Vasily Ivanovich Surikov (1848-1916), a Russian artist, an unsurpassed master of historical paintings, was born in Krasnoyarsk, in the family of an employee. The first drawing experience was at school, with a teacher N.V. Grebneva. The teacher noticed the boy’s ability to painting and advised his parents to send him to St. Petersburg to receive a special education, which was done in 1869. In the northern capital, the future artist was admitted to the Academy of Arts, which he graduated in 1875.
Carier start
Two years later, Vasily Surikov moved to Moscow, where he settled. Even as a student, the young painter managed to prove himself to be a master of historical associative images, his first significant work was the painting “View of the Monument to Peter the Great”, in which he depicted an equestrian statue of the emperor against the background of St. Isaac's Cathedral. The canvas was created in 1870.
First masterpieces
The work of Vasily Surikov was continued in 1877, when the artist created sketches of four Ecumenical Councils for painting the Moscow Church of Christ the Savior. Then, impressed by the ancient architecture of the capital, Surikov proceeded to his first masterpiece of the Moscow period, the painting "The Morning of the Archery Execution". The work was completed in 1881. The execution of the rebels with the personal participation of Peter I on Red Square was reflected by the artist with frightening authenticity. Surikov’s life and work always bore the mark of some special indisputability, not a single stroke gave any reason to doubt something.
Antiquity as a style in creativity
The artist masterfully mastered all the techniques of drawing, which gave him the opportunity to address the topic of the historical past of Russia. He showed the conflict of the Russian New Age with the medieval period, and this conflict does not imply the dominance of either side and can last for centuries. Surikov’s work is thoroughly saturated with the “spirit of antiquity”, as I. N. Kramskoy figuratively expressed in his correspondence with V. V. Stasov in 1884.
Menshikov and Morozova
Historian painter Vasily Surikov periodically confirmed his role, creating one masterpiece after another. In 1883, he painted the painting "Menshikov in Berezovo," and in 1887 he created another painting masterpiece called "Boyar Morozova." The first canvas told about the exile to Siberia of one of the most powerful courtiers, the favorite of Peter the Great, the Duke of Menshikov. The second picture depicted the transportation from the prison to the Miracles monastery , the schismatic Theodosius Morozova, sentenced to retreat.
Surikov’s creativity, his deep talent, embodied in a huge canvas measuring 5 x 3 meters - a grandiose phenomenon in the world of painting. "Boyar Morozova" was acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery, where the picture is located to this day.
Holiday theme
The previous masterpieces of Vasily Surikov are not inferior to the painting "Taking the Snowy Town", written by him in 1891 and dedicated to Shrovetide.
The characters depicted on the canvas amaze with their expressiveness, the festive action is depicted by the artist as an all-devastating element. In the center is a Cossack attacking the snow "bastion", around the audience who came to Shrovetide.
This time, Surikov’s creativity was reflected in the remoteness of the Russian people, which is capable of creating a sneaky attack out of the blue, without any reason, but from this a whole event necessarily arises. So it happened with the painting "Taking the Snowy Town", a simple game resulted in a real assault on the fortifications, albeit a theatrical one. Such are the Russian games in the paintings of Russian painters, such is the work of the artist Surikov. Russian art is impulsive.
Subsequent work
Subsequent work of Vasily Surikov became a definite stage in his activity. His canvases for the period from 1895 to 1907 are still full of drama, but the perspective of the events reflected in the paintings is already different, with less expression. We are talking about canvases: "Stepan Razin" (1907), "Suvorov Crossing the Alps" (1899) and "The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak" (1895). All works are written masterly, but they lack the polyphony of drama.
In an effort to enhance the degree of credibility of the plot of the picture, Surikov reduces the number of characters, thus shifting the semantic load on the remaining images. This technique always brings results. The artist expands the colorfulness of the texture and enhances the expressiveness of each character separately and all together, forcing them to interact.
Vasily Surikov compensates for the lack of expression in the paintings with an emphasis on the plot component. And this technique also brings its results. For example, the painting "The Conquest of Siberia by Ermak" was painted in the best battle traditions, with many guns, bright flashes of shots involving death and destruction. In reality, of course, everything happened less dramatic, as evidenced by studies of scientists relating to that time. However, painting is a form of art that requires multiple exaggeration.
The canvas "Suvorov Crossing the Alps", of course, is also written with some grotesque. There is a political reproach to the predatory ambitions of the presumptuous French. With his passage through the Alps, Suvorov painfully clicked the French military leaders on the nose. All these nuances were fully able to reflect the artist.
The work of Surikov, whose paintings, like a mirror, reflect some aspects of public life of the late 19th century and the beginning of the 20th, to a large extent contributed to the development of Russian art.
The painting "Stepan Razin" reveals the worship of simple warriors to his commander. He is an indisputable authority for them, the chief military commander. When Stenka Razin, without hesitation, threw the princess overboard, it was an inhuman act, which could become a reason for the disappointment of the soldiers in the leader. However, they continued to extol their chieftain. Unhappy with himself, gloomy as a cloud sits Stepan Razin in the middle of the boat, surrounded by faithful subjects. The chieftain was seriously preoccupied, and the artist also managed to convey his mood. All of Surikov’s work consists of his attempts to reflect reality on his canvases, even if it is sometimes impartial.
Surikov as a realist artist
Each picture of the painter is the quintessence of Russian life, a separate fragment of it, which is presented by the master in true reflection. Such an approach, which excludes distortion of reality, consists of Surikov’s work, which is not possible to describe briefly, a deep analysis is needed.
One more definition can be added to the well-deserved title of an artist-historian - “realist painter”. Surikov’s work, a brief description of his paintings, the main milestones of his life’s path have been studied for many years by art historians. The conclusions of the research are not always unambiguous, but one thing is clear - the artist Vasily Surikov is certainly the property of Russian culture of the first magnitude.