Illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov: biography, creativity, paintings and illustrations. Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov - Soviet artist

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

It is unlikely that anything else can expose the qualities of a real artist as much as work for a children's audience. For such illustrations, all the most real is required - both knowledge of child psychology, and talent, and mental attitude. The work for kids does not tolerate any fakes. And if the drawing is not made with a cold soul and heart, if the illustrator has not turned his vocation into a craft, then such a creation will certainly become an event.

Jury Alekseevich Vasnetsov was just such a master of his craft.

The amazing world of the artist

Books illustrated by Yu. A. Vasnetsov are recognizable at first sight, millions of Soviet children grew up on them. The images in these books are of paramount importance, they inevitably attract the attention of the little reader.

The inexhaustible fantasy with which Yuri Vasnetsov designed books allows you to plunge headlong into the world of childhood, forget about some worries and disorder of the adult world. The images created by the artist sparkle with optimism and are full of life-affirming power. Animals and birds, the main acting characters of fairy tales, acquireamazing expressiveness, Yuri Vasnetsov gave them a manner of behavior, movements and habits that he subtly noticed in reality.

Why children love Vasnetsov's illustrations

He always found his way to the hearts of his young readers and contemplatives, who had just begun to explore the world through endless sketches, continuous study of nature. Fairy-tale heroes, who gave life to Yuri Vasnetsov (artist), at first glance, fake, popular prints. But he draws exactly as the eyes of a small viewer see them. He does not go into a string of realistic details and details, the main goal of the artist is to make the young reader feel the fabulous nature of the characters.

Vasnetsov never de alt with issues of developmental psychology, he was not a teacher either, but he managed to accurately feel his smallest reader and admirer - the one who still can’t read.

Vasnetsov Yury Alekseevich. Biography

The future artist was born on 1900-22-03 in the northern city of Vyatka. Vasnetsov's father, grandfather and uncle were clergymen. Yuri was brought up in severity. The we alth in the family was modest, but they did not live in poverty. In 1917, after the revolution, the Vasnetsov family was evicted from the cathedral house and experienced considerable need. Yuri's father did not want to lay down his dignity, continuing to walk in a cassock.

As a child, Yuri himself painted the walls of rooms, stoves and shutters in neighboring houses with bright colorsdrawings, where Russian ornaments, horses, fantastic animals, unknown birds and magical flowers have found their place. Art, which is so rich in his people, he already appreciated and loved.

In 1919 Vasnetsov Yury Alekseevich graduated from the Unified Secondary School, and in 1921 he left his home in Vyatka and moved to Petrograd. In the same year he became a student of the painting faculty of the Higher Artistic Technical Institute. It was here that he got acquainted with the "organic" trend in painting, which later became the closest to his work.

After graduating from the institute, Yury Alekseevich Vasnetsov works as a teacher at an art school in Leningrad. In 1926, the artist again goes to study. This time to the State Institute of Artistic Culture. The creative director of the artist was Kazimir Malevich. The paintings of Yuri Vasnetsov, which received life during this period, are “Cubist Composition”, “Still Life. In the workshop of Malevich", "Still life with a chessboard" - they carry an excellent knowledge of the form and role of contrast.

Road to children's book

Vasnetsov Yuri (illustrator) began his activity, thanks to which he gained millions of admirers of his talent in 1928. It was then that Lebedev V. V., who at that time worked as the art editor of the Detgiz publishing house, attracted a young illustrator to cooperate. The first books were "Swamp" and "Karabash" by V. V. Bianki. It was in these illustrations that humor, grotesque and kind irony were realized. Vasnetsov, which will be characteristic of all his subsequent work.

Forever included in the classics of children's art and later illustrations by Vasnetsov. In 1934 "Confusion" by K. Chukovsky was released, in 1935 - "Three Bears" by L. Tolstoy, in 1941 - "Teremok" by S. Marshak. Even later there will be "The Stolen Sun", "Cat's House", "Fifty Pigs", "Humpbacked Horse". Books were published in millions of copies and did not linger on store shelves thanks to the writing skills of their authors and the inexhaustible imagination of the illustrator. The artist created his own unique and unique artistic style, which we recognize even today, even briefly glancing at the illustration.

In the mid-thirties, Vasnetsov creates several paintings ("Still Life with a Hat and a Bottle", "Lady with a Mouse"), in which he finally manifests himself as a large-scale artist, brilliantly combining the sophisticated artistic culture of his time with the traditions of Russian folk art they love so much. But the birth of these paintings coincided with the beginning of the struggle against formalism, in which the artist was accused.

War and post-war years

Before the war, Vasnetsov worked for the Bolshoi Drama Theatre, designing costumes and scenery. During the war years, Yuri Vasnetsov issued a series of greeting cards. His work during this period is greatly influenced by the ideology of those times. At the very beginning of the war, the artist becomes a member of the "Combat Pencil" - a team of artists and poets who, with theircreativity helped to defeat the enemy. In 1941, the Vasnetsov family was evacuated to the rear in the city of Perm, and in 1943 - to the city of Zagorsk. The Toy Research Institute became his place of work. Yuri Vasnetsov works there as the chief artist. He returned to Leningrad only at the end of 1945.

The artist devotes the post-war years to landscapes. The most widely known are the landscapes of Sosnovo, Estonian and Crimean, sketches of the Mill Creek.

Private life

Illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov did not advertise his personal life, so not much is known about her.

In the artist's life there was only one beloved woman. Yuri Vasnetsov married the artist Pinaeva at the age of thirty-four. In 1934, he brought his wife to his native Vyatka, and Father Vasnetsov married them in the church of John the Baptist. Galina Mikhailovna gave Vasnetsov two beautiful daughters. Elizabeth was born in 1937, and Natalya in 1939. Late children became a real outlet for Yuri Alekseevich. He perceived any separation from them as a tragedy and always hurried back home to be with his girls.

Yuri Alekseevich was fond of breeding pigeons and was an avid fisherman.

The artist's daughters grew up in an atmosphere of love and beauty, Elizabeth often stared at her father's work. Later, she followed in his footsteps and also found herself in the visual arts. Since 1973 she has been a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR.

Famous kinship

Vasnetsov's surname is well known to any inhabitant of the country thanks not only to Yuri. His distant relatives were the famous Russian artists brothers Victor and Apollinary Vasnetsov, as well as the Russian folklorist Alexander Vasnetsov. However, Yuri Alekseevich never boasted of famous relatives.

Awards and prizes

After the war, the artist received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. In 1966 Yuri Vasnetsov received the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.

In the early seventies, the artist illustrated two collections of Russian folk tales. They are called "Rainbow-arc" and "Ladushki". In the same year, according to his illustrations, the animated film "Terem-Teremok" was shot, which can be safely attributed to the masterpieces of Soviet animation. For these works the artist was awarded the State Prize of the Soviet Union.

Little-known Vasnetsov

The artist devoted his entire life to painting. However, his paintings of the sixties and seventies did not bring him popularity during his lifetime. The most famous works of that period - "Blossoming Meadow", "Still Life with Willow" - saw the light only after the death of the artist. The fact is that because of the accusations of formalism, Yuri Vasnetsov preferred not to exhibit these works of his anywhere. He actually made art his secret passion, and could show these creations to the most trusted and dear people. After his paintings were presented to a wide audience at an exhibition in 1979, it became clear that the artist goes far beyond the book illustrator. He is an outstanding Russian painter of the 20th century.

The artist died on 1973-03-05 in Leningrad. Yuri Vasnetsov was buried at the Theological Cemetery in St. Petersburg, which, over the long years of his life, became the artist's hometown.