Yakovlev Vasily: biography of the artist, date of birth and death, paintings, awards and prizes

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

"I learned from the old masters." What does this phrase, once uttered by one of the most famous Soviet artists - Vasily Nikolaevich Yakovlev, mean? In search of an answer to the question posed, it turns out that this artist, unlike many of his comrades, did not find inspiration at all in the paintings of recognized masters - Serov, Vrubel, Levitan and other equally famous personalities. At the heart of his art is something much more personal, intimate. What? Find out in the next article.

Young years of the artist

On January 2, 1893, on one of the outskirts of the city of Moscow, a boy was born in the family of a successful family doctor, who in the future was destined to become a famous artist throughout the Soviet Union, a laureate of two Stalin Prizes. His name is Vasily Nikolayevich Yakovlev.

The family in which I grew upboy, in the pre-revolutionary period, she still retained those unchanged, centuries-old traditions inherent in the old way of life, so characteristically reflected in the plays of A. N. Ostrovsky. Little Vasily was not the only child in the family - the second oldest, he grew up a he althy, strong and full of creative potential boy, serving as a worthy example for two younger brothers.

The beginning of the creative path

Vasily Yakovlev picked up a brush for the first time and began to draw in his school years. His first artistic experiences are associated with enthusiastic impressions from visiting the Tretyakov Gallery. He especially remembered Repin's Cossacks. And this is not surprising. The sensitive soul of the child was able to feel the big changes and the difficult reality of the “little” person, which Ilya Efimovich masterfully reflected in his paintings.

It can be argued that already in the early years, Vasily Yakovlev's extraordinary sensitivity and attention to detail began to appear. At first, landscape sketches and still lifes became my favorite subjects. In nature, he saw an all-consuming love, beauty and refinement. This is what he tried to reflect in his works.

Look, for example, at the picture "Vegetables" painted in 1928. The picture impresses with its grandiosity, deliberate pomposity, painstaking thoroughness and detail in the depiction of each figure. You can even talk about some surreal tinge of the still life presented. Subsequently, the artist will hone and improve this technique, with the help of which he will create more than onea picture imbued with a similar spirit.

The main paintings that made up the artistic heritage of the artist include the following: “Soviet Faith” (shown in the photo below), “Dispute about Art”, “Bacchanalia”, “Prospectors write to the creator of the Great Constitution”, “Marshal G K. Zhukov.”

The last work - a portrait of the famous military leader - was painted after the victory of the Soviet Union over the Nazi army. Looking at the portrait, it is impossible not to feel the surge of patriotism with which the artist endowed every feature of Zhukov. Actually, this is what distinguished each work of Vasily Yakovlev, for which he was repeatedly awarded government awards.

Maybe get into mathematics?

Having successfully graduated from high school, Vasily Yakovlev entered Moscow State University, choosing a direction that is completely atypical for a person with such a clear artistic talent - physical and mathematical. In fact, despite creative impulses, the artist always had a sober view of the world. This, however, did not prevent him from remaining a sensitive person.

In parallel with his studies at the university, he attended the School of Painting and Drawing by V. N. Meshkov. Later he entered MUZhVZ (Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture), where he continued to improve his artistic skills under the guidance of Abram Arkhipov, Konstantin Korovin, Sergey Malyutin and other prominent artists.

Patriot artist

They say that a talented person is talented in everything. ATin relation to the artist, this phrase is especially true.

Vasily Nikolaevich Yakovlev was a comprehensively developed person, with a wide range of interests and significant intellectual capabilities. He had deep knowledge in various fields, including understanding Russian literature. He especially loved the works of A. S. Pushkin, which glorified the merits of the Fatherland.

In general, the artist had a heightened sense of national pride. He was distrustful, and sometimes even hatred, of various innovations and trends of the West. Nor did he share the admiration of the new bourgeois strata of pre-revolutionary Russian society for the so-called foreigners. To understand what is at stake, let's turn to two significant episodes of his biography.

A case in the Tretyakov Gallery

We all know from childhood the picture below by I. Repin "Ivan the Terrible kills his son." The plot of the picture is debatable, but now we will not talk about it at all.

In January 1913, a certain impressionable fanatic entered the Tretyakov Gallery and began to examine Repin's painting with suspicious attentiveness. Suddenly, the visitor rushed to "Ivan the Terrible …" and, yelling "Enough blood!", hit the painting several times with a knife. This act of incomparable vandalism left deep wounds on the faces of the characters, and these are the most important parts of the picture! The impressionable visitor's name was Abram Balashov.

This event outraged the public and even led to the organization of a public debate, in which he could not help butto take part the author of the canvas. After listening to the excited performance of his idol, the artist Vasily Yakovlev was so impressed that he kissed Repin's hand as a sign of sympathy.

Protest against European formalism

Vasily Yakovlev's extremely negative attitude reflects another interesting case. As you know, in the first half of the 20th century, the revolutionary style inherent in the paintings of Picasso and Matisse gained particular popularity among connoisseurs of art. Exhibitions of these artists were often held in the most famous art galleries of the capital. Visiting them sometimes became compulsory.

So, at one of these exhibitions in the gallery of S. I. Shchukin once turned out to be Vasily Yakovlev. Being practically the only visitor to the gallery who disliked everything Western, he did not hesitate to openly criticize the "new" formalism. At that time, such an act required a lot of courage, because formalism was at its peak.

Paintings by Vasily Yakovlev

Returning to the question posed at the very beginning of the article - who were the "teachers" of the artist after all - one cannot fail to note the enormous influence of Renaissance art on the formation of his artistic views. Studying the paintings of old masters displayed in the halls of the Hermitage, Vasily comprehended all their secrets, becoming an increasingly refined connoisseur of painting and a skilled restorer.

The first exhibition, where Vasily Yakovlev's drawings, his landscape paintings and portraits were presented, wasorganized in the early 1920s. The famous double portrait of the artist was exhibited there, where he portrayed himself along with his younger brother. Already in this portrait one can feel the influence of the technique of the old masters. Some critics reproached the artist for openly copying the techniques of specific painters. But it was only at first glance.

Prizes and awards

The work of the artist was appreciated by the Soviet authorities. In addition to the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR, Vasily Yakovlev was awarded such important state awards as the Order of Lenin, the medal "For Valiant Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", the medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow". In addition, as mentioned earlier, the artist twice won the Stalin Prizes, in 1943 and 1949.

Vasily Yakovlev passed away on June 29, 1953. At that time he was 60 years old. During his life, he managed to create many paintings that reflect his inner aspirations and views on reality and the future of his native country.

For Vasily Yakovlev, penetration into the essence of the depicted phenomenon has always been a paramount task. Of particular value to him was the image of a man surrounded by the material world. Of course, there are certain parallels between his artistic technique and those of the old masters. But this, however, does not deprive the work of Vasily Yakovlev of their penetrating sensitivity and self-sufficiency. For him, the most “beautiful” thing that is reflected in painting is the national treasure of his native country. The most "beautiful"he sought and invariably found in reality.