Konstantin Makovsky: life and work of the artist. Konstantin Makovsky: best pictures, biography

Biography of the artist Makovsky Constantine today is obscured by his distinguished brother Vladimir - a famous representative of the Wanderers. However, Constantine left a notable mark in art, being a serious, independent painter.

The Makovsky family

The name of Makovsky is well known in Russian art. The father of the family Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky was a famous artist in Moscow, an amateur artist. He organized the "Natural School" for painters, who later became known as the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

The creative spirit always reigned in the family and it is not surprising that all three children of Yegor Ivanovich became artists. In the house there were often friends of the father - artists Karl Bryullov and Vasily Tropinin, you could meet here the writer Gogol, actor Shchepkin, composer Glinka. Literary and musical evenings were constantly arranged in the family, debates about art were held. All this influenced the formation of children. Adult Konstantin Makovsky said that his success in painting, he owes exclusively to his father, who was able to settle in him an ineradicable love of art.

The family had three children: the eldest son Constantine, the daughter of Alexander and the youngest - Vladimir. The family's prosperity was modest, but the reigning spirit of art fully compensated for all the everyday inconveniences.

Childhood of Constantine

Since childhood Konstantin Makovsky was immersed in art, in fact, he knew no other life, and he was destined to choose the path of the painter. All the children in the family started painting very early.

Kostya, as the first child in the family, began by being close to his father and his friends when they discussed painting and their plans, showed sketches and pictures. All this shaped the aesthetic views and interests of the boy.

Acquisition of crafts

In 1851, Konstantin Makovsky entered the father's school of painting, sculpture and architecture. His mentors were there - V. Tropinin, M. Scotti, S. Zaryanka, A. Mokritsky. Here for seven years, from the boy, the artist was formed with his own, original view of the world and taught him the basics of pictorial art.

In the school he was the first student, he received all possible awards. In 1858, Constantine entered the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg - the best educational institution in the field of art in the Russian Empire. During his studies he regularly exhibited his works at the annual exhibitions of the Academy and even received a Big Gold Medal for his work. "The agents of Dmitry Pretender kill the son of Boris Godunov."

In 1862, Makovsky began to seek his way in art, because academicism seemed boring to him and outdated.

Path in art

Konstantin Makovsky (pictures, artist's biography are presented in our article) is looking for his own way, wants to express his inner world. In 1863, he, together with the other thirteen artists selected to participate in the contest for the Great Golden Medal of the Academy of Arts, refuses to paint a picture on the topic approved by academicians.

He had to leave the school, and Makovsky could not get a diploma of education. This event became known as the "revolt of fourteen". The protest was that the artists wanted to get freedom and write a free-style work, but the Academy did not want to go to meet them. In fact, it was a rebellion against the shackles of academicism and was a sign of the emerging new school of realism, in which Konstantin Makovsky will play a prominent role.

In 1863, the artist joins the group of I. Kramskoy and works in the emerging genre of everyday painting. In 1870, Makovsky became one of the initiators and ideological inspirers of the creation of the Association of Mobile Artists and worked much, describing the scenes of everyday life.

He exhibited works both at academic exhibitions and in company with the Wanderers. In the 80s Makovsky became a very popular author of salon portraits and paintings on historical subjects. And in 1889 he received the Great Gold Medal at an art exhibition in Paris for a series of works.

The object of the brush Makovsky were historical scenes, the life of the people, life. He writes out the costumes and the situation of the characters with love and ethnographic accuracy. In the late 80's, the artist increasingly turns to historical subjects, writes large detailed pictures, for example, "Boyar wedding feast in the XVII century", which are very popular with the public and critics. Also, they created many portraits of various people.

The creative heritage of Konstantin Makovsky has about a hundred paintings, among them a lot of large, epic paintings (today they are scattered around private and museum collections around the world). In addition, he participated in the design of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow.

Collector

Konstantin Makovsky, whose paintings are now the object of the attention of collectors, he himself was a great collector. This passion he inherited from his father, who loved a wide variety of art and antiquities.

The idea of the collection was formulated by the artist in the words: "beautiful antiquity". Carried away with historical subjects, he collected various utensils and furnishings, costumes, and everything that attracted the artist's refined taste.

During the period of his enthusiasm for the peasant theme, Makovsky travels a lot around the Russian outback, buying up objects of everyday life and clothing. The journey to the East has added to the collection a large number of items of oriental life, carpets, ornaments and costumes. As a result, by the 80s the artist's apartment was more like a museum than a human dwelling.

Items of the collection often served as the basis for the creation of paintings. Thus, in the Boyar Wedding Feast in the 17th Century, critics point out the smallest coincidence of details with the historical costume and the situation of that time. By the beginning of XX century. Makovsky was one of the largest collectors of Russia, and his activities led to a craze for collectorship among the bohemians and the bourgeois.

Konstantin Yegorovich was very proud of his collection, he showed it with pleasure and gave things to various exhibitions. After the death of the artist, an auction was organized, which put out 1100 items, as a result of which the widow rescued more than half a million rubles, and things went to private collections and museums. But, unfortunately, the integrity of the meeting was broken, and Makovsky's long work went to waste.

The best works

Konstantin Makovsky, the best pictures, a biography, which is just becoming an object of study of art, left a great legacy. Among his most famous works are: "The Death of Ivan the Terrible", "The Feast of Boyar Morozov", "The Bulgarian Martyrs", "The Minin at the Nizhny Novgorod Fair", "The Choice of the Bride by Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich."

Private life of the artist

Konstantin Makovsky traveled a lot, spent some time in Paris, visited Africa three times, and all this enriched his work, in which you can find the features of emerging modernism. For his artistic merit Makovsky was awarded the Order of the Legion of Honor and St. Anne.

The artist was married three times. The first wife died of tuberculosis, and from the second he divorced. In total, he had nine children, among whom there are artists and cultural figures.

September 30, according to the new style of 1915, a tram knocked a man off - so ended his journey Konstantin Makovsky. Life and work of the artist remained in the history of Russian painting as an important page of the formation of realism.