The name of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin became a landmark for Russian culture. Sincere admiration for his personality and work is alive and multiplies in time. Thanks to the talented creations of famous sculptors and artists, the younger generation with respect contemplates the images of the famous poet.
The image of Pushkin in art: portraits
Many note the originality of the image of the poet. The image of Pushkin in art is an inexhaustible topic for study: the same poet appears before us from different angles seen by masters in different periods of the life of this genius. And thanks to their work, we have a unique opportunity to get acquainted with the new Pushkin every time.
In the courtyard of the 21st century, and in Pushkin places, full houses do not stop: people attend Pushkin evenings and exhibitions with interest. The next exhibition event held in the Pushkin Mountains is vivid proof of this. The A. Pushkin Moscow State Museum, in collaboration with the Mikhailovskoye State Museum-Reserve, helped to perpetuate the poet’s image in the visual arts and included this valuable exposition, consisting of 130 sculptural and graphic compositions, in a global project that reveals Pushkin’s image in the visual arts . The project is called "Portraits of Pushkin."
Project "Portraits of Pushkin"
The exhibition itself is unique: its visitors could not help but feel their presence right away in two centuries: here there were images of Pushkin made by masters - contemporaries of the poet, and works created after his death. There are also copies from famous portraits of Pushkin by unknown masters (for example, “Ostafievskaya Copy”), confirming their true popularity at all times.
Kiprensky, Ge, Tropinin, Aivazovsky, Serov, Repin, Fomin, Petrov-Vodkin, Yuon, Laktionov, Ossovsky, Antokolsky ... The list of names of famous portrait painters who addressed the image of the genius of a poetic syllable can be continued. Their works are valuable in that there is not even a remotely similar vision of this outstanding personality, which traces the desire of the masters to “live” this image in their own way, as if to say: “This is MY Pushkin”. The emphasized features of the image of Pushkin in the fine arts - portraits and sculptures - reveal to contemplators the features of past eras. And this connection of the times is remarkable in its essence. The idea that Pushkin is a strong link between generations from different centuries makes us proud of our cultural roots.
The Pushkin silhouettes that were ever born in the hands of talented sculptors: Anikushin, Bakh, Terebenev, Balashova and others, never cease to amaze. Clearly seized facial features (and their slightest possible change), the poet's poses and gestures, even folds in clothes - all create the feeling that the Real Pushkin will now reach out to you and speak heart to heart through the centuries ...
An attempt to depict Pushkin in the 21st century
It seems like one such conversation with a classic is not enough for advertising agents-creators of the city of Almaty, they went further (or rather, went too far) in the idea of introducing Kazakhs to the Pushkin theme. All their compatriots, and now all the regulars of the Internet, “remember a wonderful moment” when a huge poster of shocking content for an entertainment club appeared at the intersection of Pushkin and Kurmangazy Streets: the Russian poet and Kazakh composer merged in a strong kiss ... The reaction from the intelligentsia the deed turned out to be contradictory: skeptics are outraged and condemn the authors for trying to encroach on the sacred, optimists see, though an unsuccessful, but significant step towards uniting the cultures of the two peoples, and even different types of art.
What is this: the lack of the proper level of intelligence, the daring challenge to classical traditions, or simply the ingeniously non-standard attitude? .. The content of the created poster, of course, is of a low standard, but it again demonstrates indifference to the Pushkin theme (note, not even on Russian soil)! It remains to believe that multinational (sometimes superficial) knowledge of everything Pushkin will still learn to harmoniously coexist with deep respect for both the individual and the poetic legacy of the Russian classic.
“Pushkin lived! Pushkin is alive! Pushkin will live! ”
In general, the manifestation of the cultural “explosions” described above becomes logical and periodic: an attempt to “throw off the ship of modernity” by Pushkin and his companions in the pen at the beginning of the 20th century was already undertaken by the futurists. Why not do some creative work at the beginning of the twenty-first? Everyone who feels within himself the “germ” of the creator has the right to a sonorous word! That's just the time for everyone to decide which of the "tortured masterpieces" is a true work of art, and which turned out to be random in creative history. And this is true: all futuristic and advertising-creative attacks on Pushkin’s unique heritage are doomed to failure. One would like to shout an objection to them in their own spirit: “Pushkin lived! Pushkin is alive! Pushkin will live! ”
The image of Pushkin in the visual arts: children's drawings
It is not without reason that children see a bright hope for a happy future, which they boldly and sincerely draw on white sheets of paper. The results of the annual city, regional, all-Russian and international children's art competitions on Pushkin themes inspire hope for the preservation of cultural traditions in subsequent generations.
Children's portrait drawings based on the works of A.S. Pushkin are real revelations. Drawing on paper a favorite fragment of a poem, a fairy tale or a portrait of a poet, the child seems to confess: “Here it is, MY Pushkin, I see it so, and I'm glad that I have it!”
Children's drawings surprise with a rich color palette and design, and sometimes even with the choice of a book, which sometimes happens to be quite different from the age of a young artist. Deserves special respect, for example, the work of a fifth grader based on the Queen of Spades or Boris Godunov, which already guesses a serious attitude to reality, a deep respect for poetry, and a thoughtful reading of an "adult" work.
Hundreds of children reading the same Pushkin’s books daily create hundreds of unique patterns based on fragments they have experienced. The Pushkin source of creative ideas is inexhaustible: there will be plenty of them for both children of children and grandchildren of children. You can wander around exhibitions of children's drawings for hours and read understandable Pushkin episodes without words: here is a silly pop in an absurd attempt to deceive the cunning worker Balda, here is the Saltanovo kingdom with its fascinating history, and here are three girls under the window with their dreams ...
Children's contests of creative works
Children of different nationalities from hundreds of cities and villages send to the contests thousands of creative works performed in pencil and watercolor, felt-tip pens and gouache. They with interest embody their ideas into reality both independently and with the help of parents or teachers, grandparents, sisters or brothers. Loved Pushkin motifs continue to bring people of different ages together in a creative outburst.
The image captured in the monuments
Today it is difficult to imagine any civilized city in which the image of Pushkin in the visual arts is not immortalized: portraits, sculptures - everything suggests that the great poet is not forgotten. Streets, parks, museums, libraries and even shopping centers are named after the genius!
Sculptural images of Pushkin, numbering in hundreds, are dispersed throughout Russia, and each sculptor in his own way recreated the image of Pushkin. In the visual arts, the sculptures of the famous poet are numerous and popular. It is worth visiting
Tsarskoye Selo, where the visitor will be immediately met by three sculptures of Pushkin, symbolizing the different stages of the poet’s life and work. It was here that the best years of youth and the creative growth of the future lamp of Russian poetry flashed. Bronze and granite were highly honored to perpetuate the living features of Pushkin.
Sculptures of foreign masters
Not always such images of the Russian poet belong to Russian sculptors. So, the famous statue of Pushkin, once acquired by Emperor Nicholas II, is of French origin: it was made by master L. Bernshtam. Subsequently, the statue adorned the lobby of the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum and is associated with the appearance of the name of the city - Pushkin. After the Great Patriotic War, this monument was subject to deep restoration: about 142 potholes from fascist shots at a bronze target were eliminated in it.
What is the great writer associated with among the Russian people?
The image of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin in the fine arts in peacetime in a Russian cultural person evokes only bright emotions. Yes, and how not to feel involved in the Russian intelligentsia, sitting in a park in the company of a romantic, boundlessly loving Alexander Sergeevich's life! He, as if not wanting to leave for a long time, meets us near schools and museums, in city parks, in central squares, next to museums and libraries.
Sculptors like to portray Pushkin in a thoughtful but laid-back pose, with a pen and notebook in his hands, sitting on a bench with a dreamy friendly look. Observing a creative impulse imprinted in bronze or stone, you believe that right now, right here, from under the pen of a genius, another masterpiece that has not been completed during his lifetime will appear in the light.
After this, how can one not admire the limitless possibilities of true, classical, fine art!