Mikhail Shemyakin is an impressionist. An undeservedly forgotten master: an exhibition of the artist Mikhail Shemyakin “appeared” at the Museum of Russian Impressionism

What I especially like about the Museum of Russian Impressionism is the discovery of previously unknown names of Russian artists. And here again, following the exhibitions of Arnold Lakhovsky and Elena Kiseleva, the museum presents the impressionist artist of the first half of the 20th century - Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin. The exhibition is called “Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist,” and this other Shemyakin has his own original look and your own memorable style. The name and work of the Moscow artist M.F. Shemyakin is not so widely known, yet his works are stored in the State Tretyakov Gallery, and in the Russian Museum, and in many museums in provincial cities.

The exhibition presents more than fifty works from museums in Russia, neighboring countries and Moscow private collections. Some works are being exhibited for the first time, for example, a portrait of the artist’s famous grandfather, manufacturer Alexei Abrikosov.

Mikhail Shemyakin. Portrait of A.I. Abrikosova, 1902. State Tretyakov Gallery

Mikhail Shemyakin (1875-1944) was born into the family of manufacturer Fyodor Mikhailovich Shemyakin. Misha inherited the ability to draw from his paternal grandfather, a self-taught artist. The boy grew up sickly and studied at home, and when he entered the gymnasium, he made progress only in writing and drawing under the guidance of Alexander Artemyev, a graduate of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, later an artist of Moscow art theater. Then he studied with Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Shemyakin honed his draftsmanship in Munich, in the studio of Anton Azhbe. But even after this, he returned to Serov’s workshop, who conducted classes together with Konstantin Korovin.
The exhibition opens with a gallery of portraits of musicians and members of the artist’s family on the 3rd floor.

In 1901, the artist married his fellow student Lyudmila Grzhimali, the daughter of the famous Czech violinist Ivan Voitekhovich Grzhimali in Moscow. Lyudmila Ivanovna Shemyakina-Grzhimali (1875-1932) - the daughter of the Czech violinist Ivan Grzhimali, the granddaughter of the Czech violinist and composer Ferdinand Laub, studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Due to eye disease and caring for children, she left painting early.

Portrait of the artist's wife, 1911. Oil on canvas. Tula Museum Association

Long years Mikhail Shemyakin lived in his father-in-law’s apartment, located right in the right wing of the Moscow Conservatory. In the living room, the master more than once painted his musician relatives and their friends, who often visited the hospitable family.
Portraits of musicians, including the artist’s father-in-law Ivan Grzhimali, composer Alexander Goedicke, violinist František Ondříček, cellist Anna Lubosic, Russian Opera singer, soloist Bolshoi Theater Nadezhda Salina, has been given a central place at the exhibition.

Shemyakinsky female portraits poetic and airy, especially good is “Lady in Light” - a portrait of Lyudmila Shemyakina’s sister, Anna Egorova.

Portrait of Nadezhda Salina, 1925. Oil on canvas. State Theater Museum named after. A.A. Bakhrushin
Lady in light. Portrait of A.I. Egorova, 1909. Oil on canvas. Nizhny Tagil Museum fine arts

Portrait of a woman, 1900s. Canvas, oil. Private collection, Moscow

Antonina Vasilievna Nezhdanova (1873-1950) - Russian opera singer (lyric-coloratura soprano), teacher. Soloist of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theaters. Professor of the Moscow Conservatory.

Portrait of Antonina Nezhdanova, 1934. Oil on canvas. Astrakhan State Art Gallery them. P.M. Dogadina

Portrait of cellist Anna Luboschitz, 1907. Oil on canvas. State Russian Museum

Czech Quartet, 1912. Oil on cardboard. State Memorial Museum-Reserve of P.I. Tchaikovsky, Klin

A separate block presents a series of family portraits. Mikhail Shemyakin loved to paint his wife Lyudmila Grzhimali, sons Fyodor and Mikhail (also an artist in the future).

Mother with child, 1908. Oil on plywood. Ryazan State Regional Art Museum named after. I.P. I'm sorry.
Right - Self-Portrait with Son, 1905. Oil on cardboard

The exhibition includes three still lifes depicting the artist’s favorite hyacinths, which always appeared in the Grzhimali-Shemyakins’ house under New Year. According to Czech tradition, it was customary to decorate houses with these flowers for Christmas. A wicker basket with hyacinths in pots, which was depicted by the master in the painting “Hyacinths at the Christmas Tree,” was once presented to I.V. They laughed at Leo Tolstoy.

Mother and child in the sun, 1907. Oil on canvas. State Russian Museum

On the second floor the exhibition continues with paintings and graphics from different years.

Female portrait. Around 1910. Oil on canvas. Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts

Hyacinths at night, 1912. Oil on cardboard. Museum of Russian Impressionism

A rare portrait of the outstanding intellectual and philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev was brought from Belarus.

Portrait of a man, 1905. Oil on canvas. National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

Alexander Fedorovich Gedike (Gödicke, 1877-1957) - composer, pianist, teacher, founder of the Soviet organ school.

Alexander Goedicke at the piano, 1927. Paper, charcoal. All-Russian Museum Association musical culture them. M.I. Glinka

Sergey Dmitrievich Razumovsky ( real name Makhalov, 1864-1942) - playwright, poet, fiction writer, one of the founders literary circle"Wednesday".

Portrait of playwright Sergei Razumovsky, 1938. Paper, charcoal. Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts

The artist’s images of models were especially attractive.

For three years, Shemyakin worked in Serov’s studio and painted the same models, most often Vera Kalashnikov, conveying subtle shades with only three colors: burnt black, ocher and white.

Model. In the studio of Valentin Serov, 1903. Oil on canvas. Ryazan State Art Museum named after. I.P. I'm sorry

The master was dissatisfied with his first sketch of Vera: in his anger, he threw the cardboard into the corner of the workshop, where it lay for almost 20 years until Apollinary Vasnetsov found it. The artist liked the sketch so much that he hung it above his bed.

A year later, Mikhail Shemyakin made another attempt to portray Vera Ivanovna. The drawing turned out to be unusually subtle, for which the painter earned approval from Valentin Serov, who was very stingy with praise, and Konstantin Korovin did not hide his delight: “Raphael!”

Model in the workshop of Valentin Serov, 1904. Oil on canvas. Collection of Tatiana Kardasheva

Her expressive gray-green eyes and dark head of hair, styled in an updo, are instantly recognizable and eye-catching.

Model, 1905. Canvas, oil. National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus

Head of a model, 1904. Cardboard. oil. State Russian Museum

Pioneers on vacation, 1929. Oil on canvas. Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts
Kosets, 1928. Oil on canvas. Tyumen Museum and Educational Association

Still life with lilacs, 1930s. Canvas, oil. Museum of Russian Impressionism

In addition to portraits of musicians and models, Shemyakin also painted characteristic portraits, for example, a portrait of a Moscow cab driver.

Moscow cab driver. 1910. Oil on canvas. Tula Museum of Fine Arts

Girl in a sailor suit (Sonechka), 1910. Oil on canvas. Museum of Russian Impressionism

Katya, 1939. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Moscow

Katya in a green dress, 1937. Oil on canvas. Private collection, Moscow

On the ground floor the exhibition is completed by girls and flowers...

Withering hyacinths, 1910. Oil on cardboard. Tula Museum Association

On October 21, 1875, the original Russian artist Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin was born. And these days, the Moscow Museum of Russian Impressionism is hosting his exhibition “Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist." The exhibition included more than fifty works from museums in Russia, neighboring countries and Moscow private collections...

“With this exhibition, the Museum of Russian Impressionism addresses its mission - to talk specifically about Russian impressionists. We will talk about the master whom Korovin compared with Raphael, and Mayakovsky recognized as a “realist-impressionist-cubist” - Mikhail Shemyakin. No, not about our contemporary, but about “a completely different artist.”

Russian impressionist

The artist’s son recalled: “Approaching the drawing, without turning around, he silently looked at it. Then he looked around, and the guests saw two “Monks”: one in the drawing, and the other, magnificently, as only he could do it, “played” by Chaliapin. There was unanimous applause. "Great!" - said Chaliapin and shook my father’s hand.”

It is interesting that at this time Mikhail Shemyakin gives preference to a three-color monochrome palette, thereby filling his works with a special pearlescent light. The artist used whitewash, light ocher and burnt ivory, giving a velvety warm black. Subsequently, Mikhail Shemyakin will devote several years of his life to researching the color black and its shades.

"Artist of Musicians"

Mikhail Shemyakin was called the “chronicler of musical Moscow” of the first half of the twentieth century, and therefore portraits of musicians are given a central place in the exhibition. Visitors will be greeted with a series of images of great performers, including the artist’s father-in-law Ivan Grzhimali, composer Alexander Goedicke, violinist Frantisek Ondříček, cellist Hana Lubosic, singer and Bolshoi Theater soloist Nadezhda Salina.

Dynasty: Abrikosovs - Shemyakins

The portrait of the artist’s famous grandfather, manufacturer Alexei Abrikosov, is especially colorful. The head of the confectionery company “Factory and Trade Partnership of A. I. Abrikosov’s Sons” (now the Babaevsky concern), the grandson of a quitrent peasant, Alexey Ivanovich, as a boy, was in the service of a German who traded sugar, and later became the owner of one of the three largest confectionery shops factories in Russia.

The portrait was so similar that the stoker who entered Abrikosov’s office in the morning with a bundle of firewood backed away at the first minute, saying: “Sorry, Alexey Ivanovich, I didn’t know you were up.” After entering the museum collections, this work was never exhibited. The Tretyakov Gallery, where the portrait is now kept, transferred to the Museum the right to present the painting to the general public for the first time.

Captivating female images

Her expressive gray-green eyes and dark head of hair, styled in an updo, are instantly recognizable and eye-catching. The master was dissatisfied with his first sketch of Vera: in his anger, he threw the cardboard into the corner of the workshop, where it lay for almost 20 years until Apollinary Vasnetsov found it.

The artist liked the sketch so much that he hung it above his bed. A year later, Mikhail Shemyakin made another attempt to portray Vera Ivanovna. The drawing turned out to be unusually subtle, for which the painter earned approval from Valentin Serov, who was very stingy with praise, and Konstantin Korovin did not hide his delight: “Raphael!”

Hyacinths

The artist’s son, Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin, recalled: “The tree was big. She was wearing a lot of jewelry. Colored candles were burning. Multi-colored shiny glass balls and figures shone with glare<…>There were many living plants and flowers in the living room: large ficus, hydrangeas, cacti, hyacinths. We children - me and my older brother - were waiting at the door in the large adjacent room - the “hall”. Dad opened the high doors, and a Christmas tree appeared in front of us, in all its splendor and radiance! Her my father<…>wrote in the painting “Hyacinths near the Christmas tree.”

The wicker basket with hyacinths in pots, which was depicted by the master, was once presented to I.V. Grzhimali by Leo Tolstoy.

Realist-Impressionist-Cubist

Together with Lilya Brik, they often came to their yard for pink peonies. “Suddenly, a tall, broad-shouldered figure without a shirt, in smoothed trousers, with a towel on his shoulder, appeared in front of us. Short-cropped head. — recalled the artist’s son Mikhail. - Ah, Shemyakin! - said the poet. — I saw your work at the exhibition. You are a realist - an impressionist - a cubist."

This paradoxical characterization is surprisingly insightful. As a realist, Shemyakin did not allow himself to simplify and distort nature for the sake of a picturesque effect. Like the Cubists, each time he approached nature simultaneously analytically and with ardent curiosity - as if he was seeing a person’s face or a bouquet of hyacinths for the first time. But from the very beginning creative path and until the end of his life, the techniques of impressionism were his most favorite.

Following the exhibition of works by Arnold Lakhovsky and Elena Kiseleva, the Museum of Russian Impressionism continues to introduce the public to the work of undeservedly forgotten masters. Unformatted authors who do not meet the standards of Soviet ideology, their names had no place in the last century, but after more than half a century they are again finding their audience, because true art is timeless.”

From October 13 to January 17, the Museum of Russian Impressionism will present a retrospective of works by the original Russian impressionist artist of the first half of the 20th century, Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin - “Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist." Included in the exposition famous master will include more than fifty works from museums in Russia, neighboring countries and Moscow private collections. Among them are the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, art museums Astrakhan, Penza, Tula, Ryazan and many others. Some works will be exhibited for the first time.

With this exhibition, the Museum of Russian Impressionism addresses its mission - to talk specifically about Russian impressionists. We will talk about the master whom Korovin compared with Raphael, and Mayakovsky recognized as a “realist-impressionist-cubist” - Mikhail Shemyakin. No, not about our contemporary, but about “a completely different artist.”

RUSSIAN IMPRESSIONIST

Mikhail Shemyakin studied with Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From his mentors, the young artist adopted a love for the portrait genre and a bold impressionistic style of painting. Shemyakin honed his draftsmanship in Munich, in the studio of Anton Azhbe. One of the last drawings “Monk”, made by the artist at the Azhbe school, will be presented at the exhibition. This work was noticed and appreciated by Fyodor Chaliapin, who once came to visit Ivan Grzhimali’s apartment. The artist’s son recalled: “Approaching the drawing, without turning around, he silently looked at it. Then he looked around, and the guests saw two “Monks”: one in the drawing, and the other, magnificently, as only he could do it, “played” by Chaliapin. There was unanimous applause. "Great!" - Chaliapin said and shook my father’s hand.”

"ARTIST OF MUSICIANS"

In 1901, the artist married his fellow student Lyudmila Grzhimali, the daughter of the famous Czech violinist Ivan Voitekhovich Grzhimali in Moscow. For many years, Mikhail Shemyakin lived in his father-in-law’s apartment, located right in the right wing of the Moscow Conservatory. In the living room, the master more than once painted his musician relatives and their friends, who often visited the hospitable family. Mikhail Shemyakin was called the “chronicler of musical Moscow” of the first half of the twentieth century, and therefore portraits of musicians are given a central place in the exhibition. Visitors will be greeted by a series of images of great performers, including the artist’s father-in-law Ivan Grzhimali, composer Alexander Goedicke, violinist Frantisek Ondříček, cellist Hana Lubosic, singer and Bolshoi Theater soloist Nadezhda Salina.

DYNASTY: ABRikosovs - Shemyakins

A separate block presents a series of family portraits. Mikhail Shemyakin loved to paint his wife Lyudmila Grzhimali, sons Fyodor and Mikhail (also an artist in the future). Mikhail Fedorovich managed to vividly and poetically convey the joy of motherhood, the charm and significance of everyday household chores, and the serene world of a child. The portrait of the artist’s famous grandfather, manufacturer Alexei Abrikosov, is especially colorful. The head of the confectionery company “Factory and Trade Partnership of A. I. Abrikosov’s Sons” (now the Babaevsky concern), the grandson of a quitrent peasant, Alexey Ivanovich, as a boy, was in the service of a German who traded sugar, and later became the owner of one of the three largest confectionery shops factories in Russia. The portrait was so similar that the stoker who entered Abrikosov’s office in the morning with a bundle of firewood backed away at the first minute, saying: “Sorry, Alexey Ivanovich, I didn’t know you were up.” After entering the museum collections, this work was never exhibited. The Tretyakov Gallery, where the portrait is now kept, transferred to the Museum the right to present the painting to the general public for the first time.

CAPTIVATING FEMALE IMAGES

Shemyakino women's portraits deserve special attention. Among them one can highlight numerous images of the artist’s wife, the luxurious “Lady in Light” - a portrait of Lyudmila Shemyakina’s sister, Anna Egorova. But the images of models seem most attractive. Shemyakin more than once painted Valentin Serov’s favorite model, Vera Kalashnikova. Her expressive gray-green eyes and dark head of hair, styled in an updo, are instantly recognizable and eye-catching. The master was dissatisfied with his first sketch of Vera: in his anger, he threw the cardboard into the corner of the workshop, where it lay for almost 20 years until Apollinary Vasnetsov found it. The artist liked the sketch so much that he hung it above his bed. A year later, Mikhail Shemyakin made another attempt to portray Vera Ivanovna. The drawing turned out to be unusually subtle, for which the painter earned approval from Valentin Serov, who was very stingy with praise, and Konstantin Korovin did not hide his delight: “Raphael!”

HYACINTHES

It is impossible to imagine Mikhail Shemyakin’s exhibition without hyacinths. The artist had a special love for them: he more than once painted these delicate flowers, which always appeared in the Grzhimali-Shemyakins’ house on New Year’s Eve. According to Czech tradition, it was customary to decorate houses with spring flowers for Christmas. The artist’s son, Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin, recalled: “The tree was big. She was wearing a lot of jewelry. Colored candles were burning. Multi-colored shiny glass balls and figures shone with reflections. There were many living plants and flowers in the living room: large ficus, hydrangeas, cacti, hyacinths. We children - me and my older brother - were waiting at the door in the large adjacent room - the “hall”. Dad opened the high doors, and a Christmas tree appeared in front of us, in all its splendor and radiance! My father painted it in the painting “Hyacinths by the Christmas Tree.” The wicker basket with hyacinths in pots, which was depicted by the master, was once presented to I.V. Grzhimali by Leo Tolstoy.

REALIST-IMPRESSIONIST-CUBIST

The life story of Mikhail Shemyakin is replete with similar details. Fate brought him together with many outstanding contemporaries, each of whom could not remain indifferent to the artist’s work. One day, while picking mushrooms with children near Shark Mountain, where the Shemyakins rented a house, the artist met Vladimir Mayakovsky. Together with Lilya Brik, they often came to their yard for pink peonies. “Suddenly, a tall, broad-shouldered figure without a shirt, in smoothed trousers, with a towel on his shoulder, appeared in front of us. Short-cropped head. – recalled the artist’s son Mikhail. - Ah, Shemyakin! - said the poet. - I saw your work at the exhibition. You are a realist – an impressionist – a cubist.” This paradoxical characterization is surprisingly insightful. As a realist, Shemyakin did not allow himself to simplify and distort nature for the sake of a picturesque effect. Like the Cubists, each time he approached nature simultaneously analytically and with ardent curiosity - as if he was seeing a person’s face or a bouquet of hyacinths for the first time. But from the very beginning of his creative career until the end of his life, the techniques of impressionism were his most favorite.

An illustrated catalog with previously unpublished archival materials will be published for the exhibition.

How to prepare for the exhibition?

1. Ageeva M.V. Mikhail Shemyakin. Series "Masters of Painting". Publishing house "White City". 2009

2. Shemyakin M.F. Memories. To the 100th anniversary of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. 1845-1945 // Panorama of Arts, 12. Stories about artists and writers. M.: Soviet artist, 1989. P. 264

3. Ageeva M.V. Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin. 1875-1944: catalog album – Nizhny Tagil: “Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts”, 2006.

4. Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist: exhibition catalog – M.: “Museum of Russian Impressionism”, 2017.

Famous grandfather

Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin was born on October 21, 1875 in Moscow. His father, Fyodor Mikhailovich, a man far from art, owned a Moscow woodworking factory, which, among other things, produced colorful tin packaging for confectionery products of the famous Apricot family. Mikhail Shemyakin probably inherited his artistic abilities from his paternal grandfather, M.I. Shemyakin, a talented self-taught artist.

And on his mother’s side, his grandfather was Alexey Ivanovich Abrikosov himself, a manufacturer and entrepreneur who founded the “Factory and Trade Partnership of A. I. Abrikosov’s Sons”, the owner of confectionery and tea shops in Moscow, Supplier of His Yard Imperial Majesty, hereditary honorary citizen. Alexey Ivanovich was involved not only in commerce, but also in charity work, as did his wife, Agrippina Aleksandrovna Abrikosova, despite the fact that she happened to become the mother of 22 children and family affairs made up most of her life. According to her will, 100 thousand rubles were transferred to the establishment of a free maternity hospital on 2nd Miusskaya Street in Moscow.

Need I remind you of the sad fact that the Abrikosov family factory was nationalized in 1918? new government. By evil irony, or rather, completely in accordance with the shameless Bolshevik logic, the Abrikosovs’ enterprise was renamed in honor of the revolutionary Azerbaijani origin P. A. Babaev, and the maternity hospital of A. A. Abrikosova was named after N. K. Krupskaya (fortunately, in 1994, justice was at least partially restored, and now Gorodskaya is located at 2-ya Miusskaya, 1/10 maternity hospital named after A. A. Abrikosova).

But, apparently, the Soviet government considered this insufficient. In the 20s, the Novo-Alekseevsky Monastery was destroyed, and along with it the cemetery with the burial of the Abrikosov couple. In the same cemetery there was the von Meck family crypt with the grave of Nadezhda Filaretovna, Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov was buried there, wonderful artist, one of the first teachers of Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

The Tretyakov Gallery houses a portrait of A. I. Abrikosov, created by his grandson Mikhail. How this was received artwork Alexey Ivanovich, the son of M. F. Shemyakin, Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin, tells about his very unusual “businesslike” review of the portrait in his memoirs:

When Mikhail Fedorovich decided to paint a portrait of his grandfather, Abrikosov agreed, but asked how many hours he needed to sit and pose. "Twenty". “Okay, but not an hour more.” When the portrait was finished, Abrikosov stood up and took right hand a yardstick from the table and slowly, putting his left hand behind his back, walked up to the mirror and measured his head with a yardstick, from the top of his head to the end of his thick gray beard. Then he went up to the portrait and, measuring the corresponding part of it, said: “Well done, Misha. Exactly the same".

An even more practical view of art and artistic activity The artist’s “grandmother” Agrippina Aleksandrovna had a grandson. Once Alexey Ivanovich Abrikosov learned from the newspapers that at an exhibition of student works organized at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, one of his grandson’s paintings was purchased by the Governor-General himself.

Grandma Agrippina Aleksandrovna also went to the exhibition, wanting to buy herself something from Misha’s works. Only the sketch “Balcony in Winter”, painted in silver tones, remained unsold. Grandma didn’t like the picture: “This one? Yes, she is white, unpainted! No! I will not take. Just spoil the frame! Let's go home."

After completing a home study course, Mikhail Fedorovich entered the 4th Moscow Gymnasium, which was initially located in Pashkov’s house on Vozdvizhenka, and then, after the building was given to the Rumyantsev Museum, in the famous house of the Trubetskoy princes on Pokrovka. Among the famous students of the gymnasium are the theater director, musician and artist N. N. Evreinov, the creator of aerodynamics and aeromechanics N. E. Zhukovsky, philanthropist S. T. Morozov, and the prominent linguist A. A. Shakhmatov. But despite the illustrious traditions of the 4th gymnasium, to which it was customary to send children from intelligent merchant families, studying there did not bring Mikhail Shemyakin any joy, and “the bureaucratic soulless discipline, which kept him in fear,” aroused hatred. Bright memories were associated only with the drawing teacher Alexander Rodionovich Artemyev and, oddly enough, with the warden Kuzma Ivanovich and the doorman Peter.

First teachers

In the fall of 1893, Shemyakin successfully passed the competitive exam in Moscow school painting, sculpture and architecture. It was prepared by V. G. Perov’s student V. I. Achuev.

I remember how, before I entered the School of Sculpture and Architecture, my mother took me to the director of the School, Evgraf Semenovich Sorokin, who was her distant relative, to consult with him about my abilities in the visual arts.

E. S. Sorokin lived in the School building.<…>He affectionately called me over and began to carefully examine my works, drawings and paintings. “Undoubtedly, I have the ability,” he turned to my mother and, placing his wide hand on my shoulder, said sternly: “Will you work? Will you work? Labor comes first in art too!” I whispered, “I will.”

There were legends about E. S. Sorokin that he knew how to correct a student’s drawing with one line - along the contour. Among Shemyakin's first teachers were also outstanding artists I. M. Pryanishnikov, V. D. Polenov, A. E. Arkhipov, K. A. Savitsky, L. O. Pasternak.

Konstantin Korovin’s elder brother Sergei Alekseevich Korovin, “a tall, thin, gypsy-type brunette, with a yellow, dark face and golden sparkles in his eyes,” also taught at the School, a completely different artist creative manner, closer to the Itinerants. Shemyakin greatly appreciated his “realistic” teaching method, although he received “ latest numbers” and even stayed for the second year, which he was very pleased with, because in the second year he managed to receive “first numbers” for his work.

Training with S. A. Korovin began with copying lithographs. Then drawings were made from the skull or plaster bas-relief. When Shemyakin once got to draw from a skull, he was too carried away by the black polished stand on which the skull stood, and the springs holding it together, and drew all these accessories in detail and precision, but the teacher did not get angry, but, “smiling through his mustache, began to criticize affectionately.” and advised us to draw, as he put it, “in general.”

The early work of Mikhail Shemyakin is marked by the undoubted influence of Russian “realistic” art. Beautiful picturesque school for Shemyakin were the lessons of Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov, the most talented artist, one of the founders of the Itinerants Association.

One day Shemyakin had to paint a sketch - a girl’s head bowed on a white pillow.

The task was extremely delicate and modest in color, and I had, it seems, the entire set of paints from the Brockman art store on my palette. In a rough voice, emphasizing the “o” in Chistyakov style, he ordered to “remove” all the paints from the palette, and leave only whitewash, light ocher, burnt sienna and black burnt bone, and give the brush a wider brush. I was amazed and fulfilled his demand with pity and curiosity. I witnessed a miracle - for about half an hour, Illarion Mikhailovich, engrossed in his work, sculpted with gentle chiaroscuro, constructing the foreshortening of the form with a light color, conveying with a broad stroke the subtlest features of the child’s face to the point of psychological similarity. I stood spellbound. He silently handed me the palette and brush and silently, calmly and importantly walked away, puffing a cigarette through his golden long hair mustache

From Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, Shemyakin learned the main artistic principles: “Drawing is painting with a pencil”, “Painting is drawing with a brush.” And for his success in training, he was even honored to greet Polenov on his anniversary, receiving from the artist himself as a gift one of the sketches of the Palestinian series, depicting a young man in a white skull cap against a blue sky.

In the workshop of Serov and Korovin

Mikhail Shemyakin completed his education at the painting school in 1899 in the workshop of V. A. Serov and K. A. Korovin. Serov's influence on young artist was huge. Laconism and at the same time grace graphic works teachers may have already determined the student’s future style and his unique impressionistic minimalism.

Everyone who worked in Serov’s studio had to paint a portrait of the model Vera Ivanovna Kalashnikova (remember “The Model Taking Off a Shoe” by Serov himself). And for this it was necessary to use only three paints: light ocher, white and burnt bone, with which it was necessary to convey a variety of bodily shades. Three students had a special talent for using these three colors: Martiros Saryan, Vladimir Polovinkin and Mikhail Shemyakin.

Here I received from K. Korovin in my ear: “Raphael!”, but Serov heard (he was standing nearby) and walked away with an angry face.<…>After Korovin’s remark, I myself admitted that the drawing was exceptionally subtle, and this had always been my goal (when drawing or painting were “better”, “more accurate” than nature). I worked on this sketch for another month. And yet I brought it to the end, but in a completely new way. I took Serov to show the sketch. Serov looked and said only one word: “Okay.” And he added, looking straight at me, both angrily and approvingly: “But still, it’s not what it was.”

According to I. Grabar, in the portrait of the model made by Shemyakin, Serov’s method is especially clearly visible.

The benches in the classroom were arranged in an amphitheater in a circle in front of the model; Serov always sat at one of the desks, participating in general work, working on the drawing just as carefully as everyone else, making corrections or erasing bad lines. Serov's extraordinary diligence, desire to bring every work to perfection and undoubted pedagogical talent were noted by many of his contemporaries.

When Serov entered the classroom, we felt that everything had changed in the School, although he entered silently, looking from under his brows, with the lolling gait of a heavy body, short, with a large blond head, with heavy, beautiful forms and the features of the forehead and nose of Zeus. He somehow forcibly bowed to the sides. Apparently he was embarrassed by his role as a professor. Director of the book Lvov stood in the doorway. Serov, with a movement of his hand, seemed to ask everyone to remain at their easels.

<…>

Serov walked around everyone and made short remarks: “damp”, “soapy”, “don’t glare”, “where is the uniform?”, or: “good”, “looks like”, and these words, like bullets, hit the target , and the student, perhaps for the first time, saw himself with true truthful clarity, from the bad or the good side.

In addition to teaching artists, the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture was also famous for its wonderful teachers in other disciplines. Moscow University professors taught their courses there: historians V. O. Klyuchevsky, D. M. Petrushevsky and R. Yu. Vipper, art critic V. E. Giatsintov.

Every year the school held exhibitions where students showed their best works, some of them were even put up for sale. Among the guests one could see the Moscow governor, famous art critics, as well as patrons of the arts, among whom P. M. Tretyakov invariably appeared.

Ashbe School

After graduating from college, Shemyakin goes to Munich to the famous Anton Ashbe, one of the most outstanding European teachers of painting late XIX- the beginning of the 20th century, with whom he has been drawing for two years. Shemyakin was not the only Russian artist who studied with Ashbe. M. V. Dobuzhinsky, I. E. Grabar, V. Kandinsky, I. Ya. Bilibin came to Munich.

The teaching method was conceptually very simple and consisted of constructing the shape of any object using simple geometric shapes. In Russian art school a similar teaching method was used by P. P. Chistyakov (teacher of V. E. Borisov-Musatov, V. M. Vasnetsov, M. A. Vrubel, V. D. Polenova, I. E. Repin, V. A. Serova) . According to the memoirs of M. Dobuzhinsky, “Ashbe forced us to look at the head as a ball from which individual parts of the face protrude and into which they are pressed - “masks”, and taught to distribute chiaroscuro in the drawing of the head according to the distribution of the strength of shadows and reflexes on the ball. At the same time, analyzing the form human head, Ashbe interpreted it as a polyhedron<…>geometricity already contained the beginnings of the future Cubism (although this word had not yet been uttered). I remember at school the work of some students who drew only straight lines - a semblance of future cubic drawings.".

Here it is appropriate to recall the description that Mayakovsky later gave to Mikhail Shemyakin, who greatly appreciated his talent: “You are a realist-impressionist-cubist.”

Shemyakin makes copies in Munich museums famous paintings, in particular “The Young Spaniard” by Velazquez. Among Shemyakin’s best drawings created in Ashbe’s workshop was “Catholic Monk” (1901-1902). This wonderful work almost ended up in the personal collection of F.I. Chaliapin. Once, having come to visit the artist and noticing a drawing on the wall, Chaliapin very similarly repeated the character’s facial expression and exclaimed: “Great!”, almost receiving the drawing itself as a gift for this. And, I must say, he behaved smartly and delicately, refusing a luxurious gift and asking him to leave this “Caucasian manner” of giving the guest everything he liked in the host’s house.

Ashbe's studies were so fruitful that Shemyakin, returning to Russia, decided to continue his studies. In 1902, he turned to the management of the Moscow school with a request to allow him to study in the workshop of Serov and Korovin. A very friendly letter from Serov to Shemyakin has been preserved, in which he announces his agreement:

Dear Mikhail Fedorovich!

<…>

No one has anything against your entering the School again - on the contrary, they are very happy, but it’s a pity that you did not submit your application on time (in August), and now, it turns out, they will allow you to be at the school, that is, to join it among school year, maybe only... one sovereign, as the approver of the charter, - no more, no less, - to whose highest name you need to submit a petition... This story will last (according to the prince) a week and a half, but for now try it, t<ак>say, go to class, unspoken.

V. Serov

An excellent result of three years of work in Serov’s studio can be considered a portrait of the Bolshoi Theater soloist N.V. Salina, for which Shemyakin was awarded first prize at the competition of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers in 1905.

Shemyakin and the Czech Republic

While still studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Shemyakin met there talented Lyudmila Grzhimali, daughter famous musician and violinist, teacher at the Moscow Conservatory Ivan Grzhimali, Czech by nationality. In 1900 they got married and for many years lived in Ivan Voitekhovich’s apartment, right in the building of the conservatory. In 1905, their son Fedor was born, a future chemist, professor, Doctor of Chemical Sciences, head of the department of analytical chemistry at the Moscow Medical Academy. I.M. Sechenov, and in 1908 - his son Mikhail, who later became an artist.

Thus began the period of Mikhail Fedorovich’s acquaintance and communication with famous Russian musicians who visited Grzhimali’s house: S. V. Rachmaninov, A. N. Scriabin, K. N. Igumnov, A. B. Goldenweiser, S. I. Taneyev, F. I. Shalyapin, A. V. Nezhdanova.

Every year (from 1907 to 1915) the whole family traveled to the Czech Republic, where the artist’s talent was highly valued and in 1908 they were elected an honorary member of the Spolek výtvarn ých um ělců Mánes association, and in 1912 they organized an exhibition of the Russian impressionist. Before the revolution, the same society organized many exhibitions of artists from Russia, in particular, N. Roerich and World of Art, and after the revolution - exhibitions of B. Grigoriev, I. E. Repin.

In addition to two portraits of Ivan Grzhimali, Shemyakin creates portraits of other Czech musicians - violinist Jan Kubelik and composer Oscar Nedbal, as well as the painting “Czech Quartet”, which depicts K. Hoffmann, I. Suk, G. Vigan and I. Herold. The portrait of František Ondříček was painted in 1910, when the violinist came from the Czech Republic to Russia on tour.

In the beautiful portrait “Lady in Light” (1909), the artist captured Anna (Anda) Ivanovna Grzhimali-Egorova, the sister of his wife, the wife of the famous mathematician, professor D. F. Egorova. Like Lyudmila, Anna was very talented musician and studied vocals at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of V. M. Zarudnaya. In addition, she translated poetry beautifully: she translated into Russian the poems of Yaroslav Vrkhlitsky, with whom Shemyakin met during a trip to the Czech Republic in 1907 and whose portrait can be considered one of his best artistic achievements. The seventy-year-old poet would have been a very expansive person and could not pose for a long time, endlessly jumped up and rushed to the window, either seeing a chimney sweep on the roof of the house opposite, or something else on the street, then returning to his place, but each time he sat down in a completely different position. As a result, Shemyakin had 16 versions of the portrait.

It was for this work that in 1908 Shemyakin was elected a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, where I. E. Repin recommended him a year earlier. And on February 2, 1909, I. E. Repin gives Mikhail Fedorovich his photograph with the inscription: “A fiery artist, a true temperament, seizing the life of star faces from heaven.” Repin will once again mention Shemyakin’s “fiery” talent and temperament in a letter to Shemyakin sent from “Penates” on August 6, 1913:

Dear Mikhail Fedorovich.

<…>You know how much I like you and how I have long loved you as an artist. From your very first debuts with us, on Traveling exhibitions, I never ceased to be interested in your works. Especially the first things fascinated me: I didn’t know you yet - they said that this was Shemyakin, a student of Serov... Since then you have made great evolutions in the scope of your temperament; sometimes they puzzled me - I admit, to the point of misunderstanding you, to the point of unpleasant suffering, inexplicable in art... But still, no matter what you exhibit, in everything there is an undoubted sign of great talent, which burns with fire, and its flame is fluctuated by the wind, sometimes even strong and merciless draft; and blows its energetic tongues into terrible figures and yet it is fire, the fire of the temperament of a true artist...

Your Il. Repin.

Artist-teacher

Since 1913, Mikhail Shemyakin, having created his own studio, began serious teaching work. Until 1917, he taught drawing at the school of S. Yu. Zhukovsky, and from 1917 - at the Stroganov Art and Industrial School. Since 1918, he has been a professor at the first Free State Workshops, Vkhutemas and Vkhutein. In 1920-1929 participated in the organization of the workers' faculty of arts in Moscow (he held the position of head of the art department and teacher of drawing and painting). From 1929 to 1934 - Associate Professor at the Moscow Higher School of Civil Engineering, the Moscow Institute of Transport Engineers and the Military Engineering Academy of the Red Army. From 1934 he taught at the Moscow Printing Institute, then at Art Institute together with I. E. Grabar, S. V. Gerasimov and B. V. Ioganson.

During the war, in evacuation in Tashkent, he headed the drawing department at the Moscow Architectural Institute. He returned to Moscow in 1943 and taught at the Moscow State Art Institute.

Despite the fact that in May 1938, in the exhibition hall on Kuznetsky Most, personal exhibition Mikhail Shemyakin, we can say that when Soviet power his works were not particularly in demand: the subjects of his paintings almost did not “reflect” Soviet reality and did not extol the “successes” of industrialization and collectivization. Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin had his own amazing impressionistic style. And one of its features artistic style one must recognize a perfect sense of taste and proportion. This can be attributed not only to his unique talent to effectively use a minimum of color, but also to his ability to masterfully find precise pictorial solutions using minimal means. He really loved a blank canvas, when it “has not yet been spoiled by paints,” and the very beginning of work, when only the most necessary things are applied to the canvas. That is, perhaps, why many of his paintings seem as if they were not fully completed. The artist’s son talks about how his father’s paintings were born:

Mikhail Fedorovich began his work this way: with charcoal or a brush he dynamically outlined the intense main directions that build the composition. Space seemed to appear inside the canvas, gradually more and more animated forms emerged; they were enriched with color, details emerged organically from large, main forms. His works are characterized by a clearly constructed composition, where there is nothing accidental. In a painting, according to the artist’s own definition, everything should be subordinated to three elements inextricably linked into a single whole - composition, design and character...

Draw like a sniper shoots: not a single line, not a single stroke misses the target., - Shemyakin bequeathed to his students.

Recently, one of the best Moscow museums - the Museum of Russian Impressionism - hosted the exhibition “Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist,” the first retrospective of his work in the last 40 years. Pleasant and unexpected effect at the exhibition produced a subtle, bitterish floral aroma. The aroma of live hyacinths, which were placed in one of the exhibition halls and which Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin loved so much.

Literature:

Ageeva M.V.“Fiery Artist” // “Problems of studying and representing artistic heritage in regional museums.” Ekaterinburg, 2006.

Boranovsky V. I., Khlebnikova I. B. Anton Azhbe and Russian artists. M., 2001.
“Valentin Serov in memoirs, diaries and correspondence of contemporaries” L., 1971

Dobuzhinsky M. V. Memories. M., 1987

Moleva N. M., Belyutin E. M. Anton Ashbe School. M., 1958.

Repin I. E. Artistic heritage in 2 vols. M., 1949

Shemyakin M. F. Memoirs: To the 100th anniversary of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. 1845-1945 // Panorama of Arts. 12. M., 1989.

Shemyakin M. F. My teachers // Young artist. 1939. № 7.

Shemyakin M. M. Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin. L., 1980.

M. M. Shemyakin (05/15/1908-12/16/2003) - graphic artist and amateur astronomer. In 1939 he graduated from the graphic department of the Moscow Printing Institute (studied with P. Pavlinov, M. Rodionov, K. Istomin). Since 1928 he participated in exhibitions, in the 1930s. was studying book graphics, painted in watercolors and oils. His diploma was a series of lithographic portraits of the first international laureates music competitions. In 1944 he became a member of the Moscow organization of the Union of Artists. A special layer of Shemyakin’s creativity consists of portrait images of famous musical figures. IN different years he made portraits of conductor Konstantin Ivanov, pianist Viktor Merzhanov, violinist Liana Isakadze, young performer Dmitry Ratzer, composer Narine Khagagortyan, violist Nina Macharadze. http://abrikosov-sons.ru/vetv_anny_alekseevny_shemyakiny

The academic system for assessing student performance by obtaining numbers (the highest score was the first number) was developed by the Russian artist and teacher, founder and director of the Kyiv Drawing School N. I. Murashko. It is known that I. E. Repin was very critical of this system.

Ashbe Anton (1862-1905) - Slovenian painter, talented teacher. In 1891 he opened his own school, which gained European fame. He led it until the end of his days.

The Museum of Russian Impressionism presents a retrospective of the works of the original Russian impressionist artist of the first half of the 20th century, Mikhail Fedorovich Shemyakin - “Mikhail Shemyakin. A completely different artist." The exhibition of the famous master will include more than fifty works from museums in Russia, neighboring countries and Moscow private collections. Among them are the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts, art museums of Astrakhan, Penza, Tula, Ryazan and many others. Some works will be exhibited for the first time.

RUSSIAN IMPRESSIONIST

"ARTIST OF MUSICIANS"

In 1901, the artist married his fellow student Lyudmila Grzhimali, the daughter of the famous Czech violinist Ivan Voitekhovich Grzhimali in Moscow. For many years, Mikhail Shemyakin lived in his father-in-law’s apartment, located right in the right wing of the Moscow Conservatory. In the living room, the master more than once painted his musician relatives and their friends, who often visited the hospitable family. Mikhail Shemyakin was called the “chronicler of musical Moscow” of the first half of the twentieth century, and therefore portraits of musicians are given a central place in the exhibition. Visitors will be greeted with a series of images of great performers, including the artist’s father-in-law Ivan Grzhimali, composer Alexander Medike, violinist Frantisek Ondříček, cellist Hana Lubosic, singer and Bolshoi Theater soloist Nadezhda Salina.

Mikhail Shemyakin. Portrait of a violinist

DYNASTY: ABRikosovs - Shemyakins

Mikhail Shemyakin. Portrait of A. I. Abrikosov (1902)

CAPTIVATING FEMALE IMAGES

Mikhail Shemyakin. Model (1905)

HYACINTHES

It is impossible to imagine Mikhail Shemyakin’s exhibition without hyacinths. The artist had a special love for them: he more than once painted these delicate flowers, which always appeared in the Grzhimali-Shemyakins’ house on New Year’s Eve. According to Czech tradition, it was customary to decorate houses with spring flowers for Christmas. The artist’s son, Mikhail Mikhailovich Shemyakin, recalled: “The tree was big. She was wearing a lot of jewelry. Colored candles were burning. Multi-colored shiny glass balls and figures shone with glare<…>There were many living plants and flowers in the living room: large ficus, hydrangeas, cacti, hyacinths. We children - me and my older brother - were waiting at the door in the large adjacent room - the “hall”. Dad opened the high doors, and a Christmas tree appeared in front of us, in all its splendor and radiance! Her my father<…>wrote in the painting “Hyacinths near the Christmas tree.” The wicker basket with hyacinths in pots, which was depicted by the master, was once presented to I.V. Grzhimali by Leo Tolstoy.

Mikhail Shemyakin. Hyacinths at Night (1912)

REALIST-IMPRESSIONIST-CUBIST

The life story of Mikhail Shemyakin is replete with similar details. Fate brought him together with many outstanding contemporaries, each of whom could not remain indifferent to the artist’s work. One day, while picking mushrooms with children near Shark Mountain, where the Shemyakins rented a house, the artist met Vladimir Mayakovsky. Together with Lilya Brik, they often came to their yard for pink peonies. “Suddenly, a tall, broad-shouldered figure without a shirt, in smoothed trousers, with a towel on his shoulder, appeared in front of us. Short-cropped head. — recalled the artist’s son Mikhail. - Ah, Shemyakin! - said the poet. — I saw your work at the exhibition. You are a realist - an impressionist - a cubist." This paradoxical characterization is surprisingly insightful. As a realist, Shemyakin did not allow himself to simplify and distort nature for the sake of a picturesque effect. Like the Cubists, each time he approached nature simultaneously analytically and with ardent curiosity - as if he was seeing a person’s face or a bouquet of hyacinths for the first time. But from the very beginning of his creative career until the end of his life, the techniques of impressionism were his most favorite.

An illustrated catalog with previously unpublished archival materials will be published for the exhibition.