Possessing unique talent Nikolai Feshin: unknown genius of painting

About this artist in our country first talked in the 60 years of the last century, but in America, where he lived more than 30 years, his work is loved and appreciated.

Several years ago in Russia there was an exhibition of the artist who left his homeland, timed to his 130th birthday. Domestic art lovers were pleasantly surprised at the discovery of the new name and regretted only that they got acquainted with the original masterpieces so late.

short biography

A little-known artist in Russia was born in 1881 in Kazan. As a child, Nikolai Feshin seriously ill, and after recovery in it as if waking up a talent for drawing. When the family finds themselves in difficult conditions, the boy earns his living by painting. After graduation, he enters the school at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and gets into Repin's workshop, who recognized the young man as "the most talented painter."

It was then that the author was born his signature handwriting - a broad brushstroke. Feshin performs illustrations for magazines, writes posters and posters, and later turns to portraits. In 1910, he travels around the world. Completely dedicated himself to creativity, Nikolay Feshin in six years receives the title of academician of painting.

During the First World War and the 1917 revolution, the master experiences incredible mental torment, he is overtaken by a creative crisis, and he does not want to draw portraits of political leaders to order. The artist feels that he is wasting his energy, because his works are used only for propaganda purposes. At this moment the painter is visited by thoughts about emigration.

In 1923, Nikolay Feshin and his family moved to the United States, where he immediately began to work. The American public recognizes the extraordinary talent of the master, personal displays enjoy a crazy popularity, and his works are instantly bought up.

Artist, sculptor, woodcarver

After the painter ill with tuberculosis, he moves to Taos, a famous center of Indian culture in the south-west of America. Here his sculptural talent is fully manifested, and the wooden house built by him now admires the visitors with an unusual appearance. In 1979, Feshin's home includes a list of national monuments of the United States, and 20 years later a museum opens in which works of not only the Russian creator but also other artists are represented.

After a divorce from his wife, he moved to California, where he teaches a lot. His business goes uphill, the pictures are sold well, and the artist of two continents buys a huge house in Hollywood. His life is interrupted in 1955 in Santa Monica.

A dream fulfilled after death

Nikolai Ivanovich Feshin had a hard time experiencing forced separation from his homeland and in his letter to his brother expressed the opinion that people of art should not leave their country, since in a foreign country a person is alone and does not understand the meaning of his life. He tried several times to return to Russia, but his dream was fulfilled only after his death: his ashes were buried in the old cemetery in Kazan.

The greatest portraitist

Nikolay Feshin, whose painting even today makes us admire the unique talent of the master, is a born portraitist. He peers at the person and reveals to the audience his inner world and the unique identity of the individual. All that once touched his hands, turns into a genuine work of art, sounding a symphony of color spots and images.

A brilliant portrait painter paints canvases in which lightness and airiness are felt. In the memory of the viewer there is a look, dreamy, filled with tenderness, sadness, unspoken mystery. A bright representative of Art Nouveau and Impressionism finds a color background for each of his works, while preserving the naturalness of posing models.

Landscapes of Feshin's brush

Portraits of his brush are immediately recognizable, just like realistic expressive landscapes reflecting the mood of the master. Nikolay Feshin is an artist who loves nature with selflessness. On the canvases of the painter she breathes, bewitches with her beauty and gives true joy. The artist also has works that bring a silent melancholy, but such paintings are necessary for a thoughtful person.

Live Still Life

Beautiful and still lifes in love with the life of the creator. They are spectacular and full of energy of the master, which splashes in wide strokes and colorful color contrasts. This is a whole sea of fragrant flowers, living their own lives. The versatile painter is sensitive to the plasticity of each leaf and stem.

The immortality of the moment

The ingenious Nikolai Feshin found his own style, in which he combined reality and convention. The master notices a moment and reflects it in original works, giving him immortality. It works not only with a brush and palette knife (a special tool used for mixing paints), but also uses its fingers to obtain a multi-color layer. The artist painstakingly rubs the paint into the canvas soil, and the surface of the canvas resembles a multicolored enamel.

Each of its image is woven of a thousand shades, and the audience seems that the author was very easily pierced masterpieces. The disciple Feshin wrote: "The art of" supermaestro ", which has a special gift, arises by itself. It seems that he has died, and another masterpiece is ready. "

Opening a new name

The master left a great legacy behind him. About 200 works are in the museum of the city of Kazan, his masterpieces are kept in galleries of Texas, London, Washington, and how many works are left in private collections - no one knows. Americans call Feshin "their" artist and compare his style with the technique of Rembrandt.

I am very pleased that in Russia exhibitions are opening, introducing connoisseurs of art to the work of an unknown genius. Expressive paintings that you want to admire were previously unknown to the Russian audience, and it's nice that a new name has now been opened among the greatest painters of the world.