Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev - Russian artist of genre painting. In the 60s of the 19th century, he was among the most promising young artists. However, the only famous painting by Vasily Pukirev is “Unequal Marriage”. Biography and creativity of Vasily Pukirev - later in this article.
Biography
Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev was born in 1832 in the Tula province, the exact date and place of birth are unknown. He grew up in a peasant family, but from an early age gravitated to drawing, and his parents allowed him to study icon painting. Young Vasily made great strides in this skill. Once his talent was noticed and highly appreciated by the buyer of icons, who came from Moscow. He invited the young man to go with him and go to an art institute. With the blessing of his parents, Vasily hit the road. He entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, the course of painting professor Sergei Konstantinovich Zaryanko.
The successes of the aspiring artist were truly brilliant - already in 1850, 18-year-old Pukirev was awarded the title of gymnasium teacher of drawing, and by 1855 he improved his skills to a non-class artist (a silver medal, which allows to increase the artistic rank). Below is a picture of Vasily Pukirev "Portrait of M. N. Obleukhova", for which he received this medal in 1855.
Vasily decided not to continue his professional development and already in 1858 he graduated under the title of “free artist”. However, in 1860, he nevertheless presented the institute commission with a portrait sketch entitled "Girl", for which he was awarded an academic degree in the field of historical, genre and portrait painting. Since 1861, Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev became a teacher at his school and settled in a state-owned apartment on its territory. From 1862 to 1863, the artist was abroad, where he was sent by the school directorate at the expense of the charity of art lovers. The purpose of the trip was designated "review of art galleries and familiarization with works of pictorial art."
In 1863, the painting "Vasiliy Pukirev" Unequal Marriage "was presented at the academic exhibition. She made an extraordinary sensation among art critics and art lovers, amazed everyone with the freshness of the idea and the quality of performance, as well as unusually large for paintings of a similar plot size - 173 by 136.5 cm. For this picture, Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev was awarded the title of professor of painting and received funds on another trip abroad - he traveled from May to July 1964.
Although the paintings of Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev were successful in the second half of the 60s and the beginning of the 70s, they could not surpass the “Unequal Marriage”. In 1973, due to health problems, the artist had to leave teaching. He continued to paint, but each new work was frankly weaker than the previous one. In the second half of the 70s, Pukirev again took up the icon painting - his icons of that period are stored in the church of the Holy Monastery and the church of the Holy Trinity.
In 1879, the former colleagues of Vasily Pukirev obtained a pension for him from the school, but this was not enough. The artist’s health was deteriorating, and in the early 80s he took up illustrations - he created drawings for the works “Dead Souls” by Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol and “Notes of the Hunter” by Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev. One of the illustrations for Dead Souls can be seen below.
June 1, 1890, forgotten by all, the artist Vasily Pukirev died of hunger and poverty. He was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery. Art critic Andrei Ivanovich Somov wrote a small obituary, which was published in an appendix to the journal "Herald of Fine Arts":
Among his comrades and students, he left behind a warm and lasting memory, and in the history of Russian art - a brilliant, albeit short, trace.
"Unequal marriage"
The main work of Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev, “Unequal Marriage,” appeared at a time when the issue of calculated marriages was especially acute in Russia. 8 out of 10 family unions by the mid-19th century were built on the basis of material gain, and only 2 were made for love. In 1854, on the stage of the Maly Theater, the premiere of Ostrovsky’s play “Poverty is not a vice” took place, and in 1861, the Holy Synod proclaimed a ban on marriages with a large age difference. After only three years, the world saw the “Unequal Marriage” - a picture that is more relevant and topical than ever. Indeed, many rich elderly men who seek marriage with daughters-in-law, and young poor people who want to marry rich old ladies, were outraged by this church ban and came out with demands to lift it.
The canvas depicts the wedding ceremony of a young girl and an elderly man. The artist himself is also depicted in the picture - in the image of a best man standing behind the bride and clearly dissatisfied with what is happening.
"In the artist’s workshop"
The next large painting by Vasily Pukirev was the painting "In the Artist's Studio", written immediately after returning from abroad, in 1865. In the role of the artist, Pukirev himself is depicted. In his workshop, he shows a large icon to an art critic, while the priests examine a painting with a secular plot. A maid looks fearfully into the room, probably to look at the representatives of the church who have come into the house. The most interesting thing in the picture is the arrangement of Pukirev's workshop. It is not known for certain whether the author portrayed some real case of the demonstration of icons and paintings, or depicted a fictional plot.
"Jealousy of a woman"
Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev painted this picture in 1868, and she was one of the first to approach the success of "Unequal Marriage." The highlight of the picture is a very dark window in which the viewer does not immediately distinguish between the embracing man and woman. The name "Jealous wife" ("Jealousy of a woman") is clearly ironic - because of the pity and sorrow the artist portrayed the face of an unhappy woman, it is difficult to say that he condemns her. A jealous woman was not mistaken in her suspicions and, having tracked down the unfaithful husband, found herself face to face with his betrayal. Having moved from a village to a big city, Pukirev first encountered a secular lifestyle - material values, changes in the fate of unhappy urban women. All this vanity of the rich and aristocrats was clearly disgusting to the artist. Wishing to draw attention to the problems of society, Vasily Vladimirovich made them the center of his paintings.
"The deacon explains to the peasants the picture of the Last Judgment"
Vasily Pukirev also painted this picture in 1868, but here the plot is rather from his childhood and youthful memories - inside a simple peasant hut, a village clerk tells peasants about the Last Judgment and its consequences using an example of a special picture. As in the case of the painting "In the Artist's Studio", the facts of life are very interesting here - the general view of the hut, its furnishings, peasant clothes, wall icons. Gestures are also characteristic - women hold their heads with their hands, reflecting on the words of the clerk, and the little boy clings in horror to his mother.
"Boy with a bird's nest"
The peasant boy from the painting "Diachok" is not the first such hero in Pukirev's paintings. In 1856, while studying at the school, the artist already depicted a small peasant in the painting "Boy with a Bird's Nest." It depicts a pensive boy about to cross a forest river - in his hand he carefully holds a bird's nest. It is not known whether the boy picked up a fallen nest from the ground, or independently removed it from a branch. One thing is clear - the boy’s kind face does not make him a bully and a destroyer of bird houses. Most likely, he found a nest on the ground and decided to bring it home to prevent future chicks from dying from the clutches of predators.
"Reception of a dowry in a merchant family by painting"
Another painting by Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev on the topic of marriage and its disgusting, material side. The picture shows a plot that is usual for its time - the bride’s family collects her dowry several days before the wedding to send him to the groom’s house. Obviously, how unpleasant is this procedure for the bride's family - the proud pose of the groom watching the process at the door, an unpleasant figure of a clerk with a list, who obviously found fault with the quality of the dress. The bride with a sister or girlfriend is watching with horror this picture. Meanwhile, the mother of the bride, together with her youngest daughter, stacks stacks of linen in a chest. Her face clearly expresses an attempt to abstract from what is happening.
The canvas was created in 1873, as in previous paintings, it is interesting for the life and atmosphere of a poor merchant's house - a modest decor, several paintings and a cage with a canary suspended from the ceiling.
"Collection of arrears"
With this picture in 1875, Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev again returned to the peasant theme. Another sad plot is depicted - a woman on her knees begs the bailiff not to take her cow. Obviously, the cattle is being taken away due to some debts with which the peasants were then taxed on all sides - the artist knew about this firsthand, because there is so much sincere suffering in the picture. The lighting solution is very interesting - as if on stage, a praying peasant woman and a bailiff are in the light, while the woman's family remains in the shade. This expresses all their hopelessness - they are nearby, but they can not influence what is happening.
"Interrupted Wedding"
One of the last paintings by Vasily Pukirev, which gained approval and success, was this painting, written in 1877. The second name of the picture - "The Bigamman" - easily explains to the viewer why the wedding was interrupted and why the bride lost consciousness. A woman in a black robe next to her fiance is his wife. Another story on the topic of the wedding was again made a splash at the exhibition: an escaped husband who wanted to deceive two women at once and marry another again - this became a common problem by the end of the 19th century. The canvas impresses with its momentary nature - all the figures look alive, frozen motionless only a second before the viewer paid attention to them.