Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy - realist painter of the second half of the 19th century

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

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 of critical realism in his work, as well as in articles devoted to the theory of art. Many of his canvases are recognized as classics of 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 in the Voronezh province 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 he began a fruitful creative career that continued until his sudden death in 1887.

Academy studies

In 1857 he became a student of Academician A. Markov, who specialized in historical painting. During his studies, he received several medals both for his own paintings and for copies of paintings by other painters.on religious topics. 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, it was necessary to submit to the competition a work dedicated to a scene from the Scandinavian sagas. However, Kramskoy, an artist who strove for a realistic depiction of events and freedom of creativity, together with thirteen other students, turned to the academy management with a request to remove them from the competition, justifying their desire by saying that they want to write on topics that they themselves would prefer. After that, the young painters founded their own artistic artel, which, however, did not last long, as its members very soon decided to go on state support.

Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions

The artist Kramskoy, whose paintings already in the early period of his work became a landmark event in the cultural life of the 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 meaning. Therefore, his works are imbued with a special drama.

In the 1870s, the author creates a number of wonderful portraits of his famous contemporaries: he paints images of Tolstoy, Nekrasov, Shishkin, Tretyakov and others. In this rowa special place is occupied by the portrait of the artist Kramskoy, created by him 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

Many portrait works of the author are written in the style of genre paintings. The people depicted on them are shown in action, so the canvases are scenes from life and everyday life.

Such, for example, is the well-known work of the artist “Nekrasov during the “Last Songs”” of 1877–1878. In this picture, the artist set out to show the famous poet at work in the last period of 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 most strongly managed to convey this idea in the specified picture.

Portraits of women

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 special care: a rich fur coat, a flirty headdress, magnificent jewelry and fabrics.

It is indicative 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 author's paintings are distinguished by different moods.

myself. 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 is standing next to a 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 artist's work and Russian painting in general.