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Son
of a village clergyman, Victor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov prepared himself
for the same career, but the passionate love for art brought the 19-year-old
student of ecclesiastical seminary to St. Petersburg's Academy of Arts.
During his years (1868-75) in the Academy Vasnetsov got a thorough
professional training; an especially big role in his education was played
by professorPavel Tchistyakov.
Victor Vasnetsov started as a scene painter; the influence of Fedotov
and Perov in his early works is
evident Moving House (1876),
At
a Bookseller's (1876),
News
from the Front (1878),
A Game
of Preference (1879). In the late 1870s early 1880s, Vasnetsov
tried himself in historical genre
Battle
of Slavs and Scythians (1881), After
Prince Igor's Battle with the Polovtsy (1880). He borrowed
the subjects from ancient history. He found another source of subjects
in Russian mythology – legends, ballads, fairy-tales. Vasnetsov was born
and grew up in a northern Russian village and almost to the age of 20 lived
in an environment where the ‘folklore outlook’ was still alive; his very
soul was steeped in the poetry of Russian epic literature. He wasn't only
the first artist to use subjects from folklore, but also the first to borrow
methods and techniques from national folk art. Thus he became the
founder of new style in Russian painting.
Vasnetsov was an active member of the Abramtsevo circle (Abramtsevo is
the estate of the well-known patron of arts Savva Mamontov), which sought
to revive national traditions. Many undertakings by the Abramtsevo Colony,
whether the construction of a church at Abramtsevo, where Vasnetsov, as
the designer, first coped with the problem of creating a whole, integral
ensemble, or the erection of the ‘Witch’s Hut” (also to his design), or
the sets and costumes for the production of Alexander Ostrovsky’s lyrical
fairy-tale The Snow Maiden and for Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s opera
of the same name, staged at Mamontov’s private Opera in 1885, were to become
milestones not only for Vasnetsov but also for the Russian art in whole.
In 1882, Vasnetsov received a commission to produce a decorative panel
for the rotunda of the Historical Museum in Moscow, which was his first
big monumental project. Yet the most significant and time-consuming work
of this type was the decoration of the Cathedral of St. Vladimir in Kiev,
which Vasnetsov began in the autumn of 1885 at the invitation of the art
historian Adrian Prakhov, who supervised the construction of the cathedral.
Vasnetsov jumped at this offer as it gave him the opportunity to create
an integral ensemble comparable to those done by ancient fresco-painters.
Work on the decoration of the cathedral took over 10 years, during which
Vasnetsov executed nearly 400 sketches and studies. The murals he painted
with his assistants covered almost two thousand square meters. Fulfilling
this assignment Vasnetsov relied on his favorite range of motifs and characters,
painting the walls with the images of princes Vladimir, Alexander Nevsky,
Andrey Bogoliubsky, Princess Olga, the chronicler Nestor, and other outstanding
figures from Russian history.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Vasnetsov actively worked in
different fields. He produced a number of architectural designs, including
those for his own house in Moscow (1894), for a pavilion at the World Fair
in Paris (1898), and for E. Tsvetkov’s house on the Moskva River (1901-03),
as well as designs for decoration of the Great Kremlin Palace (1898), the
Faceted Chamber (1901-03), and other buildings in the Kremlin. In 1904,
he designed the façade of the Tretyakov Gallery.
During the last 20 years of his life Vasnetsov turned to his favorite lyrical
subjects inspired by Russian fairy-tales. These include Three
Bogatyrs (1898), The
Frog Tsarevna (1918), The Tale of the Sleeping Beauty
(1900-26), and the Unsmiling Tsarevna
(1916-26). Thanks to his enchantment with Russian epos and history, thanks
to his search for a genuinely Russian pictorial idiom, Vasnetsov was able,
of the eve of the 20th century, to inspire many artists to reaffirm the
moral and aesthetic ideals of the people, to revive Russian’s spiritual
legacy.
His painting influenced greatly the development of modernism and symbolism
in Russian painting and poetry.
Notes
A Knight at Crossroads. In many Russian
folk-tales there is such an episode when a traveling vityaz (knight) at
the crossroads meets a rock with a not-very-much-inspiring choice:
If you go to the right – you'll loose your horse;
If you go to the left – you'll loose your life;
If you go forwards – you'll loose both…
Or a variation of these three.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. A Knight at
the Crossroads. A Knight at the Crossroads.
After Prince Igor’s
Battle with the Polovtsy. The subject is from Russian history, a military
campaign of Prince Igor Svyatoslavovich, Prince of Seversk, against the
Russia's southern neighbors, the Polovtsy. The small military campaign,
there were many of such between Russia and its south neighbors, remained
immortalized thanks to the poem by an unknown bayan (poet). The poem, which
survived till our days and is considered to be the oldest literary work
in Russian, criticized the quarrels among the Russian princes and their
military adventures, which brought only grief to the Russian people.
The theme was the subject of the opera by Alexander Borodin Prince
Igor.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. After Prince
Igor's Battle with the Polovtsy.
St. Vladimir, Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich
(960-1015), the Grand Duke of Kiev (980-1015), the youngest son of Grand
Duke Svyatoslav, the grandson of Grand Duchess Olga. He came to power after
several successful plots against his elder brothers. In 988, he asked for
the hand of the Byzantine Princess Anna. Byzantine rulers, wishing to have
him as an ally, agreed, but their condition was that Vladimir was to accept
Christianity. He was baptized himself and adopted Christianity as the official
religion of Russia.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Baptism of
Prince Vladimir.
Princess Olga ( ?- 969), the Grandt Duchess
of Kiev (945-969), she was the wife of Grand Duke Igor, son of Ruric. Igor
was killed by a group of rebelling subjects, when his son Svyatoslav was
small, and strong-minded Olga began to rule by herself. First she avenged
her husband’s killers: she came to their town with troops but did not attack
the town, just asked the citizens to pay her tribute: a dove and a sparrow
from every house. The happy residents hurried to bring her the demanded
tribute. After that Olga’s soldiers tied hemp to birds’ feet and set it
on fire. The birds returned to their homes in the eaves and set the town
on fire. Olga consolidated the state, subordinated Novgorod. When her son
could rule the state himself she went to Constantinople, where she was
baptized, her godfather was the Byzantine Emperor. Olga tried to persuade
her son Svyatoslav to accept Christianity, but in vain. She succeeded at
last with her grandson Vladimir, who adapted Christianity in 988 A.D.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Princess Olga.
Prince Andrey Bogolyubsky (1111-1174),
Grand Duke of Vladimir (1169-1174), son of Yuri Dolgoruky. When he became
the Grand Duke he transferred the capital of Russia from Kiev to Vladimir.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Prince Andrei
Bogoliubsky.
Tatyana Anatolyevna Mamontova
(1864-1920), daughter of Anatoliy Ivanovich Mamontov, publisher, owner
of the publishing house and a bookstore in Moscow, niece of Savva Ivanovich
Mamontov.
See: Ilya Repin. Portrait
of T. A. Mamontova.
Victor Vasnetsov. Portrait of Tatyana
Mamontova.
The Bard Bayan, a poet in old Russia,
who presented his verses in the form of songs, ballads, accompanying himself
on a dulcimer.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Bard Bayan.
Ivan Tsarevich Riding
the Grey Wolf is a Russian folk-tale about the adventures of the prince
Ivan Tsarevich and his companion the Grey Wolf, a magician. Tsarevich saved
the Wolf’s cubs and the Wolf helped him in several quests: to get golden
apples, to get a horse with a golden mane, and to get a beautiful princess.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Ivan Tsarevich
Riding the Grey Wolf.
The Frog Tsarevna is a Russian folk-tale.
Three sons of the tzar, wishing to find wives shoot arrows in different
directions: the first son’s arrow fell in the yard of a nobleman, he married
the nobleman’s daughter; the second son’s arrow fell on a merchant’s yard,
he married the merchant’s daughter; the third son’s arrow flew away to
the swamps and was picked up by a frog. Of course it was an enchanted princess.
After many dangerous adventures and a series of quests the youngest prince
managed to change her into a girl again.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Frog Tsarevna.
Three Bogatyrs, or three knights,
are the heroes of many legends: Ilya Muromets, Dobrynya Nikitich and Aliosha
Popovich. Each of the character has his own set of legends. Though every
hero had his own adventures, every one defended his land, the poor, and
fought the enemies of Russia; and they were all adored by the people. Here
the painter depicted them all together, guarding the Russian borders.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Three Bogatyrs.
Unsmiling Tsarevna is a Russian folk-tale
about the sad heiress of a tzar, who promised to give the throne to the
person who could make the tsarevna laugh.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Unsmiling
Tsarevna.
Alionushka is a Russian folktale about
a sister and a brother, Alionushka and Ivanushka. Their father remarried
and the stepmother appeared to be a witch, who wanted to get rid of the
children by various means.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. Alionushka.
The Magic Carpet, on which one could
fly, is an element of many Russian folk-tales, probably borrowed from oriental
tales.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Magic Carpet.
Vera Savvishna Mamontova (1875-1907),
daughter of Savva I. Mamontov, later married to Samarin.
See: Valentin Serov. Girl
with Peaches. Portrait of Vera Mamontova.
Victor Vasnetsov. Portrait of Vera
Mamontova.
Mark Antokolsky (1843-1902) is an outstanding
Russian sculptor of Jewish origin, studied in the St. Petersburg Academy
of Arts (1862-68). Because of poor health lived mostly in Italy, visiting
Russia from time to time. Executed commissions for Russian cities, e.g.
Monuments to Peter I in Archangelsk and in Taganrog.
See also Ivan Kramskoy. Portrait
of the Sculptor Mark Antokolsky.
Victor Vasnetsov. Portrait of the
Sculptor Mark Antokolsky.
Chronicler Nestor (the second half of
XI – the first half of the XII centuries) was a monk of the Kiev-Pechersk
Lavra (Abbey), author and chronicler. He described the life and martyrdom
of the first Russian saints Boris and Gleb, and Feodosiy Pechersky. He
is considered to be the author of the first known Russian chronicles.
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Chronicler
Nestor.
Painter Alipiy (? – 1114) executed the
mosaics of the Uspensky Cathedral in Kiev-Pechersk Lavra (Abbey).
See: Victor Vasnetsov. The Painter
Alipiy.
Bibliography:
Victor Vasnetsov by A. Lazuko. Russian Painters. Leningrad.
1990.
The
Art and Architecture of Russia (Pelican History Art) by George
Heard Hamilton. Yale Univ Pr, 1992.
A
Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Artists 1420-1970 by John
Milner. Antique Collectors' Club, 1993.