Vasiliev Konstantin Alekseevich: paintings and their description

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

Vasiliev Konstantin Alekseevich, whose paintings will be considered in this article, is not one of the well-known artists whose works are sold at auctions for fabulous sums. However, this fact does not at all reduce his merits to domestic art. During his short life, the painter, also known under the pseudonym Konstantin Velikoross, left about 400 works, among which the most interesting are paintings on fairy-tale and historical subjects, portraits, landscapes, graphics, canvases in a surreal style.

Short biography

Soviet artist Konstantin Vasiliev was born in 1942 in the German-occupied city of Maikop (Krasnodar Territory). His father Alexei Alekseevich is a native of St. Petersburg, an engineer, a lover of literature and nature. The mother of the future artist Shishkin Claudia Parmenovna was from the family of Saratov peasants.

After the war, the boy with his parents moved to Kazan, and in 1949 he moved to Kazan.- in the picturesque village of Vasilyevo located under it. Since childhood, Konstantin was fond of drawing, showed an unprecedented talent for his age in writing watercolor paintings. For four years (from 1957 to 1961) he studied at the Kazan Art College. After graduation, he taught drawing and drafting at a secondary school, and also worked as a graphic designer.

Return to surrealism and expressionism

Like many painters, for some time Vasiliev Konstantin Alekseevich was in search of his artistic style. The paintings of his early period are reminiscent of the surrealist works of Picasso and Dali. These include "Apostle", "String", "Ascension". Fascinated by surrealism, Vasiliev quickly lost interest in him, believing that with his help it was impossible to achieve expression of deep feelings on the canvas.

The Soviet artist associated the next stage of his work with expressionism. During this period, such paintings as “Icon of Memory”, “Sadness of the Queen”, “Music of Eyelashes”, “Vision” come out from under his brush. However, soon the master also abandoned expressionism, considering this direction in art to be superficial and incapable of expressing deep thoughts.

Creating paintings in Russian style

The artist Konstantin Vasiliev, whose biography and work are described in this publication, could truly open up only after he began to paint landscapes of his native land. Nature inspired him to create paintings in the original Russian style. Gradually landscapes he becameadd images of people. In parallel, Konstantin Alekseevich became interested in the study of historical literature, Russian epics and myths. The more he learned about the past of his people, the more he wanted to reproduce scenes from his life on canvas. It was here that the artist managed to maximize his talent. Drawing inspiration from Russian culture, Vasiliev writes his most famous works: "The Northern Eagle", "Waiting", "The Man with the Owl". Konstantin Alekseevich became famous as a battle painter. His authorship is the portrait of Marshal Zhukov, the painting "Farewell of the Slav", "Parade of the 41st", "Longing for the Motherland".

Konstantin Vasiliev is an artist who created his masterpieces to music. When he painted, Russian folk songs, patriotic works of the war years, compositions by Shostakovich and other classical composers sounded in his workshop. Love for music found its reflection in the work of Konstantin Alekseevich. In the early 60s, he created a whole series of graphic portraits of famous composers (Rimsky-Korsakov, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Mozart, Debussy, etc.).

Criticism of the artist, his death

Unfortunately, Vasiliev Konstantin Alekseevich could not achieve recognition of his talent. His paintings, accused of Russian fascism, were persecuted by the communist authorities. They were mercilessly criticized, called "non-Soviet". The masters repeatedly urged to stop painting. Only a few times in his life the works of the artist were lucky enough to visit exhibitions,held in Moscow, Kazan and Zelenodolsk.

The death of Vasiliev Konstantin put a full stop in his work. The artist, who was only 34 years old, was hit by a train. It happened on October 29, 1976, a few days after he finished work on his most famous painting, Man with an Owl. They buried Konstantin Vasilyevich in his native village of Vasilyevo, in the same birch grove where he loved to draw inspiration from nature.

Description of the paintings of the early stage of creativity

From the paintings of different periods it is interesting to follow how Vasiliev's skill improved over the years. In his work "Ascension", written in 1964, one can trace the imitation of Salvador Dali, who has a work with a similar theme. However, looking more closely at the picture of the Soviet artist, you can see a completely new interpretation of the story of the ascension of Christ. Vasiliev's Jesus is depicted not dead, as is customary, but alive. His face expresses anxiety about the future fate of mankind. Konstantin Vasiliev is an artist who, with the help of his canvas, declared: not only the soul of the Savior, but also his body is not subject to death.

"Icon of Memory" was created in the years when Konstantin Alekseevich was in search of his own style and created paintings in the genre of abstract expressionism. This work of the artist is not just a romantic collage, it represents memories of his tender feelings for a girl named Lyudmila. into herKonstantin fell in love at the age of 20. After breaking up with the young lady, he destroyed all her photographs. Fragments of Lyudmila's photographs were kept by the artist's mother. They subsequently served as the basis for the creation of the "Icon …", symbolizing the image of the creator's lost love.

Vasiliev Konstantin Alekseevich: paintings of the last years of his life

Shortly before his death, Vasiliev paints a picture "Waiting", which depicts a Russian beauty with a candle in her hands. The girl looks out the frost-covered window, waiting for someone from her family. It is not known who the heroine of the picture looks out to. Probably a fiancé who was delayed somewhere on the road, but maybe also a husband who does not return from the war for a long time. In the face of the girl, illuminated by the flame of a candle, anxiety for a loved one is visible. The master painted the fire on the canvas with luminous paint, making it look very realistic. Vasiliev painted this picture for his mother's birthday, which is why many people think that he portrayed her as a young lady at a young age.

"The Man with the Owl" is the pinnacle of Konstantin Alekseevich's work and, by a sad coincidence, his last work. On it, the master depicted a gray-haired old man, wise by life experience, holding a candle in his right hand. He is tired, but he has a long road ahead of him. An owl sits on his outstretched left arm. The old man rises above the snowy ground, looking into the distance with a stern look. Above his head is a starry sky, and at his feet a fire is made from a paper scroll with the name of the artist. Spectatorsdifferently perceive the plot of the picture. Someone sees God in the old man, but for someone he is the embodiment of earthly wisdom. The picture makes an indelible impression on others. Near it, I want to stay longer and try to see what the artist wanted to tell humanity.