Alexander Mikhailovich Gerasimov, artist: paintings, biography

The life of an artist can not develop without a cloud, even if everything looks good. A true master is always in search of both means of artistic expressiveness, and plots that will affect a person who turned his attention to his picture.

Adolescence and youth

Alexander Gerasimov was born in the small town of Kozlov in the Tambov province in 1881. In it, to his small homeland, he will return again and again, resting from the tense life in the capital and gathering new strengths, impressions. In the meantime, the young talented young man is studying painting in Moscow. His teachers were KA Korovin, AE Arkhipov, VA Serov, real masters, whose works our Motherland is proud of. Wide etude manner of writing, juicy coloring become inherent in a beginner master. This is how Gerasimov, an artist who studies classical and modern techniques, grows.

When the First World War began, Gerasimov was mobilized and spent two years at the fronts. He knew the whole burden of trench warfare, when a man, according to Sholokhov, eats up a bone.

Return and departure to the capital

In 1918, Gerasimov returned to his native Kozlov and worked in it as a decorator for several years. In 1925 he again came to the capital. In association AHRR as a painter finds himself Gerasimov. The artist now combines Soviet political themes with the traditional manner of painting. A great work "Lenin on the Tribune" was conceived and written. She can not but find a response in the souls of people who lost their leader recently, four years ago, whose sorrow is still alive. But now they see Vladimir Ilyich against the backdrop of scarlet banners, for which they shed blood on the fronts of a civil war, energetic, calling ahead ... The picture is filled with the pathos of revolutionary energy and written in an understandable, intelligible pictorial language.

Portraitist

At the same time, he is a teacher at the School of Memory in 1905. Gerasimov had the ability to grasp the portrait resemblance. Therefore, he perceived himself and positioned himself primarily as a portraitist. It was in the 30s that the main thing in the artist's work became portrait painting. He has portraits of individuals and groups. He works on portraits of famous favorite actors, polar explorers. A group portrait of the "Horse Army" receives the Grand Prix at an exhibition in Paris.

Public life

The artist "threw open the door" to his workshop, and the daily life of people flowed into it in a wide stream. No public event that affects the country, the painter does not miss - he finds all the response. At the same time, administrative work is added: Gerasimov became one of the leaders in the secretariat of the Union of Soviet Artists. Despite the lack of time, the first persons of the state begin to appear more often in his portraits. Willy or involuntarily, but his work is considered an example of how to write. Gerasimov-artist becomes a favorite portraitist of Stalin. This is a portrait of Stalin at the 17th Congress of the CPSU (B.) In 1934. Still full of strength, JV Stalin reads a report that evokes the support of the entire hall. Different shades of brown, playing golden gleams, do not merge, but give severity and seriousness to the moment. This is the official "front" portrait. More chamber, "home" portrait of JV Stalin and AM Gorky in Gorki, he wrote in 1939. Cozy atmosphere on the veranda, flooded with morning light, making its way through the greenery of the surrounding trees. His mother-of-pearl gleams are on carved banisters, on tablecloths, on the clothes of two quietly conversing people. Everything is filled with simplicity and tranquility. Peace and peace are underscored by a dog sleeping quietly on the floor. Virtuoso beat this benevolent situation of the Gerasimov. The artist did not regret the bright colors, which created such a wonderful harmonious corner.

A rush of inspiration

The painting, which Gerasimov wrote, "After the Rain," is simple, easy and poetic. It's just a corner of the veranda with a garden behind it: a bench with periltsami, a table shaped with carved legs. A voluminous bouquet in a glass jar, an overturned glass, everything plays and shimmers with joyful colors, reflections of the sun that emerged after a shower. Juicy and diverse greens washed by rain garden. All shades of green are used. Twinkles of each leaf, lit on the contour and highlighted on the reverse side. The branches leaned heavily, very close to the veranda, just about to look into it. In the puddles on the floor the blue sky is reflected. Everywhere, on every subject, rain drops shine with mother of pearl. A special state of freshness and purity was achieved by the artist, using gleams that leave behind and the foliage of the leaves, and a white and pink bouquet on the dark wet surface of the table. Light and shadow intertwined, but the shadow is made in many shades, and therefore also shines and shimmers, pleasing the eye. The viewer does not see the light source. The scattered light of the sun is somewhere behind trees and bushes. It is not bright, but the warmth of the sunset summer sun is felt everywhere. According to eyewitnesses, after the summer shower Gerasimov ("After the rain" - one of the most famous of his paintings), delighted by what he saw, immediately took up the colors and palette and in one breath, without taking his eyes off, sealed the marvelous landscape. But in order to be able to work so quickly and efficiently, one must go through a long and difficult path in painting. This is why the artist managed to express the sincerity of his feelings, which leaves no one indifferent, to convey to the viewer the energy of freshness. Later, the master recalled his enthusiasm, his impatience, when he worked on the landscape. Therefore, the work became true and poetic in every detail. She was exhibited in Paris, and the painter received the Grand Prix (Grand Prix). This is not an accidental luck, but the result of a long, long work, conditioned by all life. To her adjoins a family portrait, created a year earlier. In the same father's house in Kozlov, the whole Gerasimov family gathered together on a hot summer day. It is here, not moving to the capital, the artist's relatives are constantly living. Painter serene rest after a tense activity with his family. He is preparing for the upcoming difficult and big work. The canvas is filled with light, peace and harmony.

The exhibition is a great event in the artist's life

In those same years, more precisely, in 1936, the artist summed up his activities, which lasted for a quarter of a century: his exhibition was held in Moscow, where about a hundred works were presented. These were picturesque and graphic works.

Another portrait

A little later, "Portrait of a Ballerina O. V. Lepeshinskaya" will be written, in 1939. The artist finds the leading dancer after the warm-up, she is no longer at the machine. In a traditional ballet tutu, standing on the pointes, she is ready to jump up and continue the dance. Proud landing of the head, a turn of shoulders, a slight smile - all speaks of the temperamental sparkling character of the dancer, about her liveliness and dynamism, which she transferred to the stage. The inspiration and love of the work that the prima ballerina feels is also captured by the artist in this portrait. Olga Vasilievna was one of the most beloved ballerinas of JV Stalin, he called her "the dragonfly."

War

In difficult years of war, the master continues to work and transfers his personal savings to the Defense Fund. The historical genre now occupies the artist more and more. He creates portraits of the heroes of the Great Patriotic War. In the same period he wrote "Group portrait of the oldest Soviet artists Pavlov IN, Baksheev VN, Byalanytsky-Biruli VK, Meshkov VN", for which he receives the Stalin Prize in 1946. Considering what a great influence on the development of the fine arts had AM. Gerasimov, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. And also working on an epic picture, dedicated to the conference of the leaders of the three great powers in Tehran. So once again the historical genre in the artist's work was revealed. The canvas depicted both the face and the characters of the persons who took part in it.

Academician

After the war, in 1947, he was elected the first president of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. A significant role in this election was played by his close friend Voroshilov. For ten years, in fulfilling this position, Gerasimov vigorously fought against those artists who were noticed in innovation or even simply in impressionism. He regarded the degenerating art of the West as alien to a Soviet man. In these years he creates a complete solemnity and pomposity of the canvas called "There is a subway!" In the center on the podium is JV Stalin. But for some reason all attention is attracted not by the leader, not by delegates in the hall, but by five huge chandeliers. Everything else seems smaller and insignificant.

In the small homeland

The artist has great creative potential and high working capacity when he comes to his native city. Here he writes still lifes, landscapes, reflecting his state of mind. The memory of the years of work and study at Konstantin Korovin affects these canvases. "Starling's song" is the purest work without any pathetic, lyrically telling about the beauty of the awakening nature. Still Life "Noon. Warm rain "shows how the master yearned for the present work. In it, he can use all the available techniques, change the bored brownish-red color to a thin sirenovato-blue, show a rain falling down the glass, breathe a clean, moisture-filled air. This is life in its personal manifestations. This - Gerasimov, an artist whose paintings are far from officialdom, but full of dreams and lyrics, admiration and pleasure.

Personality Traits

Here the other side of his personality is visible. After all, in everyday life Gerasimov was a gentle, benevolent person. Young artists were advised not to pursue ranks, for money and fame. To the person who deserves them, they will come themselves after a long work on the drawing and color. He believed that the artist in itself can not be lost.

Opal

After the death of Stalin, Gerasimov's influence began to diminish. And he himself changed outwardly. He began to grow smaller and thinner. Clever eyes were sad. But he was already over seventy. The disgraced artist during the Khrushchev "thaw" was perceived as something obsolete.

Life goes on

However, Gerasimov himself did not consider himself a retrograde. He knew that he was an artist, endowed with great talent by God himself. And it was really so. But what did he exchange his talent for? He had to survive, compromise and serve those who were in power. Here is a fine line between serving the Talent and the Lords. How to not slip off it? How not to move the invisible side? These are eternal questions for every artist, in whatever field he worked. Before the musician, Orpheus, there was a question of who to serve - the bright, clear, harmonious Phoebe or the dark, stormy, ecstatic Dionysus. So since ancient times, this issue is decided by everyone himself. Gerasimov Alexander Mikhailovich (artist) gave himself an answer, although he hesitated until the end.

Ambiguity of the artist

Future art historians, comparing the two paintings of Gerasimov, who are in the State Tretyakov Gallery, can see in them a timeless talent and will not blame the artist for the splendor of the portraits of Soviet leaders. How do we look today at the ceremonial works of Franz Xavier Winterhalter or DG Levitsky and VL Borovikovsky carefully written out in every detail and treating them calmly - just like works of art.

What the Motherland Has Given to the Artist

For his services to the Fatherland, beginning in 1941, AM Gerasimov was treated kindly by the authorities. Awards and prizes simply fell on him. He is a People's Artist of the USSR, he has four Stalin Prizes, the Order of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

So, in tireless work, the life of a creator with a simple surname passed Gerasimov. The artist, whose biography is ambiguous and ambiguous and, undoubtedly, marked by Talent, died when he was 82 years old.