Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, an artist of the second half of the 19th century, went down in the history of Russian painting as the founder of a realistic trend in art. He actively developed the principle of critical realism in his work, as well as in articles devoted to the theory of art. Many of his paintings are recognized as classics of Russian painting. The author was a master of portraiture, historical and genre scenes.
short biography
Kramskoy, an artist famous for his realistic paintings, was born in 1837 in the Voronezh province in a petty bourgeois family. He graduated from the Ostrogorsk real school, but due to the poverty of his family he could not continue his education at the gymnasium. Working in the local Duma, he became interested in retouching photographs. Soon M. Tulinov became his teacher, who taught him the basics of painting. A few years later, Kramskoy, the artist best known for his portraits, moved to Petersburg, where his fruitful creative career began, continuing until his sudden death in 1887.
Study at the academy
In 1857, he became a student of academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During his studies, he received several medals both for his paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters on religious topics. The future famous painter received his small gold medal for the painting devoted to the biblical story.
To obtain the title of artist with the right to receive a state pension, it was necessary to submit to the competition a work devoted to the scene from the Scandinavian sagas. However, Kramskoy, an artist who was striving for a realistic depiction of events and freedom of creativity, together with thirteen other students appealed to the Academy administration with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire with what they want to write on topics that they themselves prefer. After this, the young painters founded their own artel, which, however, did not last long, since its members very soon decided to switch to state content.
"Partnership of Traveling Art Exhibitions"
The artist Kramskoy, whose paintings in the early period of his work became a significant event in the cultural life of the empire, became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of this organization. Its members upheld the principles of realism in art, an active social and civic position of artists. In his work, the author defended the principles of realism. He believed that the paintings should not only be believable, but also bear a moral and educational semantic load. Therefore, his works are imbued with particular drama.
In the 1870s, the author creates a number of remarkable portraits of his famous contemporaries: he paints images of Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Shishkin, Tretyakov and others. In this series, a special place is occupied by the portrait of the artist Kramskoy, created by himself in 1867. This canvas has a high degree of realism, like the rest of his work of this period.
Portrait of N. Nekrasov
Many portrait works of the author are written in the style of genre paintings. The people depicted on them are represented in action, so the paintings represent scenes from life and everyday life.
Such, for example, is the famous work of the artist "Nekrasov in the period of" The Last Songs "of 1877-1878. In this picture, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in the last period of his life. In general, the theme of emotional experiences of a person, his struggle with death or some kind of shock played an important role in the artist’s work. In the master’s works, this theme did not have a social coloring, as in the works of other painters. He always showed the struggle of the spirit against the disease and most strongly managed to convey this idea in the indicated picture.
Female portraits
Perhaps the most famous work of the master is the painting “The Stranger”. The artist Kramskoy emphasized the beauty of his model. He emphasized that she was an urban fashionista, and therefore, with special care, she prescribed her appearance: a rich fur coat, a flirty headdress, magnificent jewelry and fabrics.
It is significant that the background on this canvas plays a secondary role: it is presented in a haze, as the author focuses all his attention on an elegant young woman. The artist Ivan Kramskoy was especially fond of portraits. The author’s paintings are different in their mood.
If the woman in the above picture is depicted in a proud confident pose, then the model on the canvas “A Girl with a Loose Braid”, on the contrary, is shown in a difficult, even painful minute, when she seemed to have abandoned everything and was completely immersed in herself. Therefore, her face, in contrast to the appearance of a stranger, expresses deep concentrated thoughtfulness, sadness and bright sadness.
"Inconsolable grief"
This painting was painted in 1884, impressed by the personal grief of the artist, who lost his son. Therefore, in the image of a woman depicted in a mourning dress, the features of the author’s wife are guessed.
This canvas differs from other works of the author in the hopelessness with which it is permeated. In the center of the canvas is a middle-aged woman in a black dress. She stands next to a box full of flowers. Her grief is expressed not in a pose that is quite natural and even free, but in the eyes and movement of the hand with which she presses a handkerchief to her mouth. This canvas is perhaps one of the strongest in the work of the artist and Russian painting in general.