Nemensky Boris Mikhailovich is a Russian national artist whose paintings are exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery and famous museums around the world. His paintings are bought up by private collectors, and he himself received a state award for his enormous contribution to Russian culture and educational activities. Having lived a hard life, participating in the Great Patriotic War, he tried to convey all this through his paintings, becoming one of the great Russian classics in the field of fine art.
Childhood
Boris was born in Moscow on December 24, 1922. His mother was the daughter of a priest, worked as a dentist, and his father, a native of the village of Presnya, was a financier and in the post-revolutionary period he worked in the Soviet People’s Committee. Perhaps the merger of such extraordinary personalities and fields of activity influenced the upbringing of Boris and his desire for fine art.
The biography of Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky is closely connected with creativity, which he did not leave even during the war. His youth passed in Moscow, in the very center of the capital, on Sretenka. After graduating from high school until 1947, he studied at the Saratov Art College, and was accepted immediately to the third year. His parents cautiously watched how his son's passion affects his future life. Under the leadership of A. M. Mikhailov, Boris began to take his first steps into the world of art. At that time he communicated with many famous artists, visited exhibitions. His first paintings were even exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery. Such rapid success and growth left a lasting impression on the inner world of a young artist.
War
After the evacuation, Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky returned from Central Asia back to Moscow, where he continued to study and serve in the Grekov Studio of Military Artists. His duty was always to be at the forefront and make artistic sketches of everything that was happening. Almost all military operations took place under the watchful eye of the artist. It was difficult for Boris, since he knew little about life and showed himself fully, he could not show his worldview.
For the first time he went to the front in early 1943, where he made his first sketches of fighting and the military situation. But, in his opinion, they were unsuccessful in comparison with the works of other, more experienced artists. Patience and desire for study did their job. Each time the work was better, more serious. Nemensky Boris Mikhailovich painted pictures, imbued with the life of soldiers. After all, these were ordinary people whose fate was decided by the war, and who themselves influenced its outcome. It was an invaluable experience for a young artist at the school of life and art, who taught him the main thing - art needs to convey its feelings and feelings.
These are the words that Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky expressed in the fine arts: “A picture is a confession, real feelings. Otherwise, it will only have cold and professional abilities. ”
Victory of 1945
When the end of the war was announced, exclamations of glee from the soldiers and the common people were heard. Capturing the joy of victory and the long-awaited lull was not easy. In the artist’s workshop several sketches of that period were preserved that convey the brunt of the victory and the expectation of a peaceful life.
Victory in creativity
In the same year, at the age of twenty-two years, Boris painted his first and most famous painting, "Mother." It was this work that became a milestone in his work and is still a great masterpiece that has taken pride of place in Russian painting. With his painting, the artist wanted to convey the joy of ordinary women meeting their sons from the war, and express a kind of gratitude to their mothers. The picture was first exhibited at the All-Union Exhibition, and then bought and took pride of place in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Gradually, the artist begins to develop a special style of works. If earlier Boris destroyed the sketches of the failed works, now he leaves them for comparison, but he does not correct the failed compositions on the canvas, but draws the picture again.
The painting "On the Far and Close"
Another spectacular work by Nemensky was a painting written in 1950 under the title "On the Far and Close." The plot was based on the impressions of the first trip to the front, which left a lasting impression in the artist's memory. Letters came to that section of the front very rarely, and soldiers often re-read the same messages many times. Warm words from relatives, though already learned by heart, were of great value in those days.
With this painting, Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky strove to convey his feelings, which fully revealed him as an artist. The art critic N. A. Dmitriev noted how the faces of the characters are clearly worked out, who with bated breath re-read letters from home.
Theme of paintings
Initially, the theme of paintings by Nemensky touched on the military theme and people who survived its hardships. He clearly conveyed the feelings of the soldiers, made it clear to the ordinary spectator why they fought, how they did it and where they took the strength to move on from. Over the years, memories of the war were a thing of the past, and it was more difficult for young people to understand the meaning of these paintings. The military theme began to be associated with the future, with political problems.
The post-war work of the artist convey a love of woman, motherhood, beauty and peace. His paintings became tremulous, for example, such as “Father and Daughter”, “Masha”, “Silence”, “Teacher”. Now Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky conveys art in his new creative language, trying to move away from sad memories of the war.
Teacher
Immediately after the war, Boris graduated from the Surikov Art Institute in Moscow, after which he began to engage in pedagogical activities. He began teaching Nemensky at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute named after Lenin, and in 1966 he transferred to the art faculty of VGIK. Over the years of his teaching, German taught dozens of young people who became master artists, some of them even continued the teaching activities of their teacher at Russian universities. So there was a general school curriculum B. Nemensky "Fine Art and Art Work". Boris Mikhailovich was inspired by her conviction that each person is talented, but not everyone develops his artistic talent. Art is a way of educating a child’s personality, his feelings, which ensures the emotional health of a future generation.
The emotional memory of a person is long-term, therefore it is through training and familiarization with art that the worldview of children must be formed, actively involving them in creative activity.
Fine art as a subject
Ordinary school subjects are based on the transfer of knowledge and skills. But if you teach fine art in the same form, then a brilliant artist does not work out of anyone. Art must be lived. Coming to the lesson, the child must draw emotional experience, become a part of this training, and not just view the works and complete the specified tasks. The main objectives of the program:
- show the connection between art and life;
- spiritual and moral education;
- to captivate the child with art;
- attach to the artistic culture.
In 1981, Boris Mikhailovich Nemensky’s book, The Wisdom of Beauty, was published, in which the artist raised very important questions regarding the aesthetic education of children in the field of school education. He actively emphasized the importance of introducing art objects into school practice in order to properly shape the thinking of modern youth and their active citizenship.
Nemensky B. M., whose biography is inseparable from his creative and teaching activities, made a huge contribution to the formation of the artistic taste of the young generation. His program shows that teaching art requires a special approach. The technique of drawing is only a means of achieving the desired result. The teacher is obliged to create an atmosphere in the lesson in which every child will be passionate, live to create a new artistic image. It is important to fully activate the creative imagination, to connect all the senses to this.