Introduction to Western Art - Kustodiev of Russian Post-Impressionism

At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev Kostolev 1878-1927 occupied an important place in the history of art, thanks to his skillful painting and distinctive painting style. His works are rich and passionate in color, his compositions are bold and varied in proportion, and his subjects are full of storytelling and a sense of life, which Kustodiev was indeed a man who embraced with enthusiasm. He took part in the activities of the reconstructed "Art World" in 1910, but in his creations he no longer had the "westernized" tendency of the older generation. His oil paintings are characterized by the folklore of New Year's Paintings, and show his familiarity with and understanding of small town and rural life.

Boris Kustodiev was born on February 23, 1878 in Astrakhan, in the Empire. His father was a professor of philosophy, history of literature and logic at the local seminary. Only his father died at an early age, and all financial and material burdens fell on the shoulders of. Kustodiev rented a cottage in the house of a rich merchant. It was there that the first impressions as a boy consisted of the lifestyle of the high merchant class. He writes: "The whole era of the rich and colorful merchant lifestyle was right under my nose ...... It was like something out of an Ostrovsky play" The artist kept these childhood observations for many years, later reworking them in oils and watercolors.

Between 1893 and 1896, he studied at a parochial school and took lessons from Vasily Perov's student Pavel Pavlov. Perov's student Pavel? Vlasov for a private art course in Astrakhan. Then, in 1896, Kustodiev enrolled in the Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts and began his formal studies in painting, first in the studio of Savinsky, and then he attended the studio of Ilya K. Leben at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where he studied under the painter Ilya K. Leben. Levin's studio, where he studied painting under the painter Levin.

Kustodiev had an extraordinary talent for portraiture, which was fortunately discovered and appreciated by Levin. While still at school, Kustodiev was invited by his mentor, Levin, to work on a painting of the Council of State, and he went on to produce a series of portraits of the highest quality. However, the young Kustodiev did not want to be satisfied with this, his real interest was in the countryside. Kustodiev's graduation work was not a portrait, but "The Village Bazaar". Perhaps folklore was not his best field, but it was his greatest passion. With this deep-seated yearning, Kustodiev once again came out on top, winning the Gold Medal for his graduation work, and was sponsored to study in Paris.

In Paris, Kustodiev was able to observe the work of the painters. Impressionist style of painting influenced the painter, which is reflected in the work "Morning", which he returned from his studies. It is conceivable that Kustodiev would have been a good painter if he had gone in the direction of the Impressionists. But he knew what he wanted. After returning to China, he began to devote himself to painting traditional folklore subjects. Childhood memories, field trips, and even literary works became Kustodiev's source of ideas.

In 1900, Kustodiev traveled to the province of Muskovy to sketch and met his future wife, and in 1903 the artist completed his studies, and even before graduation Kustodiev participated in international exhibitions in Petersburg and Munich, where he was awarded the Grand Gold Medal, which he won for excellence, as well as the opportunity to travel abroad to study.

In the fall of 1903, the painter went to Paris with his family to study, during which he traveled through Germany, Italy, Spain and other ancient art countries, studied and copied many famous paintings, and joined the studio of the painter Monet for a period of time. Upon his return Kustodiev once again traveled to the province of M. He became interested in the lifestyle of small towns in the Russian provinces and represented the customs of merchants and small townspeople with humor and slight irony. Here he created a series of paintings, "Bazaar" 1906) "Tea Party" 1913) "Beautiful Women" 1915) "Gathering of Moscow Merchants" 1916) are his original works, and his brilliant and decorative interesting colors make the depicted images vivid and interesting.

In 1907 Kustodiev went to Italy, and in 1909 visited Austria and Germany, and again and Italy. After a five-month stay, he returned, and his friend Matt wrote with evident delight that he was once again "back in our happy land" Kustodiev's oil paintings are characterized by the folklore of New Year's Eve paintings, and at the same time, the skillfulness imparted by an academic education. All this is due to the painter's many years of observation of the life in small towns and villages and his daily practice of painting. The wear and tear on the painter's body is irreparable.

In 1909 he was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts. It was also in this year that Kustodiev felt physically ill, he suffered from a serious disease - tuberculosis of the spine. On the advice of his doctor, he went to Switzerland, where he spent a year being treated in a private clinic. He agonized over his distant homeland, the subject matter of which continued to be the basic material for the works he made that year. By 1916, he was dependent on a wheelchair and could sometimes only paint lying down. However, the disease did not stop Kustodiev's creativity in any way, on the contrary, his late works such as "Thanksgiving Day" 1916 "Businesswoman Drinking Tea" 1918 "Portrait of Sharabin" 1921 and so on have to be even more skillful.

The men in Kustodiev's paintings are always robust, and the women are always voluptuous, as if everything is always healthy and happy. Both in painting and in life, Kustodiev lived the gesture "Now my whole is my room," he wrote. Although his paralysis surprised others, he maintained his ability to be happy and lively. His colorful paintings and comedic works do not reveal his physical pain, but rather give the impression of a carefree and happy life.

The First World War breaks out. Kustodiev's paintings of this period were relatively small, and he painted with a brush chained to a chair. For example, "Moscow restaurant" stout, pot-bellied cab driver drinking tea, etc. This is really one of his best works. This is really one of his best works. Kustodiev stopped breathing at his home in Leningrad on May 26, 1927, and finished his short life of 49 years in pain.

This article is related to the conceptual analysis of the word:

Impressionism

Impressionism (English: Impressioni ***), is an art movement and style of painting that began in France in the 1860s. Impressionism was named after Monet's 1874 painting Impression - Sunrise, which was attacked by the Academicians and criticized by Louis Leroy as Impressionist. Impressionist painting is an epoch-making art school in the history of Western painting, which reached its heyday in the 1970s and 1980s, and its influence spread all over Europe and gradually spread to the rest of the world, but it made the most brilliant artistic achievements in France, where a large number of Impressionist masters emerged from the latter half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century and created a large number of classic masterpieces that are still familiar today, such as Manet's "Meadowland" and "Sunrise". For example, Manet's Lunch on the Grass, Monet's Impression - Sunrise, Van Gogh's Sunflowers and so on.