments. In everything he portrayed, he allowed himself only empathy and emotional objectivity.
As a master of historical painting, Surikov loudly announced himself for the first time in the film "Morning of the Streltsy Execution", in which he reflected the consequences of the revolt of the archers, who supported Princess Sophia in 1698 and opposed the legitimate power that belonged to her younger brother, Peter I. The author did not want to convey blood or execution in this work, but a people’s national tragedy, to tell about that terrible the price paid by people living in an era of change and falling under the wheel of history. The author saw the dramatic sound of the canvas in the “solemnity last minutes"experienced by the Sagittarius.
Each image in the crowd represents an individual, portrait character, which was created in an intense search for sitters and in careful work on sketches. All Sagittarius experience the tragedy in their own way, expressing defiance, rebellious spirit and indignation. On their faces and in their poses there is a whole range of feelings: gloomy silence and sad farewell, stubborn anger, brooding and dull resignation.
The emotional center of the composition is a silent duel, a “duel of glances,” a confrontation between the two main characters - Peter I and the red-bearded archer. The head of the irreconcilable rebel, not broken by torture, is proudly raised, directing his gaze, full of indomitable hatred, towards the young king. He alone did not take off his hat in front of him and frantically clutches a burning candle in his hands. Peter I is depicted against the background of the Kremlin wall - a stronghold state power. In his entire figure one can feel great inner strength and conviction in the rightness of his struggle. In this confrontation there is no right and wrong; everyone has their own grievance and their own truth. Reflecting on the reasons for the collapse of many of the undertakings of the reformer tsar, the author expresses the idea of ​​his moral defeat and tragic disunity with the people.
With great skill, Surikov painted bright female characters in whom the people's tragedy is perceived especially tangibly and emotionally. The old women sitting motionless in the road mess in the foreground, the desperately crying little girl in a red scarf, the heart-rending screaming young woman, whose husband is already being led to execution, remain in the viewers’ memories for a long time. Despite the fact that the artist in most cases does not show their faces, the viewer is conveyed a feeling of the last degree of their grief and despair. Every female image, created by the painter, is distinguished by stunning life truth and psychological persuasiveness.
The artistic design of the painting is subordinated to the author’s ideological plan. Important semantic and compositional role plays its architectural frame. To the motley heads and the asymmetrical forms of St. Basil's Cathedral are contrasted with the severity of the powerful Kremlin walls, and the spontaneous mass of the people's crowd is contrasted with the strict regularity of Peter the Great's regiments. The upper edge of the picture with the domes of St. Basil's Cathedral is cut off. As if decapitated, the cathedral is perceived as a symbol of pre-Petrine Rus' and the rebellious archers.

It is difficult to find a single compositional center in the picture: separate groups are formed around some figures of the archers, symbolically embodying the elements of the people's grief. Data in various turns and angles, all of them are subject to strict internal logic that meets author's intention. Surikov said more than once that the composition “needs to be arranged properly, so that the figures do not become separated in the picture, but are all tightly connected to each other.” So the “crowdedness” of the crowd of archers can be perceived as a conscious author's technique uniting the people into a single, holistic artistic image.

In the picture "Menshikov in Berezovo" echoes of the “senseless and merciless” “Russian revolt” are also heard. Here is presented the tragedy of the family of a man who was once one of the most influential figures of Peter's time, exiled with his family to distant Berezov. Surikov invites the viewer to peer into the face of a man, symbolizing for the artist a whole historical era. The lonely “chick of Petrov’s nest,” immersed in his hopeless thoughts, seemed frozen in a cramped, small house. The size of his figure clearly contrasts with the size of the room, which the author I. N. Kramskoy drew attention to: “After all, if your Menshikov gets up, he will break through the ceiling with his head.” But this compositional irregularity was completely justified, since the artist really wanted to emphasize the scale of his hero’s personality. The amazing contrast between the intimacy of space and the monumental psychological scale allows the artist to achieve the integrity of the figurative solution of the work.
Nothing happens in the picture, but against the backdrop of this eventlessness, the story of the past and future is told by objects surrounding people. Surikov fills every detail with deep figurative meaning. Menshikov’s not yet grown hair bristles, reminding that quite recently this head was adorned with a wig with lush long curls. In the wretched interior of the hut, the remnants of former luxury (a candlestick, the prince’s ring, Mary’s chain) and Siberian realities (a bear’s skin, a rug on the bed, the youngest daughter’s reindeer warmer, the prince’s boots) look very eloquent and expressive. The light of a burning lamp in ancient icons is perceived as a symbol that gives hope for change for the better.

Vasnetsov Viktor Mikhailovich (1848-1926)- the founder of a special “Russian style” within pan-European symbolism and modernity. The painter Vasnetsov transformed the Russian historical genre, combining medieval motifs with the exciting atmosphere of a poetic legend or fairy tale; however, the fairy tales themselves often become the themes of his large canvases. Among these picturesque epics and fairy tales of Vasnetsov are paintings "The Knight at the Crossroads" (1878), "After the massacre of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsians"(based on the legend “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign”, 1880), “Alyonushka” (1881), “Three Heroes” (1898), "Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible"(1897). Some of these works (“Three Princesses of the Underground Kingdom,” 1881, ibid.) represent decorative panel paintings that are already typical of Art Nouveau, transporting the viewer to the world of dreams.

V.M. Vasnetsov. "Three heroes"

He especially appreciated the power, scope and grandeur of Russian nature Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898), who is rightly called the “singer of the Russian forest”. In the history of world painting there is hardly another artist who would so clearly, calmly and majestically show the hidden beauty of the vast forest expanses. Before Shishkin, the motif of the heroic strength of the Russian forest, its qualities, surprisingly consonant with the character of the Russian person, had never sounded so vividly in painting.
A poetic image of a forest, trees of any species in their various combinations, in groups and individually, at different times of the year: barely touched by the first greenery, luxurious in their summer decoration, sternly and dully noisy autumn time, covered with heavy and lush caps of snow in winter - this is what became the main and favorite theme of this artist’s work.

I.I. Shishkin. "Morning in a pine forest"

Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (1817-1900) entered the history of world painting as a “fiery poet of the sea.” He devoted his entire life to this topic and never betrayed it. In the created marinas (by the artist’s own admission, there were about three thousand) he remained faithful to the romantic ideal of beautiful and spiritualized nature. If in his youth he was more interested in the serene silence of the sea, bathed in the gold of the sun's rays or the silvery light of the moon, then later he turns to the image of a powerful, raging element, foreshadowing grandiose catastrophes.
Aivazovsky’s painting “The Ninth Wave” caused a real pilgrimage of admiring spectators. A huge wave of the raging sea is ready to fall on people frantically clinging to the wreckage of the masts of the lost ship. All night the crew fearlessly fought sea ​​elements. But then the first rays of the sun pierced the water, illuminating it with thousands of bright highlights and subtle shades of colors. The water seems transparent, as if it glows from within, absorbing the seething fury of the waves, and therefore giving a fragile hope of salvation. According to sailors, the ninth wave heralds the last gust of a storm. Will people be able to resist? Will they emerge victorious from a mortal battle with the raging elements? It is difficult to answer this question, but the color scheme of the picture, full of optimism, inspires such confidence.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1856-1910) - the brightest representative of symbolism in Russian fine art. The images he created reflected not only the spiritual searches of the master himself, but also the internal contradictions of the difficult times in which he lived. The era recognized itself in his works; he himself was “our era” (K.S. Petrov-Vodkin). It combines the philosophical nature inherent in Russian culture and the moral intensity of individual creative manner. Vrubel was one of the first Russian artists who tried to discern another, more important internal reality behind the real reality and express it in the language of painting, combining decorative and expressive properties. He saw existence split into a non-existent world of visible objects and a mysterious world of invisible entities.
Sincerely believed in world-transforming beauty, in knowledge of the essence of phenomena in the process of artistic creativity, he expressed his creative credo in these words: “It is impossible and not necessary to paint nature, one must capture its beauty.” He looked for his own concept of beauty and harmony in the world of mysterious dreams, myths, mystical visions and vague premonitions. Characteristic feature creativity of M. A. Vrubel constitutes an organic unity of the real and the fantastic, symbol and myth. Only Vrubel could see reality from angles that were unknown to anyone else. He created a new reality - beautiful and tragic world, capable of development, movement and transformation. In his creative imagination, unclear outlines of objects arose, which either alarmingly “sank” in a barely visible space, or suddenly flared up, flickered, shimmering with mysterious reflections of light. In this mysterious world its mythological, fairy-tale and epic characters lived and acted: "The Swan Princess", “Muse” , “Pan” , "Six-Winged Seraphim", “Prophet”, “Bogatyr”, "Mikula Selyaninovich", “Snow Maiden”, “Volkhova”.

M.A. Vrubel "The Swan Princess"

Painting by M. A. Vrubel "Demon Seated" full of symbolic generalizations that express the ideals and dreams of the author himself. The canvas, created based on the plot of Lermontov’s poem, was literally created by the artist. This is how he himself described it: “A half-naked, winged, young, sadly pensive figure sits, hugging his knees, against the backdrop of the sunset and looks at a blooming meadow, from which branches stretch out to her, bending under the flowers.”
Vrubel's demon is far from the traditional embodiment of deceit and evil; it is not just an artistic allegory reflecting contradictory world a lone rebel, rejected by the outside world and cast down from heaven for his pride. Like any symbol, this image is based on several aspects, and therefore cannot be deciphered unambiguously. What did the author want to capture in it? Your own loneliness, spirit of rebellion, anxiety and dreams of beauty? What does his rebellious soul conceal within itself, forced to remain inactive? According to Vrubel, the sad Demon is “a spirit that is not so much evil as suffering and sorrowful, but at the same time powerful... majestic.” Here is the key to understanding the essence of this image as a creature personifying the “eternal struggle of the restless human spirit,” seeking and not finding answers either in heaven or on earth.
The figure, which occupies almost the entire space of the canvas, is too cramped within the picture, so the author deliberately cuts it off at the top and bottom. The Demon's hands are tragically clasped, his gaze is sad, his concentrated and tense thought is frozen on his brow. His entire figure is perceived as a symbol of the suffering of a captive spirit and absolute loneliness in the shackles of alien earthly matter. Bizarre fractures of rocks, motionless clouds frozen in the sky, glittering petals of unprecedented fairy-tale flowers and crystals, refracting the pink-yellow reflections of the setting sun in their faces, enhance the supernaturalness and unreality of this image. The color scheme, represented by a combination of crimson, violet, purple-golden and ash-gray tones, also helps to create an almost unreal, fantastic world. Against the background of this grandiose color mystery, the blue clothes of the young titan look especially expressive, symbolizing the fulfillment of his hopes and ideals.

Vrubel's Demon is a deeply tragic nature, a symbol of the spirit of the times, expectation of change and fear of the unknown. It reflects not only the artist’s personal experiences, but also time itself with its kinks and contradictions. Vrubel did not consider this painting to be the final embodiment of the plan; he planned to paint his “monumental” Demon later. Soon he continued the cycle he had begun with the painting “The Flying Demon,” imbued with a premonition of death and the doom of the world. He completed the cycle with “The Defeated Demon,” which did not leave the slightest hope for change for the better, becoming a visible embodiment of the artist’s own tragedy.

After familiarizing yourself with the presented materials, you must complete the test and control tasks presented here. If necessary, control materials are sent to email teacher at: [email protected]

Peasant:

1. A villager whose main occupation is cultivating the land.

Besseldeevka consisted of only twenty-two peasant souls. ( Turgenev. Tchertophanov and Nedopyuskin.)

2. Representative of the lower tax-paying class in pre-revolutionary Russia.

Dictionary of the Russian language. Moscow. " Russian word" 1982.

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The peasant of the 16th century was a free tiller who lived on someone else’s land under an agreement with the landowner; his freedom was expressed in a peasant exit or refusal, that is, in the right to leave one plot and move to another, from one landowner to another. Initially this right was not constrained by law; but the very nature of land relations imposed a mutual limitation both on this right of the peasant and on the arbitrariness of the landowner in relation to the peasant: the landowner, for example, could not drive the peasant off the land before the harvest, just as the peasant could not leave his plot without paying the owner at the end of the harvest. From these natural relationships Agriculture This resulted in the need for a uniform, legally established period for the peasants to leave, when both sides could settle accounts with each other. The Code of Law of Ivan III established one mandatory period for this - a week before Saint George's Day in the fall (November 26) and the week following this day. However, in the Pskov land in the 16th century there was another legal deadline for peasants to leave, namely Filippovo (November 14).

* * *

Their own and foreign observers, marveling at the greatness of the deeds of the reformer [Peter I], were amazed at the vast expanses of uncultivated fertile land, the multitude of wastelands, cultivated somehow, on site, and not introduced into normal national economic circulation. People who thought about the reasons for this neglect explained it, firstly, by the decline of the people from a long war, and then by the oppression of officials and nobles, who discouraged the common people from any desire to put their hands to anything: oppression of the spirit resulting from slavery, according to him Weber, has darkened the peasant’s every meaning to such an extent that he has ceased to understand his own benefit and thinks only about his daily meager subsistence.

V. Klyuchevsky. Russian history. Moscow. "Exmo". 2000.

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Immediately after Peter’s death, the impatient Prosecutor General Yaguzhinsky, before anyone else, spoke about the plight of the peasants; then in the Supreme Privy Council there was lively talk about the need to alleviate this situation. “The poor peasantry” became a current government expression.

Actually, it was not the peasants themselves who were concerned, but their escapes, which deprived the government of recruits and tax payers. They fled not only in individual households, but also in entire villages; From some estates everyone fled without a trace; from 1719 to 1727 g

There were almost 200 thousand fugitives - an official figure that usually lagged behind reality.
The very area of ​​flight expanded widely: previously the serfs ran from one landowner to another, but now they flocked to the Don, to the Urals and to distant Siberian cities, to the Bashkirs, to the schism, even abroad, to Poland and Moldova. In the Supreme Privy Council under Catherine I, they reasoned that if things went like this, then it would come to the point that there would be no taxes or recruits to take from anyone, and in the note of Menshikov and other dignitaries the indisputable truth was expressed that if without an army it is impossible for the state to stand , then it is necessary to take care of the peasants, because the soldier is connected with the peasant, like the soul with the body, and if there is no peasant, then there will be no soldier.
To prevent escapes, the capitation tax was reduced and arrears were added up; the fugitives were returned to their old places, first simply, and then with corporal punishment. But here’s the problem: the returned fugitives fled again with new comrades, who were persuaded by stories about a free life on the run, in the steppe or in Poland.
The escapes were accompanied by small peasant riots caused by the arbitrariness of the owners and their managers. Elizabeth's reign was full of local, silent disturbances among the peasants, especially those in the monasteries. Pacifying teams were sent to beat the rebels or to be beaten by them, depending on who took them. These were small test outbreaks, which 20-30 years later merged into the Pugachev fire.

V. Klyuchevsky. Russian history. Moscow. "Exmo". 2000.

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A. Smirnov.Vasilisa Kozhina - partisan, peasant woman of the Sychevsky district of the Smolensk province.1813.

A. Smirnov.Gerasim Kurin - leader of a peasant partisan detachment in 1812year.1813.

Adrian van Ostade.Peasant family.1647.

Peasant woman with cornflowers.

Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov.Peasant girl with a sickle in rye.

Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi.The head of a Ukrainian peasant in a straw hat.1890-1895.

Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov.Peasant yard in Finland.1902.

Vasily Grigorievich Perov.Peasant in the field.1876.

Vasily Grigorievich Perov.Return of peasants from funerals in winter.Early 1880s.

Vasily Maksimovich Maksimov.Peasant girl.1865.

Vasily Maksimovich Maksimov.The arrival of a sorcerer at a peasant wedding.1875.

Wenceslas Hollar.Peasant wedding.1650.

Vladimir Makovsky.Peasant children.1890.

Evgraf Romanovich Reitern.A peasant woman from Willenshausen with a fallen child in her arms.1843.

I. Laminitis.Russian peasants.Engraving based on a drawing by E. Korneev.1812.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin.Peasant woman with cows.1873.

Ivan Petrovich Argunov.Portrait of an unknown peasant woman in Russian costume.1784.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Two female figures (Embracing peasant women).1878.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Bearded peasant.1879.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Peasant yard.1879.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Two Ukrainian peasants.1880.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Peasant girl.1880.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Ukrainian peasant.1880.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Old peasant.1885.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Portrait of a peasant.1889.

Ilya Efimovich Repin.Peasant's head.

Konstantin Makovsky.Peasant lunch in the field.

Mikhail Shibanov.Peasant lunch.1774.

Olga Kablukova.A hundred-year-old Tsarskoye Selo peasant woman with her family.1815.

Militiaman of 1812 in a peasant hut.Lubok painting.

CHAPTER 2. IMAGE OF THE PEASANTRY IN RUSSIAN ART OF THE 18TH CENTURY

2.1. The image of the peasantry in painting

In the 18th century, secular art came to the fore in Russian art. Several stages can be distinguished in the development of Russian painting of the 18th century. The first stage - the first third of the 18th century - painters then depicted mainly people of high rank. At this time, peasants are practically not depicted. Popular genres are portrait and landscape. The next two stages are the mid-18th century and the second half of the 18th century. These two stages interest us, since they are marked by the further flourishing of Russian national painting, which developed along the path of realism, but our topic can be traced more in the second half of the 18th century, so we will talk about this half.

The 18th century is rich in Russian portrait artists, but among them there were also those who were interested in the theme of the peasantry. These include A.I. Vishnyakova. , Shibanova M. , Ermeneva I.A. , Argunova I.P. . Through the paintings of these artists we can see the life, holidays and life of peasants in general.

Vishnyakov Alexander Ivanovich is the son of the famous portrait painter Vishnyakov I.Ya. , not much is known about him, he was a genre artist. His painting "Peasant Feast" (Fig. 5) late 1760s - early 1770s. - one of the earliest images of peasant meals. Here we see the grotesque characteristic of the depiction of rough nature, characteristic of Dutch and Flemish paintings by masters of the 17th century, that is, here we see the imitation of a Russian artist by these masters, which does not reflect the originality of the Russian people and in the community of peasants.

Another artist Mikhail Shibanov - Russian artist second half of the XVIII century, a painter from serfdom, from 1783 - a “free painter”. He can be called the founder of the peasant everyday genre in Russian art. His paintings are unique for their time in terms of the subject matter depicted - in the 18th century, practically no artist depicted peasants in the fine arts. First of all, we are talking about two canvases depicting scenes from the life of peasants, “Peasant Lunch” (Fig. 6) and “Celebration of the Wedding Contract.”

Figure 5

In 1774, Mikhail Shibanov painted the painting “Peasant Lunch”. This work was published during the Pugachev uprising. This topic was new to Russian society, and works dedicated to the peasantry were even considered scandalous. And although what is depicted by Shibanov is far from what the real life of the peasantry was, he depicted them this way not because he wanted to embellish the life and life of the peasants, but because it could offend the aristocracy. We can say that Shibanov was placed within a certain framework and could not fully express his vision. Despite the festive clothing, you can see the love of a mother for her child, the thoughtfulness of a grandfather, the cry of the Russian soul; the truthful peasant life is shown here.

Figure 6

Another picture of this theme is “Celebration of the wedding contract” (Fig. 6). The title refers to what is depicted in the painting. It really is a celebration. Some women are in decorated dresses, the guests are happy and happy for the bride and groom, who are in the center of the composition. These subjects of Shibanov are depicted masterfully. What is also striking is his courage that he was not afraid to raise such an acute problem.

Argunov Ivan Petrovich Russian portrait painter. Argunov was not occupied with this topic, but we can highlight one painting from him, “Portrait of an unknown peasant woman in Russian costume” (Fig. 7) - one of his most famous works. The portrait reflects the interest in the topic of the peasantry that has appeared in Russian society. Argunov, himself a descendant of the serfs of Count Sheremetyev, tried to show beauty and dignity in portraits, regardless of class.

Figure 7

The image of the peasant woman in this work by Argunov is conveyed with truthfulness, sincerity and respect. Since the author dressed the girl in a festive outfit, many believe that she was an actress. From an ethnographic point of view, we see how accurately the costume of a peasant woman from the Moscow province was conveyed. It is also easy to determine that this girl belongs to the peasant class by her lack of mannerisms and artlessness. The girl’s soft features, light smile, calm posture indicate modesty, openness, and kindness of a girl from the people.

Ermenev Ivan Alekseevich Russian painter, also considered a serf, he became friends with the future Grand Duke, to whom he was assigned to serve. Known for his series of eight watercolors “Beggars”, as well as the watercolor “Lunch (Peasant Lunch)”. Most often, he depicted two full-length figures against the sky: a beggar old woman and a child, a beggar and a guide, or a lonely figure of a beggar, but “Peasant Lunch” (Fig. 8) falls out of this series.

Figure 8

Many researchers believe that this picture reflects the formidable strength of ordinary people in such a difficult fate and life. Ermenev's paintings, especially paintings on the theme of the peasantry, have a tragic meaning, show hopelessness and gloom, which we can see even from the colors chosen for the painting.

2.2. The image of the peasantry in literature

The literature of the 18th century prepared fertile ground for the development of literature of the 19th century, so it cannot be said that the 18th century is forgotten. Writers of this time tried to decide acute problems of its modernity. Of course, here many of them did not ignore the peasant issue. As in painting, a number of authors can be identified who are interested in this problem, such as I. I. Bakhtina, M. V. Lomonosova, A. N. Radishcheva, D. I. Fonvizina, N. M. Karamzin.

Ivan Ivanovich Bakhtin is a public figure and writer; satirical themes predominated in his work. The most daring theme in Bakhtin's work was the peasant question. In the work “Satire on the cruelty of some nobles towards their subjects,” the author showed real features peasant life 18th century. In the fairy tale “The Master and the Peasant Woman,” the writer also showed sympathy for the peasants, like some others.

Fonvizin Denis Ivanovich is a Russian writer who also raised the topic of the peasantry in his work. First of all, we can trace this in his work “The Minor.” In this work, Fonvizin, seeing the root of all evil in serfdom, ridicules the noble system and noble education. Moreover, this can be seen already by the surnames and names of the main characters; all these surnames tell us about internal qualities these people. Fonvizin in many works talks about the nobility and ridicules their life.

Another writer who was interested in the peasant question was Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin. In his work we see the development of literature and an in-depth look at the relationship between the landowner and the peasant. These trends can be observed in the work “ Poor Lisa" Given the conventionality of the figure of Lisa, this is still a depiction of the individual experiences of a peasant girl, her personal dramatic fate, in terms of the author’s emphasized sympathy and sympathy for her, which in itself was a new and, of course, progressive literary fact. All this can be seen in an excerpt from the work “Poor Lisa”:

“Only Lisa, who remained after her father for fifteen years, - only Lisa, not sparing her tender youth, not sparing her rare beauty, worked day and night - weaved canvas, knitted stockings, picked flowers in the spring, and took berries in the summer - and sold them in Moscow. A sensitive, kind old woman, seeing her daughter’s tirelessness, often pressed her to her weakly beating heart, called her divine mercy, nurse, the joy of her old age, and prayed to God to reward her for all that she does for her mother.” We see the image of a hardworking, modest girl and how the author treats her. Karamzin in his works tried to reflect not only the attitude towards the peasantry and draw a real image of the peasantry, but also to show his attitude towards the relationship between peasants and landowners; the author himself believed that relations should go in a different direction, and real relations are relics of the past.

Despite the fact that the above-mentioned authors were interested, spoke and examined the image of the peasantry and its place in Russian reality, Alexander Nikolaevich Radishchev made the most contribution to the study of this problem. This author was arrested and exiled to Siberia for his views. Radishchev reflected the image of the peasantry in his works “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” and “Liberty.”

One of the most significant phenomena of Russian literature of the eighteenth century is the work of A. N. Radishchev “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow.” It was written in the travel genre that was popular at that time. The main characters are the traveler and the Russian people. On his way, the traveler met representatives of all classes and the picture that the traveler paints is unsightly, he speaks of the fall of Russian society. Moral baseness and filth are characteristic of all layers of society, but the worst thing is for the peasants, as the most socially vulnerable people: “the peasant is dead in law.” Indeed, the arbitrariness of the landowners goes beyond all moral boundaries, and ordinary people you have to endure it. For example, in the chapter “Lyubani” the author meets a peasant plowing on Sunday - a holy day of rest for the Orthodox:

“You are, of course, a schismatic, why do you work on Sundays?

No, master, I am baptized with a straight cross,” he said... “There are six days in a week, master, and we go to corvée six times a week...

How do you manage to get bread if you only have a free holiday?

Not only holidays, but the night is ours. If our brother is not lazy, he will not die of hunger.”

The traveler threatens the serf owners with this. In addition, the author says that the traveler sees not only patience and hard life the oppressed peasantry, but also the sleeping power of the people, which can wake up at any moment. The writer was exiled for this work.

CHAPTER 3. IMAGE OF THE PEASANTRY IN RUSSIAN ART OF THE 19TH CENTURY

3.1. Image of peasantry painting

In the second chapter we already talked about the relevance of the theme of the peasantry in the 18th century and that many representatives of art began to raise this topic in their work, but still the topic was not the main one and not widespread. In the 19th century Russian art acquired a folk sound; in painting we see this in the transition from romanticism to realism. In Russian painting, the national accent in creativity was valued, which tells us that in this period the image of the peasantry can be traced in its most vivid form. The theme of the peasantry can be traced not only in a more complex form, i.e. the authors of the works highlight the problems in the acute form that actually existed in Russian society without censorship, but the number of authors writing about the peasant issue has increased many times, in addition, this topic has become new for Russian artists. All this is connected with the events that took place in connection with the reform of Russia and, first of all, this concerns the reform that abolished serfdom. Russian painters who were interested in this topic - A. G. Venetsianov, V. A. Tropinin, P. A. Fedotov - they are also artists of the first half of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, this theme was reflected primarily in the works of the Wanderers G.G. Myasoedova, I. E. Repin, V. M. Maksimova, S. A. Korovin, etc.

The 19th century can be divided conditionally into 2 parts. The first part of the 19th century is represented in the works of such artists as A. G. Venetsianov, V. A. Tropinin, P. A. Fedotov - reflected here peasant world before the abolition of serfdom, and the second part of the 19th century is represented mainly in the works of the Itinerants - here we see the peasant world after the abolition of serfdom. At the beginning of the 19th century, the theme of the peasantry and people's life was new. Venetsianov Alexey Gavrilovich is a master of genre scenes from peasant life, he not only brought huge contribution into culture with the help of his paintings, but also educated many peasants, giving them an education and a path to another life. Despite Venetsianov’s talent in painting portraits, his greatest fame was brought not by portraits, but by painting peasant images. Although Venetsianov was not the first to depict peasants, he was the first to depict them in poetic form. The artist painted peasant children, peasant girls and, of course, everyday life peasant people. We see a number of paintings called “peasant woman” by the artist, which depict peasant girls engaged in one activity or another; on their faces we see fatigue and a sad gaze into the distance, their hands point to the hard daily work of the girls, but at the same time speaks about their hard work and modesty; besides, of course, one cannot help but highlight some of his most famous paintings in this topic are “Reapers” (Fig. 9) and “Threshing Floor”. The artist was inspired to paint the painting “The Reapers” by peasants who admired nature and a butterfly that landed on the hand of a peasant woman. This picture is one of those that reflects the significance of the image of the Russian peasantry. The theme of the harvest in Venetsianov’s work can be traced throughout his entire artistic activity, as for this picture, in it we see a peasant woman and her son who admire nature, that is, butterflies perched on the peasant woman’s hand. Also, looking at the picture with the naked eye, we see that all the action takes place during the harvest, their clothes are yellowed from hard work and dust, and their hands are black from the work just completed. No matter how strange it may be, the painting “The Reapers” still did not bring such success as the work “The Barn”, which was completed for a huge amount of money. Here again the theme of the harvest is traced, but in the painting “The Threshing Floor” we already see a composition depicting many peasants either resting or preparing for hard work. The author emphasizes the importance of peasant labor and its difficult orientation.

Figure 9

Pavel Andreevich Fedotov made no less contribution to conveying the image of the Russian peasantry. Fedotov laid the foundations of critical realism in the everyday genre, which was the main thing for him in his work. But if Venetsianov showed the peasantry itself, then Fedotov showed the upper strata of society, showing their meaninglessness of existence, the emptiness inside them. The artist uses satire to show the insignificance of some and the significance of others. The work of Venetsianov and Fedotov was continued by the Itinerant artists, who formed the color of the second half of the 19th century. Despite the fact that when talking about the beginning of realism and conveying the image of the Russian peasantry, we are talking about the names of Venetsianov and Fedotov, we must not forget to mention Tropinin. Tropinin Vasily Andreevich is a master of romantic and realistic portraits. He painted people of different classes, trying to convey not their belonging to a certain class, but to show a specific person typical of a given society. In Tropinin’s work we are interested in such works as “The Lacemaker” (Fig. 10), “Gold Seamstress”, where we see heavy handmade peasant women. These films were well received by critics and audiences alike. The painting “The Lacemaker” has become a real pearl of Russian art. This picture, like “The Gold Seamstress,” shows us a very sweet girl and unlike a peasant serf. The author of these works wanted to convey to the viewer the image of heavy peasant work, and Tropinin shows that hard work, happiness and dignity do not go against the grain. The artist demonstrates all this in his painting “The Lacemaker.” In the first half of the 19th century, the theme of the peasantry was new, but still the theme manifested itself much more clearly in the second half of the 19th century. In the second half of the 19th century, “Itinerants” can be distinguished in painting; almost each of them contributed to the formation of the image of the peasantry. Myasoedov Grigory Grigorievich – the most bright representative Russian realism. The main topic that Myasoedov addressed was peasant life. The evolution of Myasoedov’s creativity is visible in his works. One of the paintings reflecting the theme of the peasantry is “The Zemstvo is having lunch” (Fig. 11). The painting was painted during the years of the abolition of serfdom. The peasants are next to the zemstvo, apparently on their way to do some business, but they are forced to sit on the threshold. In the window you can see a servant who has washed all the dishes, apparently the peasants decided that the ranks had a good lunch and their problem would not interest them. Visible in the picture new reality, which shows Russian society without embellishment.

Figure 10

In addition, in the picture we see a new technique of the author, expressing the theme he is a critic who shows the truth of Russian society, and the author leaves some understatement, a question in his works, allowing the viewer to draw conclusions on their own. The main emphasis in this picture is on the peasants: their facial features are well drawn, which shows us the inner world of the peasants who had a hard time adjusting to their new free life and did not become happier from the reforms adopted towards the peasant issue. Their facial expressions are unhappy and tired from hard work, which calls on the viewer to sympathize and pity the poor peasant husbands.

Figure 11

Unlike the previous painting, “Mowers,” painted even before “The Zemstvo is Dinning,” shows us the lyrical image of the peasantry and speaks of their unity and good nature.

Another famous Wanderer artist, Vasily Maksimovich Maksimov, devoted all his work to the development of the theme of the peasantry. One of his main works, the work “The Healer at a Village Wedding” shows the true view of the Russian village, here the author tries to reveal the charm of folk images, peasant life, but the author reflected not only the life of the peasants, but also described the image of the Russian peasantry, in such paintings as “ Sick husband”, “Family division”, etc.

An artist such as Abram Efimovich Arkhipov also contributed to the development of this topic. Not much is known about Arkhipov, but much has been said about his work. main topic Arkhipov’s creativity is peasant. He wrote many paintings about peasant life, these include “The Drunkard”, “Washerwomen” (Fig. 12), “Northern Village”, “On the Volga”, etc. All the paintings show the true life of peasants after the abolition of serfdom.

Figure 12

Each painting by Arkhipov shows a scene of peasant life. For example, “The Washerwomen” the painting shows us exhausting, hard work. In this picture we can trace the detail of the image, as well as social motives. Social motives can be traced in the depiction of fatigue from hard work and the hopelessness of their position as women, as well as spiritual melancholy, which is caused by a feeling of hopelessness.

When considering this point, we must not forget such artists as Perov and Repin. Repin Ilya Efimovich is an outstanding artist; the theme of the peasantry was not the main one for him, but his first painting on this topic became world famous. “Barge Haulers on the Volga” (Fig. 13) is precisely the picture that we have known since school; it highlights many literary works. Each barge hauler painting is different, but they all show the oppression of the poor. The picture calls for mercy towards ordinary people. Repin showed the verdict with this work modern society and showed the oppression of the powerless.

Figure 13

Like Repin, Perov wrote peasant stories, but unlike him, he attached great importance to this topic. He painted many canvases on the theme of peasant oppression and heavy peasant fate. Vasily Perov, like Repin, painted a painting similar to “Barge Haulers on the Volga”, the painting “Troika”. The meaning is similar, but in the second work Perov speaks not about barge haulers, but about ordinary children who pull a barrel of water. Perov’s painting tells us about the need of peasants and peasant children and their difficult journey, the author emphasizes the latter by showing how cold it is, the water freezes outside, so we can imagine how cold it is for children to carry such a burden.

Figure 14

Authors depicting images of the Russian peasantry express the national character of the Russian people. Artists in their canvases depict the real life of Russian society of the 19th century, but when talking about the Russian peasantry in art, we must not forget about the writers who tried to reach Russian society, raising the pressing issue of enslavement.

"Return from the city." Fragment. / "Peasant girls in the forest." Fragment. Price: 266.5 thousand dollars. Christie's (2011).

Name Alexey Ivanovich Korzukhin rarely mentioned among famous Russian artists of the 19th century. But this does not make his creative legacy any less significant in the history of art. Korzukhin is a great artist, one of the best Russian painters of the everyday genre, whose name has been forgotten. While his paintings are real documentary evidence of the life and way of life of the Russian people in the century before last.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-029.jpg" alt=" “The drunken father of the family.” (1861). Author: A.I. Korzukhin." title=""Drunken father of the family." (1861).

The Academy's requirements for students were high, and all achievements were not easy for Korzukhin, but with painstaking work and diligence he was close to receiving a gold medal and traveling abroad to improve his skills. Alas, by the will of fate, he was among those students, led by Ivan Kramskoy, who left the Academy in protest against the imposed topic of their graduation work. This riot was called -"бунт 14-и". Спустя несколько лет Алексей Корзухин все же вернулся в Академию и получил звание академика. !}

Alexey Ivanovich devoted all his skill and skill to the everyday genre, reflecting scenes from the everyday life of the people. But unlike the artists who painted in this genre and denounced the unjust existing order, Korzukhin was not inclined to rebellion and indignation - on his canvases we do not see the accusatory pathos of the Wanderers.

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-003.jpg" alt=" “Bachelorette Party” (1889).

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-012.jpg" alt=""Wake in the village cemetery." Author: A.I. Korzukhin." title=""Wake in the village cemetery."

In 1865, for the painting “Wake in a Village Cemetery,” Korzukhin was awarded the rank of artist of the first degree, and in 1868, for the painting “The Return of the Father of the Family from the Fair,” the Academy awarded him the title of academician.

"The return of the father of the family from a country fair." (1868)

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-010.jpg" alt=""Sunday afternoon."

All the artist’s skill is clearly visible on the canvas “Sunday Day”. The composition of this particular painting is amazing. Its center is a boiling samovar, around which the whole plot is tied. The whole family is gathered and is about to start eating. In the meantime, they are having fun, dancing and playing.

Such a lively and cheerful plot exudes family warmth and the delicious smell of dinner. The viewer has a desire to get to this cheerful meadow, dance, play along with the accordion player and simply breathe in the air of this amazing spring day.

"Return from the city." (1870)

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-016.jpg" alt=""Bird Enemies" (1887).

Three barefoot peasant boys walk bravely in the early morning"охоту". Ловля птиц на продажу дает им неплохой доход, поэтому ребята подходят к этому занятию ответственно. Об этом говорят клетки для будущей добычи и длинный шест для ловли. Старший мальчик, по-видимому, увидел стаю пернатых и увлекает за собой, указывая другим, куда им следует двигаться.!}

"At the edge of the bread." (1890)

What should I do?” And the viewer’s heart sank painfully.

"Collection of arrears." (1868)

https://static.kulturologia.ru/files/u21941/0korzyhin-008.jpg" alt=""Separation (1872)".

The famous Russian artist, a contemporary of A. Korzukhin, also wrote pictures about the difficult life and way of life of the common people, about their hardships, sufferings and small joys