The singer of the proletariat Nikolai Kasatkin

This artist, whose paintings are of a social nature, turns to folk life, devotes the first works to peasants and connects creativity with the destinies of the working people. He shows people who are able to protect their interests.

Artist, calling for struggle

Nikolai Kasatkin was born in 1859. A gifted boy enters the School of Painting in Moscow and takes over the experience of famous artists V. Perov and I. Pryanishnikov. He graduated from the institution with a silver medal of a young author is invited to work in a large book publishing house.

In the 90s of the XIX century the painter turned to the theme of labor and life of the working class. Under the influence of the proletarian movement, which is beginning to gain strength, Nikolai Kasatkin paints pictures of the hard work of ordinary people, sees their poverty and reveals the beauty of unarmed workers. For example, in miners, who often depicts the author, embodied his ideas about a new force, growing stronger day by day. He believes that it is not necessary to create beautiful paintings caressing the eyes of the townsfolk, but it is necessary to pay attention to the hard labor of the workers and call for a fight against the exploiters.

Real scenes from the life of working people

Nikolay Kasatkin is an artist who first told about the heavy share of miners. His paintings, striking in the significance of the images, are written in a gloomy range of colors, and this color is justified by realistic plots. Traveling a lot around the country, the author sees poverty, but does not try to depict his characters in such a way as to arouse sympathy. He writes ostrosotsialnye works from the life of workers and peasants, chooses dramatic stories, but not limited to everyday realism.

In the canvases there is no excessive sentimentality, and people engaged in hard labor do not look crushed and broken. The individual tragedy of a person is perceived by the audience as typical.

The image of a new person

Received the title of academician of painting, the artist welcomes revolutionary events and writes canvases depicting workers struggling with power. According to the author, works of art are obliged to agitate and beat the bell, indicating the existing problems.

After 1917, Nikolai Kasatkin combines Russian realism and Soviet art in his work. He writes pictures on the life and struggle of the proletariat, takes an active part in the work of the Academy of Arts of Russia. In the Soviet period, the painter is working on the image of a new man and creates a whole series of portraits of Komsomol members - young fighters for communism, as the future of the country he sees in young faces.

Public mission

The works of the Soviet artist are shown on mobile exhibitions, which impatient peasants are waiting impatiently for. The downtrodden people who can not read see injustices, woes and grief of the working people on the canvases, and a protest is raised in their soul against the exploiters. Thus, Nikolai Kasatkin, whose pictures open up a new world of images and feelings, fulfills not only a cultural but also a public mission.

A whole gallery of portraits of female images

The artist creates amazingly beautiful images of Soviet women, emaciated, but not losing their self-esteem and not causing compassion in the viewer. His work is admired by the expressiveness, the precise lines and the inner charm of the characters depicted.

"Miner"

Charming etude, filled with special light, is recognized as a treasure of Russian pictorial art. A smiling young girl, confident in her own strength, looks proudly at the viewer. Her image is full of inner warmth, and the need has not yet had time to impose its imprint on it, and this canvas stands out among other gloomy paintings of a supporter of realistic art. The artist conveys the complex spiritual world of the girl, paying close attention to the plastic of the face and hands, and the spectator does not even notice the poverty of the order of the miner.

Watercolor sketch

Another wonderful sketch that came out from under Kasatkin's hand is called "The Woman's Head." Light watercolor painting, written in 1908, attracts the eyes of viewers. Nobody knows where the artist met this girl, whose image echoes Shakhtar, only there the character of the hard worker is expressed more sharply. Charming dark-haired beauty from the working environment, which has an inner strength, does not look into your eyes, but you can not tear your eyes from it.

"The Girl at the Fence"

The work, which depicts a poorly dressed girl who recently moved to the city from the village, makes the viewer worry about the fate of a pure and bright soul. It is clear that here it does not expect anything good, except slave labor, rudeness and ruthlessness of people. But while a nice girl who does not know anything about the cruelty of society, is sealed against the background of green leaves, and how her fate will turn out, one can only guess.

The singer of the proletariat Nikolai Kasatkin, who left a valuable legacy, understood the tendencies of Russia's social development and saw in the proletariat a powerful force that could change the usual course of history.