The artist Ivan Kramskoy made an invaluable contribution to culture. He was an art rebel, an ideologist of the Wanderers, an adviser to the collector Pavel Tretyakov, who created the world-famous Tretyakov Gallery. Kramskoy's student Ilya Repin became famous artist. This year, on May 27, Ivan Kramskoy celebrated his 180th birthday. In the museum. I. N. Kramskoy, named after the painter, houses paintings and drawings of the artist. The main exposition of the museum presents six paintings by Kramskoy. One of the most interesting works- portrait of the wife and daughter of the artist. Kramskoy did not have time to complete this picture.

The future ideologist of the Wanderers was born on May 27, 1837 in Ostrogozhsk in the family of a clerk. Ivan Kramskoy graduated from the district school, found a job as a retoucher with his countryman photographer Mikhail Tulinov. He corrected the portraits of people in the pictures with watercolors. Kramskoy left his hometown to work in Kharkov, and at the age of 19 he moved to St. Petersburg. A year after working in a photo studio in 1857, he entered the Academy of Arts the first time.

Ivan Kramskoy "Self-portrait", 1867

Kramskoy was one of the most talented students. For the painting "Moses spouts water from the rock" he received a small gold medal. However, both Kramskoy and other students of the Academy wanted more freedom. When they were offered the competition theme "Feast in Valhalla" (the author of the best picture received a large gold medal and the opportunity to go to Paris), the students refused and petitioned that everyone be allowed to develop their own theme. The Academy Council refused. Then 14 best graduates, headed by Kramskoy, left the Academy and founded the first Artel of Free Artists in Russia, which lasted until 1871. This event went down in art history as the "Riot of the Fourteen".

– It is interesting that in 1863 the “Riot of the Fourteen” took place in Russia, in France in the same year the first exhibition of the Impressionists took place, – notes the head. exposition department of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy Olga Ryabchikova. “They were also rebels and were against the academic system. Artists of both France and Russia began to reach for the light, for greater freedom in creativity.

In 1870, the "Association of Traveling Exhibitions" was created, the main organizer of which was Ivan Kramskoy. He defended the views on the high social role of the artist, the principles of realism and the nationality of art. The partnership held traveling exhibitions and velo educational activities. It included famous artists of that time: Vasnetsov, Repin, Surikov, Shishkin, Levitan and others.

Ivan Kramskoy "Portrait of a lady". 1881

“Kramskoy was ahead of his time in many of his views,” says Olga Ryabchikova. – For example, he had an interesting approach to the system art education. He believed that academies and schools were not needed, but it was worth creating artists' workshops, to which those who wanted to learn from these masters would come.

Ivan Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter, one of the best of his time. He had many orders. So, Pavel Tretyakov ordered him to create a gallery of images of prominent people, among whom were Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Nekrasov, Alexander Griboedov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin and others. Due to the large number of orders, the artist did not have much time left to write "for the soul." Some of the work he did not have time to finish. Among them is "Portrait of Sofya Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist's wife, and Sofya Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist's daughter." The picture can be viewed in the main exhibition of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy.

Ivan Kramskoy "Portrait of the artist's wife and daughter", 1875

He met his future wife Kramskoy in St. Petersburg, when he was already finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. The girl got into trouble. She had an affair with a married artist who shamefully fled abroad with his lawful wife, leaving Sophia to fend for herself. Of course, she was condemned in society, but Kramskoy was so in love with her that he did not care about the opinions of others. The artist married Sophia in 1862.

The marriage was happy, the wife supported the artist in everything. She gave her husband six children. Unfortunately, two of Kramskoy's sons died in childhood. The painting "Portrait of a wife with a daughter" the artist began to paint after their death in 1875. The painter did not have time to finish this work, only the figures were worked out, and the background remained unfinished.

“He mentions this portrait in letters that he can’t finish it in any way, there’s no time,” says Olga Ryabchikova. - To some extent, a large flow of orders interfered with the artist, although he had to support his family, he made very good money, he was able to buy a summer house.

AT last years Ivan Kramskoy was ill with a heart aneurysm during his life. The artist died on April 5, 1887 while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfuss. Kramskoy's grave is located at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

7 interesting facts about Ivan Kramskoy

1. At the first exhibition of the Association of the Wanderers, Ivan Kramskoy presented the painting "Mermaids" in 1871. It is based on Nikolai Gogol's story "May Night, or the Drowned Woman". To work on the painting, Kramskoy went to the village of Khoten, Kharkov province. "Mermaids" was bought by Pavel Tretyakov.

Ivan Kramskoy "Mermaids", 1871

2. Leo Tolstoy gave Ivan Kramskoy the prototype of the artist Mikhailov, to whom Vronsky commissioned a portrait of Anna in the fifth part of the novel Anna Karenina. The writer met the painter when Kramskoy arrived in the village of Kozlovka-Zaseka not far from Yasnaya Polyana to work on a portrait of Tolstoy. During the sessions, they had conversations about art and life. The writer attracted the artist with his energy, intelligence and simplicity of appearance. “He looks like a genius,” Kramskoy said about him. The personality of the artist also impressed Lev Nikolaevich.

Ivan Kramsko "Portrait of Leo Tolstoy", 1873

3. In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the dome is decorated with the painting "Patronymic" by Ivan Kramskoy. The chief architect of the temple, Konstantin Ton, entrusted the painting to Professor Alexei Markov from the Academy of Arts. He was to receive 75,000 rubles for painting the dome. Markov took his student Evgraf Sorokin as an assistant. True, his version of the painting horrified Markov, then he offered to continue the work of another of his students, Ivan Kramskoy, paying him only ten thousand rubles. The amount of work was huge, so Kramskoy invited two fellow artists to help him. The painting turned out great. Unfortunately, on December 5, 1931, the Bolsheviks blew up the temple in order to build the Palace of Soviets in its place. Kramskoy's original painting was destroyed. When the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior began in 1988, the "Fatherland" was restored according to the sketches of the artist.

Painting "Fatherland"

4. About Kramskoy's 1872 painting "Christ in the Desert" Leo Tolstoy wrote: "This is the best Christ I know." The artist worked on this work for more than five years. Kramskoy said: “This is my first thing, on which I worked seriously, wrote with tears and blood ... it is deeply suffered by me ... it is the result of many years of searching ... ". On the canvas, Christ is depicted during the 40-day fasting in the desert after his baptism. Kramskoy wanted to capture the moral choice that is inevitable in the life of every person. In a lonely figure sitting among the cold gray stones, one feels not only thoughtfulness and fatigue, but also a readiness to take the first step towards Golgotha. Such a human image of Christ at that time could be perceived as blasphemy. "Christ in the Desert" Pavel Tretyakov at that time bought for fabulous money - six thousand rubles.

Ivan Kramskoy "Christ in the desert", 1872

5. Perhaps one of the most famous paintings Kramskoy - a portrait of "Unknown". The work was written in 1883. The painting depicts a young woman riding in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt. Who is this person depicted in the portrait, the artist left a mystery. Even in his letters and diaries there is no mention. The beauty, looking down on the audience, is dressed in the latest fashion: a Francis hat with a feather, a coat trimmed with sable fur, a gold bracelet ... All these things were not cheap. By the way, in the secular society of that time it was considered indecent to wear such fashionable outfits, and even flaunt them, so appearance women hinted at her "light" social position. Perhaps for this reason, Pavel Tretyakov, who was brought up in a family with strict views, did not buy the painting. The painter sold the painting to a small collector. "Unknown" wandered from one owner to another for a long time. And only in 1925 she ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Ivan Kramskoy "Stranger", 1883

6. For the painting "Christ in the Desert", the Council of the Academy of Arts decided to award Kramskoy the title of professor. But the artist refused, wanting to remain independent of the Academy.

7. The daughter of the artist Sophia Kramskaya also became a painter. She worked in many genres, was a graphic artist, miniaturist, watercolorist. Kramskoy, having seen the talent in his daughter, did a lot of work with her himself. Sophia married a lawyer of Finnish origin Georgy Junker. She continued to paint, participated in exhibitions. The artist became so famous that in 1890-1900 she was invited to paint portraits royal family. For many years, Sophia, along with her brothers, took care of Ostrogozhskaya art gallery, donated many of her works (however, during a fire in 1942, most of the collection died). In 1930, Sophia was arrested under an article for counter-revolutionary propaganda. She was sent into exile in Krasnoyarsk. In 1932, she was released for health reasons, she returned home. She died a year later at the age of 66.

Sophia painted this portrait of her father shortly before his death.

BY THE WAY
The house where the artist lived has been preserved in Ostrogozhsk

In Ostrogozhsk, a house has been preserved (Marshak St., 14), where Ivan Kramskoy spent his childhood. With whitewashed walls under a reed roof, it immediately stands out from the rest of the buildings. It preserves the layout of the rooms and restores the details of everyday life. The museum presents materials on the Ostrogozhsk period of the artist's life. He spent 16 years in his hometown. Ostrogozhsk Historical and Art Museum. I. N. Kramskoy (Kramskoy Boulevard, 4) you can see an exposition about the St. Petersburg period of the artist. The exposition contains graphic, mostly student works by Kramskoy, his students and friends.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837-1887) - artist.

Becoming in 1863 the leader of the students-competitors for the gold medal, who refused to paint a picture according to a given biblical story and left the Academy in protest, Ivan Kramskoy first headed the Artel of Artists, and then the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

The first exhibition of the Association was opened in St. Petersburg in 1871 by I.N. Kramskoy participated in it with the painting "Mermaids" based on the plot of the story by N.V. Gogol "May night".

“I became a portrait painter out of necessity,” wrote Kramskoy about himself. In the 1870s he made portraits of writers and artists, most of which were commissioned by Pavel Tretyakov. Dozens more orders followed.

It seemed that it was possible to live comfortably. But I wanted to have a family home. During construction, Kramskoy learned that he was seriously ill. I had to get into debts, which he managed to pay off three months before his death.

I.N. Kramskoy was the first teacher of I.E. Repin. First - at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, and then - at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.

Biography of Kramskoy

Ivan Kramskoy. Self-portrait 1867

Ivan Kramskoy. Self-portrait 1874

Kramskoy, painting portrait daughter of Sophia. Self-portrait 1884

• 1837. May 27 (June 8) - in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province, son Ivan was born in the family of the clerk Nikolai Kramskoy.
• 1849. Ivan Kramskoy graduated from the Ostrogozhsk district school with a certificate of merit. Father's death. Kramskoy was accepted as a clerk in City Council where his father worked. Later, until the age of 16, Kramskoy served as an intermediary for amicable land surveying.
• 1852. At the age of fifteen, Kramskoy became an apprentice to the Ostrogozhsk icon painter and spent about a year in his studio.
• 1853. Ivan Kramskoy took up photo retouching. M.B. Tulinov, a fellow countryman of Kramskoy, taught him to "finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching." Acquaintance with the Kharkov photographer Yakov Petrovich Danilevsky, who arrived in the town to shoot military exercises. With him, Kramskoy toured half of Russia as a retoucher and watercolorist.
• 1856. Arrival in St. Petersburg. Work as a retoucher in Aleksandrovsky's photo studio.
• 1857. Kramskoy successfully passed the exams at the Academy of Arts and became a student of Professor A.T. Markov. He moonlights as a retoucher at the "Daguerreotype institution of the artist Denier".
• 1860. Kramskoy received a small silver medal for the painting "The Dying Lensky".
• 1861. Large silver medal for a sketch from nature.
• 1863. The Academy of Arts awarded Kramskoy a small gold medal for the painting "Moses exudes water from a rock" and offered the students a theme from the Scandinavian sagas "A Feast in Valhalla" for the competition. The alumni have petitioned to be allowed to choose topics of their choice. Professor Ton remarked: "If this happened before, then all of you would be soldiers!" November 9 - Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, "not daring to think about changing academic decisions, humbly ask the council to release them from participating in the competition." The artists formed the "Petersburg Artel of Artists". Marriage of Kramskoy to Sofya Nikolaevna Prokhorova. Birth of son Nicholas. Beginning of teaching at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts.
• 1865. Markov invited Kramskoy to help paint the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Due to Markov's illness, the main painting of the dome was made by Kramskoy with the artists Venig and Koshelev.
• 1867. August 21 - the birth of his beloved daughter Sophia, who became an artist.
• 1868. Kramskoy's departure from the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts.
• 1869. First order from P.M. Tretyakov for the creation of "Portrait of the writer P.A. Goncharov". Ivan Kramskoy received the title of academician. A trip to Europe to get acquainted with the painting of the old masters.
• 1870. Kramskoy's departure from the "Artel of Artists": tired of the hopeless struggle for "moral unity". Artel broke up a year later. Formation of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. Kramskoy is one of the main organizers and ideologists.
• 1872. Painting by Kramskoy "Christ in the desert".
• 1873-1880. "Passion" by I.N. Kramskoy portraits.
• 1882. Deterioration of Kramskoy's relations with the majority of the Wanderers.
• 1883. Beginning of Kramskoy's two-year work on the coronation album Alexander III. From a letter to P.M. Tretyakov: "I confess that the circumstances are beyond my character and will. I am broken by life and far from doing what I wanted and what I should have done."
• 1884. Exacerbation of heart disease. Departure for treatment in the south of France, accompanied by her daughter Sophia.
• 1885. Participation of Kramskoy in the development of the project of the monument to Alexander II.
• 1886. Kramskoy's accusations from the Wanderers that his work had become "insincere" and that he "betrayed ideals" by accepting an order for the execution of portraits of members of the royal family. At the end of his life, Kramskoy wrote: "Almost everyone turned away from me ... I feel offended."
• 1887. March 24 (April 5) - Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy died of a heart attack at the easel.

Paintings and portraits of Kramskoy

From the age of sixteen, Ivan Kramskoy was a photo retoucher. At first, he finished "photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching" from fellow countryman M.B. Tulinov, then - in Kharkov with the photographer Ya.P. Danilevsky. Since 1856, he worked in the famous studio of I.F. Alexandrovsky in Petersburg. Kramskoy wrote about that time: "We were more interested in technology and chemistry than the artistic side of photography." But it was school.

Being the ideological leader and leader of the Association of the Wanderers, Kramskoy began to paint only in adulthood. The best paintings Kramskoy were written after 1870. The first of them was "Mermaids".

Painting " Moonlight night" written by I.N. Kramskoy in 1880 Summer night. Silence. Silver moonlight. Nothing breaks the silence. To a woman sitting on a bench and immersed in her thoughts, the author gave a resemblance to the second wife of Sergei Tretyakov, Elena Andreevna (nee Matveeva). CM. Tretyakov bought the painting immediately after it was painted. Contemporaries argued that both in the composition of the painting "Moonlight Night" and in the color rendition, the influence of his friends, A.I. Kuindzhi and F.A. Vasiliev. In 1892, after the death of his brother, Pavel Tretyakov donated the painting to the city as part of his collection.

Painting "Mermaids" ("May night") , written on the plot of the story of the same name by Gogol, was the first of the proposed series to illustrate "Evenings on a Farm". The artist worked on "Mermaids" in Little Russia in the summer of 1871. On the bank overgrown with reeds and on the trunk of a huge poplar in the moonlight, two dozen drowned women. Their postures are dull, their faces are pale and full of hopeless longing. Presented at the exhibition of the Wanderers in the year of writing, the picture attracted Special attention visitors. Kramskoy wrote about "Mermaids": "I am glad that with such a plot I did not finally break my neck ... something fantastic came out."

Plot paintings "Inconsolable grief" was close to the author short term he lost two sons. The artist wrote about the painting: "If it is not sold, I turn it in the calmest way to the wall and forget about it, I have done my job." Ilya Repin's review is preserved in his "Memoirs": "Not a picture, but a living reality."

In the 1870-1880s. P.M. Tretyakov collected portraits of figures of Russian art for his gallery. He gave twelve orders to Kramskoy. Members of the imperial family appeared among the customers. As a result, the portrait painter became popular and in demand. Rumyantsev Museum ordered him several dozen portraits.

M.P. Mussorgsky wrote criticism of V.V. Stasov about the impression of one of the portraits of Kramskoy: "Going up to the portrait of Litovchenko, I jumped back ... This is not a canvas - this is life, power, sought in creativity!"

Quote from Bulgakov_Tatiana

RUSSIAN PAINTING

Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting, art critic - Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich (1837-1887)

Unknown. 1883

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy. Self-portrait. 1867

Portrait of Leo Tolstoy. 1873

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Portrait of Alexander III. 1886

Female portrait. 1881

Portrait of the artist and photographer Mikhail Borisovich Tulinov. 1868

For reading. Portrait of Sophia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist's wife. 1863

Portrait of the artist Shishkin. 1873

Portrait of Vera Nikolaevna Tretyakova. Fragment. 1876

Portrait of the artist I.I. Shishkin. 1880

Portrait of Sophia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist's daughter. 1882

Portrait of the artist F.A.Vasiliev. 1871

Moonlight night. 1880

Portrait of the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. 1885

Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy. Fragment. 1879

Portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko. 1871

Russian girl in a blue scarf. 1882

Portrait of Yu.F. Samarin. 1878

Portrait of the writer Saltykov-Shchedrin

Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich (1837-1887)

Studied at the Academy of Arts. He was at the head of a group of 14 graduates who refused to write graduation papers on the topics set by the Academy, thereby speaking out against the traditions of academism, for which he was expelled from the Academy. He organized the Artel of Free Artists, whose goal was to fight for realistic principles in art. Subsequently - Chairman of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.

Biography and creative activity

Russian artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy was born in 1837 in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province. The artist's father was a clerk. Artistic ability the boy was opened by one of the residents of the city, the retoucher Tulinov, friendship with whom brightened up his nondescript childhood in a provincial town. When Ivan was fifteen years old, his mother apprenticed him to a local icon painter, and a year later the young man got a job as a retoucher for a Kharkov photographer, with whom he traveled a lot around Russia. In 1856, Kramskoy moved to St. Petersburg, where he worked for the best metropolitan photographers.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. From the first year of study, Ivan Nikolaevich rejects the conservative foundations and canons adopted at that time in the Academy. Kramskoy developed views on art close to the realistic views of Belinsky, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov. In 1861, while working on a sketch of the program for the Second Gold Medal "Oleg's Campaign to Tsar-Grad", the artist studies this historical era trying to develop your creative imagination. This method of work, based on the disclosure of the expressiveness of the life situation, Kramskoy contrasts the previously established academic method - the search for beautiful, but conditional forms. The painter receives the second silver medal for the painting “The Mortally Wounded Lensky”.

In the year of graduating from the Academy, in 1863, a group of graduates, only fourteen people, led by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, refused to paint a picture on a given topic - "Feast in Valhalla", taken from Scandinavian mythology. This event showed the birth of a new direction in art, a new force capable of resisting the inert academic art, cut off from life. This scandal received wide publicity. Kramskoy was placed under police supervision. "Fourteen rebels" were expelled from the Academy. being in a hopeless situation. However, in this situation, Kramskoy's remarkable organizational talent manifested itself. The artists expelled from the Academy formed an independent Artel, headed by Kramskoy. "Rebels" settled in one apartment; each member of the Artel was engaged in independent work. In the evening, the artists got together and spent time reading, drawing, exchanging creative plans and ideas. The artel of artists was independent of official circles, its goal was to fight for realistic methods in art.

During the same period, Ivan Nikolayevich taught at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. Here among his students was Repin. Kramskoy enjoyed unquestioned authority among young people. He was well informed on many issues, objective in his assessments, and possessed an excellent gift for storytelling.

At the beginning of independent creative activity Kramskoy mostly painted portraits commissioned by private individuals and public figures. The artist also painted images for churches, painted temples. In the 1860s, Ivan Nikolaevich developed a new technique for performing portraits - wet sauce with the addition of white. During this period, Kramskoy painted portraits of Koshelev, Myasoedov, Shishkin, many other comrades in the Artel, his wife, S.N. Kramskoy, self-portrait.

At first, the business of the artel was excellent. However, over time, some artists-members of the artel begin to show personal ambitions, a desire to establish a connection with the Academy of Arts. Kramskoy could not accept this, although he understood that the independent existence of such an organization in those days was utopian. Soon Kramskoy leaves the artel.

The exit of the artist from the Artel coincided with the birth of another organization - the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. main goal The partnership was to bring art closer to the people through the movement of exhibitions around the cities of Russia. Kramskoy became interested in this idea and became the chairman and ideological leader of this organization, participated in exhibitions of the Partnership from 1871 to 1887.

In 1872, Kramskoy created a large canvas "Christ in the Desert", the first sketches of which were made back in 1867. The painting was exhibited at the second exhibition of the Association of the Wanderers.

Recognition for Kramskoy as a portrait painter came in the 1870s and 80s. During this period, P.M. Tretyakov decided to collect portraits of prominent representatives of Russian art for his gallery. The famous philanthropist gave most of the orders to Kramskoy. Among them were portraits of Griboyedov, Shevchenko, Koltsov, JI. Tolstoy, Shishkin, Repin, Nekrasov, Saltykov-Shchedrin.

In 1883, Ivan Nikolaevich painted the painting "Unknown". "Unknown" is one of the most striking portraits in Russian painting. female image in this picture gives the impression of extraordinary grace and nobility. Thick eyelashes, velvety skin, overflowing satin ribbons, silky fur - all the details harmoniously complement each other.

In the 1870-80s, in addition to a large number of portraits, Kramskoy painted a number of paintings of other genres. Among them, one can note the painting "Mermaids" (1871), created on the plot of Gogol's "May Night"; genre painting"Village Forge" (1873); landscapes "Zhukovka. Lake "(1879)," Siverskaya. The Oredezh River" (1883).

Last thing great work Kramskoy - "Inconsolable grief", written in 1884. This picture is dedicated to the tragedy human life, embodied in the image of an inconsolable woman who lost her children.

In the last years of his life, Kramskoy's health was getting worse, oppressed by a heavy feeling from life. In 1883, the artist wrote to Tretyakov: “After 20 years of stress, I confess that the circumstances are beyond my character and will. I am broken by life and far from doing what I wanted and what I had to ... "

Russian artist Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy died on March 25, 1887.

Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich (1837-1887)

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837 - 1887), Russian artist, critic and art theorist. Born in Ostrogozhsk (Voronezh province) May 27, 1837 in a poor bourgeois family.

From childhood he was fond of art and literature. He was self-taught in drawing since childhood, then, on the advice of a drawing lover, he began to work in watercolor. At the end county school(1850) served as a scribe, then as a retoucher for a photographer, with whom he wandered around Russia.

In 1857 he ended up in St. Petersburg, worked in the photo studio of A. I. Denier. In the autumn of the same year he entered the Academy of Arts, was a student of A. T. Markov. For the painting “Moses exudes water from a rock” (1863) he received a Small Gold Medal.

During the years of teaching, he rallied around himself the advanced academic youth. He led the protest of the graduates of the Academy (“rebellion of fourteen”), who refused to paint pictures (“programs”) based on the mythological plot set by the Council. The young artists petitioned the council of the academy to be allowed to choose a theme for each painting for a large gold medal. The Academy reacted unfavorably to the proposed innovation. One of the professors of the academy, the architect Ton, even described the attempt of young artists in this way: “in the past, you would have been given to the soldiers for this,” as a result of which 14 young artists, headed by Kramskoy, refused to write in 1863 on the topic set by the academy - “ Feast in Valhalla” and left the academy.

The artists who left the Academy united in the St. Petersburg artel. The atmosphere of mutual assistance, cooperation and deep spiritual interests that reigned here is largely due to Kramskoy. In his articles and extensive correspondence (with I. E. Repin, V. V. Stasov, A. S. Suvorin and others) he defended the idea of ​​“tendentious” art, not only reflecting, but also morally transforming the inert, false world.

At this time, the vocation of Kramskoy as a portrait painter was also completely determined. Then he most often resorted to his beloved graphic technique using white, Italian pencil, he also worked using the so-called “wet sauce” method, which made it possible to imitate a photograph. Kramskoy had a painting technique - a subtle finish, which some sometimes considered superfluous or excessive. Nevertheless, Kramskoy wrote quickly and confidently: in a few hours the portrait acquired a similarity: in this respect, the portrait of Dr. Rauchfus, the last dying work of Kramskoy, is remarkable. This portrait was painted in one morning, but remained unfinished, since Kramskoy died while working on this picture.

"Portrait of Princess Ekaterina Alekseevna Vasilchikova"

The portraits created at this time were mostly commissioned, made for the sake of earning money. The portraits of artists A. I. Morozov (1868), I. I. Shishkin (1869), G. G. Myasoedov (1861), P. P. Chistyakov (1861), N. A. Koshelev (1866) are well known. The nature of Kramskoy's pictorial portrait is meticulous in drawing and light and shade modeling, but restrained in color. The artistic language corresponded to the image of a raznochint-democrat, who was a frequent hero of the master's portraits. These are the "Self-portrait" of the artist (1867) and "Portrait of the agronomist Vyunnikov" (1868). In 1863-1868 Kramskoy taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists.

"Portrait of an old peasant"

However, over time, Artel began to gradually deviate in its activities from the high moral principles declared at its inception, and Kramskoy left it, carried away by a new idea - the creation of a partnership of traveling art exhibitions. He took part in the development of the charter of the "Partnership" and immediately became not only one of the most active and authoritative members of the board, but also the ideologist of the Partnership, defending and substantiating the main positions. From other leaders of the Association, he was favorably distinguished by his independence of outlook, a rare breadth of views, sensitivity to everything new in the artistic process and intolerance to any dogmatism.

"Portrait of Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy"

At the first exhibition of the Association, “Portrait of F. A. Vasiliev” and “Portrait of M. M. Antokolsky” were exhibited. A year later, the picture “Christ in the Desert” was shown, the idea of ​​which was nurtured for several years. According to Kramskoy, “for the former artists, too, the Bible, the Gospel and mythology served only as a pretext for expressing completely contemporary passions and thoughts.” He himself, like Ge and Polenov, in the image of Christ expressed the ideal of a man full of high spiritual thoughts, preparing himself for self-sacrifice. The artist managed to speak convincingly here about a problem that is very important for the Russian intelligentsia. moral choice, which confronts everyone who understands their responsibility for the fate of the world, and this rather modest painting went down in the history of Russian art.

"Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna"

The artist repeatedly returned to the theme of Christ. The work on the originally conceived large painting “Laughter (“Hail, King of the Jews”)” (1877 - 1882), depicting the mockery of the crowd over Jesus Christ, ended in defeat. The artist selflessly worked on it for ten or twelve hours a day, but never finished, he soberly assessed his impotence. Collecting material for her, Kramskoy visited Italy (1876). He traveled to Europe in subsequent years.

"Bouquet of flowers. Phloxes»

"Portrait of Sonya Kramskoy, the artist's daughter"

"Forest path"

Poet Apollon Nikolaevich Maikov. 1883.

"Portrait of the singer Elizaveta Andreevna Lavrovskaya, on the stage in the Nobility Assembly"

"Portrait of the artist N.A. Koshelev"

"Portrait of the artist Fyodor Alexandrovich Vasiliev"

"Artist's Family"

"Russian monk in contemplation"

"Laughter. "Hail, King of the Jews"

"Contemplator"

Christ in the wilderness.1872

"Sleepwalker"

Mermaids. (May night) 1871

“For reading. Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy»

"Peasant with a bridle. Mina Moiseev"

"Empress Maria Feodorovna, wife of Emperor Alexander III"

"Miller"

"Moonlight night"

"Girl with a loose braid"

"Female portrait"

"Female portrait"

"Female portrait"

"Female portrait"

"Girl in a deep shawl"

"Prayer of Moses after the crossing of the Israelites through the Black Sea"

"Portrait of Nikolai Kramskoy, the artist's son"

"Portrait of Alexander III"

Portrait of Sergei Kramskoy, the artist's son. 1883

Portrait of Olga Afanasyevna Raftopulo. 1884

Inconsolable grief. 1884

offended jewish boy. 1874

Unknown. 1883

Portrait of Varvara Kirillovna Lemokh as a child. 1882

"Portrait of the artist Ilya Efimovich Repin"

"Portrait of the Ukrainian writer and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko"

"Portrait of the actor Vasily Vasilyevich Samoilov"

"Portrait of P.A. Valuev"

"Female portrait"

"Self-portrait"

"Portrait of the artist Shishkin"

"Portrait of a lady"

"Portrait of the astronomer O.V. Struve, director of the Pulkovo Observatory"

"Portrait of P.I. Melnikov"

"Beekeeper"

“N.A. Koshelev. Music lesson"

Kramskoy, painting a portrait of his daughter, Sophia Ivanovna Kramskoy, married Juncker. 1884

Female portrait. 1884

Actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky as Petruchio in Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew. 1883

Original entry and comments on

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, an artist of the second half of the 19th century, entered the history of Russian painting as the founder of the realistic trend in art. He actively developed the principle critical realism in his work, as well as in articles on the theory of art. Many of his paintings are recognized as classics. 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 into a bourgeois family. He graduated from the Ostrogorzhsk real school, but due to the poverty of his family, he could not continue his education at the gymnasium. While working in the local Duma, he became interested in photo retouching. 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 St. Petersburg, where his fruitful career began. creative career, which lasted until his sudden death in 1887.

Studying at the academy

In 1857, he became a student of Academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During the years of study, he received several medals both for his own paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters on religious themes. The future famous painter received his small gold medal for a painting dedicated to a biblical story.

To receive the title of an artist with the right to receive a state pension, one had to submit to the competition a work dedicated to a scene from the Scandinavian sagas. However, Kramskoy, an artist who aspired to realistic image events and freedom of creativity, together with other thirteen students, appealed to the administration of the academy with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire by the fact that they want to write on topics that they themselves prefer. After that, the young painters founded their own artistic artel, which, however, did not last long, since its members very soon decided to switch to state support.

Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions

which is already in early period his work became a landmark event in cultural life empire, became one of the organizers and ideological inspirers of this organization. Its members defended the principles of realism in art, the active social and civil position of artists. In his work, the author defended the principles of realism. He believed that the pictures should not only be believable, but also carry a moral and educational semantic load. Therefore, his works are imbued with a special 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 is distinguished by a high degree of realism, like the rest of his works of this period.

Portrait of N. Nekrasov

Such is, for example, notable work artist "Nekrasov during the "Last Songs"" 1877-1878. In this picture, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in last period his life. In general, the theme of a person’s emotional experiences, his struggle with death or some kind of shock played a big role in the artist’s work. In the works of the master, this theme did not have a social connotation, as in the works of other painters. He always showed the struggle of the spirit with the disease and was most able to convey this idea in this picture.

Women's portraits

Perhaps the most famous work of the master is the painting "The Stranger". The artist Kramskoy focused on the beauty of his model. He emphasized that she was an urban fashionista, and therefore prescribed her appearance with great care: a rich fur coat, 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 concentrates all his attention on an elegant young woman. The artist Ivan Kramskoy was especially fond of painting portraits. The paintings of the author differ in different moods.

If the woman in the above picture is depicted in a proud, confident pose, then the model on the canvas “Girl with a Loose Braid”, on the contrary, is shown in a difficult, even painful moment, when she seemed to have renounced everything around her and was completely immersed in herself. Therefore, her face, in contrast to the appearance of a stranger, expresses deep concentrated thoughtfulness, sadness and light sadness.

"Inconsolable grief"

This painting was painted in 1884 under the impression of 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 by the hopelessness with which it is imbued. In the center of the canvas is a middle-aged woman in a black dress. She stands next to the box full of flowers. Her grief is expressed not in a pose, which is quite natural and even free, but in her eyes and the movement of her hand, with which she presses a handkerchief to her mouth. This canvas is perhaps one of the most powerful in the work of the artist and Russian painting in general.