Serov Valentin Aleksandrovich - illustrations for fables by I.A. Krylov Reflection of historical events in I.A. Krylov’s fable “The wolf in the kennel” was prepared by the teacher of Russian language and literature Oksana Valerievna Rubleva mbou of Irkutsk

How is the plot of the fable connected with the events of the Patriotic War of 1812? The situation described in the fable reproduces the events of the Patriotic War of 1812. Napoleon quite easily conquered many European states, just as the Wolf easily copes with helpless sheep. Next in the French aggressive plans was Russia. But the entire Russian people rose up to fight Napoleon’s troops: “At night, a wolf, thinking of getting into a sheepfold, ended up in a kennel.”

The fable “The Wolf in the Kennel,” written in 1812, is a response to the Patriotic War against the French invasion. The wolf is Napoleon, who was defeated on the Borodino field; Having occupied Moscow, he realized that he was trapped, and sent Kutuzov a proposal for peace, assuring the Russian commander that he wanted peace. Kutuzov rejected the conqueror's offer and liberated Russia from its enemies in victorious battles. The hunter in the fable is Kutuzov.

According to contemporaries, I. A. Krylov rewrote the fable “The Wolf in the Kennel” with his own hand and gave it to M. I. Kutuzov’s wife, who sent it to her husband in a letter. M.I. Kutuzov read the fable after the battle of Krasny to the officers gathered around him and, at the words “and I, friend, am gray,” he took off his cap and shook his bowed head.

Conclusion Every invader who encroaches on someone else's land, looking for easy prey, resembles the hero of Krylov's fable. (It’s not for nothing that the Hunter speaks not about one Wolf, but about both properties of these predators: “I’ve known your wolf nature for a long time...”, “with wolves... don’t make peace!”).

Internet resources

other presentations on the topic “Historical fable by I.A. Krylov “Wolf in the kennel””

“Creativity of Krylov” - The first stage in Krylov’s creativity. The wolf at night, thinking of getting into the sheepfold, ended up in the kennel. But Krylov decided to become a writer. Analysis of the fables “Quartet” and “Swan, Crayfish and Pike”. He studied out of favor with the children of the landowner, for whom he served as a footman. Krylov turns his satire against empty talkers and ignoramuses.

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“Pack of Wolves” - Iron discipline reigns in a wolf pack - everyone obeys the leader unconditionally. Wolf!!! Those who disobey are severely punished. The same thing happened in the Roman Empire. The word wolf has become a symbol of evil, cruelty, and bloodthirstiness. Many mammals live alone, while others live in groups. Body length: on average 105-160cm.

“Krylov’s Fables 5th grade” - What do Krylov’s fables teach? Slide numbers. A. P. Sumarokov. I. I. Khemnitser. What does the fable teach? "Wolf in the kennel." Aesop is an ancient Greek fabulist (VI century BC), considered the creator of the fable. Artist G. Kupriyanov. He played the violin well, learned music theory, and understood mathematics. "A Crow and a fox".

Among the undoubted masterpieces with which the pictorial and graphic heritage of Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov is so richly and diversified, a series of his illustrations to the fables of I. A. Krylov occupies a large and important place.

The artist worked on the series for sixteen years (from 1895 to 1911) and especially intensively in the last years of his life.

The result of this work was a large number of completely finished works, which, being excellent illustrations for the fables of I. A. Krylov, at the same time have great independent artistic value.

The fact that V. A. Serov turned to fables was not a surprise; he certainly had to be attracted by their sharp humor, which the artist greatly valued in life. In addition, Serov loved animals since childhood; in their behavior he found many similarities with the behavior of people. The artist constantly observed them and drew them, as evidenced by numerous sketches in albums over the years.

In 1895, A. I. Mamontov decided to publish the fables of I. A. Krylov with illustrations by V. A. Serov. He kindly invited the artist to make several drawings for this publication. At first, A.I. Mamontov intended to include all the fables in the publication, but then decided to limit himself to only the most popular ones.

It was decided to call the publication “Twelve drawings by V. A. Serov on the fables of I. A. Krylov” and compose it from the following twelve sheets: “Wagon train”, “Crow and Fox”, “Miller”, “Wolf and Crane”, “Trishkin” caftan”, “Quartet”, “Peasant and Robber”, “Crow”, “Lion and Wolf”, “Donkey and Man”, “Monkey and Glasses”, “Pike”.

Serov was fascinated by working on drawings for fables, and although the publication was not carried out, the artist made a large number of magnificent sketches and completed illustrations *.

From the very beginning, Serov was faced with a difficult task - not only to create well-defined artistic images, but also to convey the specifics of the fable narrative. And this required a special artistic language. After all, a fable is a quick, lively sketch of reality, usually containing a moralizing meaning. A fabulist writer notices everyday oddities, mistakes, funny aspects of life, human vices and shortcomings in life and, pouring them into fable form, sharpens them in his own way and exaggerates them.

Krylov ridiculed negative human qualities, transferring them to animals. At the same time, he deliberately exaggerated the colors in order to hit human pride more painfully, in order to emphasize and strengthen the edifying meaning arising from this or that situation.

It was no coincidence that Krylov chose the fable as his weapon in the fight against human vices; the wise simplicity of its content and humorous storytelling are accessible to any reader and are easily assimilated. The language of the fable, close to the folk language of proverbs and sayings, is well remembered.

Serov, like no one else, understood the specifics of fable storytelling. As a result of many years of persistent and tireless searches, he found his simple, apt form of story, enriched with humor and consonant with the language of the fable.

It was not immediately possible for the artist to achieve the artistic completeness of the form and the semantic capacity that was needed for the fable illustration. Beginning in 1896, he stubbornly strives to find his visual “fable language,” but finally finds it only in his later illustrations.

The artist carefully selects the main thing in the fable and conveys it with meager artistic means. So, gradually, he completely abandons the tone, chiaroscuro and those details that are found in such initial sheets as “The Wolf and the Shepherds”, “Three Men”, “Little Crow”. Later, he works only in pencil, emphasizing and sharpening the details that interest him, revealing in the drawing the most characteristic features of the common images of fables.

However, at first the artist is still quite detailed. For now, he refuses only painterly techniques in graphics. This is noticeable in the approach to the fable “Three Men,” the drawing of which is of a genre nature. An ordinary genre scene (depicting three men having dinner in a village hut) is also specific and verbose. The main thing is not emphasized enough in it, the irony is barely noticeable. The same can be said about the drawing “Little Crow”. It is still cumbersome, complex, and not concise enough.

The mentioned works convey only the content of the fables. Serov wanted to ensure that the illustrations also had independent grotesque expressiveness. And for this it was necessary to draw simpler, more concisely and, at the same time, sharper. That is why most of the originally conceived compositions were redrawn many times, becoming increasingly simplified and sharpened.

Thus, gradually being reworked, the composition of the Quartet changed radically. In the new composition, Serov arranged the animals in the reverse order - from right to left, and this composition seemed to him more successful. In addition, the artist changed the appearance of each animal, reworked its pose, movement, antics; made him more comical. The result was not just a genre scene, but fable images emerged, through which the edifying meaning began to emerge most clearly. Serov emphasized in the drawings the most characteristic things—what is generally characteristic of this or that animal. These are new features of Serov’s method, and they determined his further searches.

While working on fables, Serov constantly used his numerous albums, which already contained sketches of the animals he needed. He loved and knew animals well, and therefore was able to give them quite accurate characteristics. Whether he depicted a wolf (sheet “Wolf and Crane”) or a fox near a vine (sheet “Fox and Grapes”) - in any particular case it is noticeable that the artist carefully and for a long time studied the character of each animal. That is why he so accurately described the animals in the sheet “The Sea of ​​Beasts” - a lion, standing out among other animals with its majestic, proud posture, a fox dodging in front of the lion, grinning wolves and a harmless, simple-minded ox, which the animals intend to sacrifice “for their sins.”

Another sheet (“Lion and Wolf”) depicts an angry, mighty king of beasts, looking menacingly after a dejectedly weaving wolf, who dared to snatch a piece of his prey. The lion and the wolf are characterized by very meager means, almost in one line. Their poses are expressive.

The sheet “Fox and Grapes” is no less convincing and interesting in its own way. The cunning little fox, bending coquettishly, quietly caresses towards the vine. The cheat looks expectantly at the bunch of grapes hanging, alas, too high.

The artist did not immediately succeed in depicting all these animals. Using thin transparent paper, he endlessly transferred the drawing he found from one sheet to another, leaving on the new sheet only those details that, in his opinion, were most successful. He enhanced these details, simplifying and generalizing the previous composition, honing the line, working on volume.

Despite the careful elaboration of each drawing, its strokes and lines never gave the impression of being dry. The artist always knew how to hide his hard work behind the apparent ease and freedom of drawing.

This is how Serov worked on the fables “The Wolf and the Crane” (starting with watercolor shading and pen drawing and ending with a laconic pencil drawing), “The Lion and the Wolf” (from an early tone watercolor drawing up to the last pencil version, the most simplified version), “Trishkin Kaftan” ( from a full-scale sketch to an extremely exaggerated image).

The fable “The Crow” (sheet “The Crow in Peacock Feathers”) underwent the same thorough revision. The artist deals with the theme extremely sparingly, depicting a crow dressed in peacock feathers, walking with comical importance, holding her head high, and peacocks looking at her arrogantly and hostilely, as if she were an impostor in their society. Here the characteristics of both crows and peacocks are incomparably given.

The sheet “Monkey and Glasses” turned out to be even more successful. It seems that the problem cannot be solved more acutely, more economically. The monkey, who “disposed” of his glasses in such a unique way, is the only figure depicted on the sheet.

V. A. Serov’s drawings for I. A. Krylov’s fables are truly outstanding works, which, based on the literary talent of Krylov the fabulist, acquired a deeply independent meaning. They are valuable in themselves. In visual form, the artist revealed in them what the writer wanted to say in words. Serov also conveyed the deeply folk humor of Krylov's fables, which contains the sharpness and accuracy of the vision of life and the peculiarities of Krylov's language, close to colloquial speech - everything that makes Krylov's fables truly folk literary works.

V. Takhtareva

* In this edition of the postcards, only some of these sheets are reproduced, as well as those that were not intended for the Mamontov edition. These drawings were made at different times, from 1895 to 1911.

Fox and grapes. Paper, graphite pencil. 22.2x35.5 cm. State Tretyakov Gallery