Painter Vladimir Lebedev

Vladimir Lebedev is an outstanding painter, master of book illustration. For many years he was engaged in artistic design of the works of Samuel Marshak. In addition, the painter created a series of caricatures of political themes, several portraits and still lifes. The theme of today's article is the creative path of the artist Vladimir Vasilyevich Lebedev.

early years

The future painter was born in 1891, in St. Petersburg. His artistic abilities showed up quite early. Education Lebedev began with training in the studio A. Titov. Then he graduated from art school. The main feature of Lebedev was the desire to learn new things. He never stopped studying, even when he started teaching.

As a political cartoonist, Lebedev did not work long (1917-1918), but his work was remembered. Perhaps it was the collection of drawings "The Panel of the Revolution" that played a bad role in his fate.

"The Panel of the Revolution"

In 1922, Vladimir Lebedev created a series of drawings devoted to events relevant to his contemporaries. A collection of twenty-three graphic images the artist called first "The Street of the Revolution." Then the first word in this title was replaced by a more precise one - the "panel".

In the early twenties, along the streets of St. Petersburg, many suspicious and unreliable personalities returned. The level of crime has increased. This situation was created by economic instability in the country. Typical representatives of his time portrayed the artist Vladimir Lebedev.

Figures differ in satire, grotesqueness. "The panel of the revolution" is an example of how an artist, freed from everything superfluous, transfers socio-psychological types of people onto paper.

Still Life and Portraits

After the completion of cooperation with the popular magazine "Satyricon", the artist worked for several years on posters for a telegraph agency. However, Vladimir Lebedev is remembered today, first of all, as an illustrator of children's books. He started this activity in the publishing house "Rainbow". But no less attention is deserved and portraits, and still lifes of Lebedev.

Creativity Lebedev in the twenties was determined by friendship with artists such as I. Puni, N. Lapshin, N. Tyrsa. Communication with colleagues created the environment necessary for each master. Vladimir Lebedev was fascinated by the work of French artists Renoir, Manet. In the early thirties, he created a series of works, among them: "Fruit in the basket," "Red Guitar and Palette." Approximately at this time, Lebedev also acts as a portraitist (Portrait of Artist Nina S. Nadezhdina, Model with a Mandolin, Girl with a Jug, Krasnoflotec, and Turkish Fighters).

Personal life and family

With his first wife Vladimir Lebedev met during his studies at Bernstein's school. Her name was Sarah Lebedeva (Darmolatova). She is an outstanding Russian and Soviet artist, also known as a master of sculptural portrait. After the divorce, Lebedev maintained friendly, warm relations with her for many years.

The second wife of the artist was the famous ballerina and choreographer Nadezhda Nadezhdina. Lebedev wrote several of her portraits. The third time the painter married in 1940, on the writer Ada Lazo.

In tandem with Marshak

The name of this writer's child is known to everyone. However, the fact that Samuel Marshak was not only engaged in literary creation, but also made a huge contribution to the development of publishing, not everyone knows. And, perhaps, much of what Marshak conceived in the early twenties, he would not have been able to do, if not for cooperation with such a talented and hard-working schedule as Vladimir Lebedev. He became the artist of a new children's book. What are the features of Lebedev's style?

A distinctive feature of this artist's work is the poster style. Lebedev's illustrations are laconic. The background is rarely colored, and the figures of people and animals are depicted schematically. "Hinged puppets" - as one of the critics of Lebedev's figure called it. But at the same time the "puppets" of the master illustrations turned out to be alive, bright, memorable.

Lebedev created drawings for a large number of books, but more often he worked with Marshak. They found a common language, because both were extremely demanding of their activities, worked tirelessly. Marshak, as if picking up Lebedev's style, wrote dynamically, creating clear verbal pictures.

Many young and talented artists took the lessons of book graphics. Lebedev is the creator of his own school. He managed to gather around himself masters of a completely different direction. Book illustration Vladimir Lebedev devoted more than half a century.

Last years

In the mid-thirties an event occurred, after which, according to critics, the creative development of the artist was a recession. The newspapers published a number of angry articles about the painter. This was a heavy blow for Vladimir Lebedev.

In Moscow, he lived since 1941. And in the early fifties he returned to Leningrad. He still worked in the book graphics, but he lived rather closedly, communicating with only a few friends and colleagues. Vladimir Lebedev passed away in 1967, was buried in St. Petersburg.