The best paintings by Russian artist Boris Kustodiev. Kustodiev's painting "Maslenitsa": description

An essay based on Kustodiev’s painting “Maslenitsa” should begin with brief information about the artist himself. For example, the fact that Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev is one of the greatest Russians Soviet artists, who worked in different periods of Russian life: he was born in Russian Empire, but died in the Soviet Union. He was distinguished by his talent already in his early years and received many medals and awards during his studies and upon graduation from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Despite the fact that he was widely known as a portrait painter, his soul lay with everyday genre- combining a portrait with a landscape or interior. This is his painting “Maslenitsa”, painted in 1919.

Plan for writing an essay on the topic "Maslenitsa" based on a painting by Kustodiev

Like any other essay, this work should begin with a well-thought-out plan.

The first point, as usual, is the introduction. An example introduction is at the beginning of this article; it can be expanded if necessary and other facts about the artist or painting can be introduced.
Next, in an essay on the painting “Maslenitsa” by Kustodiev, you should describe the details of the picture: what is in the foreground and background, what objects or parts attract attention, consider color scheme And general mood works.
After this, you need to describe your feelings and emotions caused by viewing the picture. You should also not skimp on assumptions about what may cause the emotions of the characters in the picture and its general mood.
At the very end, it remains to draw a capacious conclusion that will summarize the entire essay as a whole.

Essay based on Kustodiev’s painting “Maslenitsa”

In this painting, the artist sought to convey the general cheerful and cheerful mood that is caused by the original Russian and long-awaited holiday - Maslenitsa. It is so long-awaited because people associate it with the aroma tasty food, with fairs, with the onset of spring and city festivities. In the foreground of the picture, the artist depicted harnessed horses with people briskly riding in sleighs, cheerful children next to a shop with cheeses and caviar, merchants leisurely having a conversation, a merchant behind a small shop and a lively crowd near the theater. The central object of the composition is an elegant troika of horses, which with difficulty overcome fluffy snowdrifts and carry wealthy ladies in a sleigh. Despite the fact that it is clearly frosty outside (all the characters are dressed in warm fur coats), the color scheme of the picture warms its viewer: a variety of warm brown, red and yellow shades in the foreground of the picture complements the overall mood of the work. In the background, the fun seems to have died down a little: a calm church glistens in the sun, birch trees covered with snow stand quietly, there don’t seem to be so many people.

Completion of an essay

In conclusion of the essay on the painting “Maslenitsa” by Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev, I would like to note that he was a true master in creating such bright, festive household paintings, which will not allow Russian people to remain indifferent to them. Everyone will find themselves in his paintings, recognize the emotions that this artist tried to convey. talented artist. His paintings turned out so alive and truthful because he was close to the people and sincerely loved them.

The famous Russian artist Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev several times in his work turned to holiday theme farewell to winter, revealing it each time with a feeling of joy from brightness and frosty freshness. One of these bright works, Kustodiev’s painting Maslenitsa was painted in 1916, subsequently continuing this creative theme, he creates two more colorful canvases in 1919 and 1920. Although some sketches and sketches of the Russian holiday were made by him earlier.

This is a difficult time for Russia, forced to take part in the First World War. Kustodiev is seriously ill and has not picked up his brushes for a long time. But after the operation, overcoming excruciating pain, being in a wheelchair, he begins work and creates works about provincial life. He writes “Maslenitsa”, full of cheerful frosty happiness, as if contrasting it with illness.

A traditional folk festival of the long-awaited welcome of spring, farewell to winter, various competitions, the best outfits are taken from chests, obligatory pancakes, the construction of a snow town, tug of war, pitched tents and sleigh rides. Shaggy earflaps, colorful scarves and shawls, bright mittens - all this flashes as if in a round dance.

Kustodiev’s Maslenitsa painting stands out significantly compared to the works of other Russian masters, with its unusual colorfulness of writing and a certain primitivism of pictorial strokes, nevertheless, the perception of his colorful idyll of the holiday in the Russian province is very easy and understandable, which accordingly lifts the mood.

Horseback riding, sledding down the mountains, burning a straw effigy, which was a symbol of a long cold winter... This is a whole week on the eve of Lent. The ancient Slavs celebrated the meeting of spring and farewell to winter in Russia back in pagan times. In the center of any settlement merry celebrations were held. Maslenitsa ended with the burning of a straw effigy, symbolizing winter.

The last evening rays illuminate the snow-covered city, high spiers and colorful domes of churches. And below, multi-colored swings and carousels creak and rotate, and the cheerful hubbub of the fair can be heard from afar. A brightly painted sleigh being raced by a pair of horses along the street. It is clear that there is a competition going on to see who is faster, louder, and more distant. Fun covers everyone.

This is a fabulous reality, like a testament of a sick artist to always look at life with optimism and certainly believe that life itself is a holiday. The sun is nearing sunset, but its rays seem to linger to watch the fun festivities. The winter landscape, which served as the backdrop for Kustodiev’s work, creates a carnival atmosphere.

Painted sleighs, birds soaring into the air, slides. The viewer seems to be watching the action from a bird's eye view. Fun, Russian prowess - all this is depicted by the painter in collective image - national holiday. The size of the canvas is 89 by 190.5 cm, 1916. The painting is located in the Russian Museum, in the city of St. Petersburg.

One such holiday is depicted in another painting by Kustodiev in 1919. In the pink-golden rays of sunset, a mass celebration of residents of a provincial town takes place. The movement of the holiday can be felt by the recklessly racing sleighs. The artist’s work on the theme of winter is filled with genuine joy.

Here you have a dashing trio of horses in the center of the canvas, a team drawn by two horses is catching up with it, and in the foreground on the left, a merchant’s car is modestly but cheerfully cutting through the alley married couple on a sleigh drawn by a white horse.

Farewell to winter is a special folk holiday, which Kustodiev so repeatedly tried to convey: painted sleighs, merchants conducting leisurely trade and the nobility imposingly marching. Carefree fun, and in the distance you can see the domes of a small church - a symbol of Orthodoxy. The author chooses bright colors: a bright red or green pattern of painted sleighs, the facade of houses. But the temple is depicted as bright and located between beautiful trees. This expresses his attitude towards faith. The canvas size is 71 by 98 cm, located in St. Petersburg, in the museum in the apartment of I. Brodsky

In 1920, another painting “Maslenitsa” came out from under the brush of Kustodiev - this is the life of the people of Russia and its centuries-old history. The artist unfolds before us the most fascinating stories with the smallest details, in multi-figure compositions, colored with admiration and its elusive irony.

This holiday was very famous among the people folk pastimes and colorful fair booths. It looks like a carnival, against the backdrop of a tall church, where everything is so decorative: townspeople dressed in expensive fur coats stroll leisurely, someone sells only baked pies, horses rush dashingly, cheerfully jingling golden bells.

In the foreground, children are sledding. It seems that even nature has dressed up for this occasion, decorating the trees with frost, delighting the townspeople with its sunny but still frosty spring weather. This is an amazing, bright, multi-colored and festive sketch, echoing popular prints. folk art. The size of the painting is 69x90 cm, the location of the painting is unknown.

In his paintings dedicated to mass celebrations, the artist sought to highlight the reckless and daring whirlwind of emotions. Most often this was expressed in the image of a racing Russian troika. These works have something of the theater scenery: the contrast and even the use of “scenes”. They are very colorful in composition, reminiscent of unique Russian boxes.

Many of Kustodiev’s paintings were painted from memory. The main characters of such works seem to be cleared of negativity: they are kind, poetic, and full of dignity. There is a feeling that the patriarchal way of life Russian life gone into the past. The plot of such paintings is often associated with festive images in Russian painting. Kustodiev conveys the brightest side of life, in which there is light, fun, and happiness. And Maslenitsa - mass holiday, with the participation of people regardless of their class and material wealth.

Kustodiev’s painting becomes more colorful with each new work, becoming truly national. It carries a charge of amazing energy, a radiant feeling of the fullness of life. The artist is keen-sighted and sometimes mockingly observant; he knows how to find joy in any manifestation of life, so varied and colorful.

“The people are the crown of earthly color, beauty and joy to all colors...”

Alexander Blok

First World War, revolution, Civil War... And at this time, the sick master creates wonderful in composition and color, life-loving and joyful images of ideal Rus', with its bright scarves and pot-bellied samovars, cheerful peasants and broken merchants, shining domes of churches and carved platbands of huts. Like the city of Kitezh or “The Summer of the Lord” by Ivan Shmelev, Boris Kustodiev’s Russia appears before the viewer. And a special place here is occupied by a series of works dedicated to Maslenitsa.

The first three Maslenitsa paintings were painted in 1916, and this theme did not leave the artist until 1922. So, more and more new versions were created in 1917 and 1919, and in 1921 Kustodiev painted a portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin again against the background Maslenitsa festivities. The action of these works always takes place in a city, the landscape of which is a collective image of many provincial and metropolitan places, and the plot is almost always divided into many mise-en-scenes, in which a variety of “folk” types participate - peasants, merchants, peddlers, merchants, officers and accordionists . The atmosphere of holiday and carnival is conveyed by the artist through extremely rich and bright colors. Here the viewer sees sleigh rides, a booth, and ice slides - typical “pre-revolutionary” entertainment on Maslenitsa.

“Maslenitsa” most fully reflected Kustodiev’s passion for painting by old Dutch masters, primarily. It is impossible not to note the similarity in composition, abundance small parts and scenes, as well as the peculiarities of the perspective of all the paintings - a look at what is happening from high point, as if “in flight”, allowing you to simultaneously show the beauty of the landscape and provide many “theatrical” plans for the action of the characters. But what is even more important to note is the common (for both Kustodiev and Bruegel) love for everyday joys ordinary people, sincere admiration for life and its poetry.

Here is what the artist himself wrote about this: “In my works I want to approach Dutch masters, to their attitude towards their native life... Dutch artists they loved simple, everyday life, for them there was neither “high”, nor “vulgar”, “low”, they all wrote with the same enthusiasm and love.”

Boris Kustodiev's canvases, dedicated to Russian festive life, are always at the same time realistic, full of authentic details - beautifully painted costumes and utensils, architectural motifs, signs of the season. And at the same time, these are, of course, collective, idealized images that convey to the viewer a special, magical and complete folk poetry a world similar to the fairy tales of Pushkin and Gogol.

And it is impossible not to admire the feat of the master, who recreated in his works the picture of the bygone Russian world with its bright festive colors shining against the backdrop of white winter, the joys of the “little people” so beloved by Russian literature. “Love of life, joy, cheerfulness, love of one’s own, “Russian” - have always been the only “plot” of my paintings,” is how Boris Kustodiev himself described his work at the end of his life.

Boris Kustodiev

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev was born in Astrakhan in 1878. There he received his first painting lessons, and then as a young man he went to St. Petersburg and ended up in the studio of Ilya Efimovich Repin at the Academy of Arts. Kustodiev quickly grew from a simple student into an assistant and young colleague his professor, helped Repin work on the monumental canvas “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council on May 7, 1901.” Ilya Efimovich did not skimp on praise in response: “I have high hopes for Kustodiev. He is a gifted artist, art lover, thoughtful, serious, carefully studying nature. Distinctive features his gifts: independence, originality and deeply felt nationality..."

Even during his years of study, Boris Kustodiev established himself as an excellent and subtle portrait painter (just remember the wonderful portrait of the artist Ivan Bilibin). However, as a diploma he chooses genre painting and creates, based on Kostroma etudes and observations, the work “At the Bazaar”, which received gold medal and the right to retiree travel abroad.

Upon returning from Europe, where the artist copied and studied old masters, Kustodiev worked a lot, later becoming a member of the Academy of Arts and various art groups, communities and circles, the most famous of which was, of course, the “World of Art”. It continues to be occupied by a peasant and folk life- this is how series are created “ Village holidays" and "Fairs".

The brighter and purer the colors on Boris Kustodiev’s canvases become, the heavier the atmosphere in Russia and the personal circumstances of the artist’s life become. Since 1909, he has undergone a series of operations caused by a spinal cord tumor. For the last 15 years of his life, Kustodiev was practically chained to wheelchair and paints pictures while lying down.

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev several times in his work turned to the festive theme of seeing off winter, revealing it each time with a feeling of joy from brightness and frosty freshness. One of these bright works, “Maslenitsa,” was painted in 1916, subsequently continuing this creative theme, he created two more colorful canvases in 1919 and 1920. Although some sketches and sketches of the Russian holiday were made by him earlier.

Maslenitsa. 1916
Canvas, oil. 61 x 123 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery,
Moscow

Maslenitsa. 1916
Canvas, oil. 47 x 80 cm

Saint Petersburg

Maslenitsa 1916. The last evening rays illuminate the snow-covered city, high spiers and colorful domes of churches. And below, multi-colored swings and carousels creak and rotate, and the cheerful hubbub of the fair can be heard from afar. A brightly painted sleigh being raced by a pair of horses along the street. It is clear that there is a competition going on to see who is faster, louder, and more distant. Fun covers everyone. This is a fabulous reality, like a testament of a sick artist to always look at life with optimism and certainly believe that life itself is a holiday. The sun is nearing sunset, but its rays seem to linger to watch the fun festivities. The winter landscape, which served as the backdrop for Kustodiev’s work, creates a carnival atmosphere. Painted sleighs, birds soaring into the air, slides. The viewer seems to be watching the action from a bird's eye view. Fun, Russian prowess - all this is depicted by the painter in a collective image - a folk holiday. The size of the canvas is 89 by 190.5 cm, 1916. The painting is located in the Russian Museum, in the city of St. Petersburg.

Maslenitsa1. 1916
Canvas, oil. 89x190.5 cm
State Russian Museum,
Saint Petersburg

Kustodiev’s painting “Maslenitsa” stands out significantly compared to the works of other Russian masters, with its unusual colorfulness of writing and a certain primitivism of painterly strokes, nevertheless, the perception of his colorful idyll of the holiday in the Russian province is very easy and understandable, which accordingly lifts the mood. Horseback riding, sledding down the mountains, burning a straw effigy, which was a symbol of the long cold winter... This is a whole week on the eve of Lent. The ancient Slavs celebrated the meeting of spring and farewell to winter in Russia back in pagan times. In the center of any settlement, fun festivities were held. Maslenitsa ended with the burning of a straw effigy, symbolizing winter.

Http://www.art-portrets.ru/art20veka/

Artistic talent Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev a world-famous representative of Russian painting of the last century, gave us a nostalgic world, sunny and joyful, emphasizing bright colors holiday feeling. As a student, Kustodiev not only inherited Repin’s manner and style, but also introduced his unique play of colors, which involuntarily charges with positivity and happiness. It is worth noting that Boris Mikhailovich’s development as an artist began long before he met his teacher; this is evidenced by his work, permeated with the echo of childhood affections and experiences.

Kustodiev was born into the family of a seminary teacher in 1878 in Astrakhan. Fate decreed that Boris's father died when the boy was just over a year old, and all responsibility for raising him fell on the fragile shoulders of his mother - a 25-year-old widow with four children in her arms. Despite the very modest income, the family lived amicably, and mother's love brightened up the difficulties of life, giving the opportunity to form creative personality. It was the mother, Ekaterina Prokhorovna, who instilled in the children a love of high art– theater, literature, painting. This upbringing clearly determined Boris’s future, and already at the age of 9 he knew that he would become an artist.

In 1892, having entered the Astrakhan Theological Seminary, Kustodiev simultaneously began taking lessons from the local painter A.P. Vlasova. With the blessing of Vlasov, in 1896 Kustodiev became a student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and, after two years, was accepted into the studio of Ilya Repin. great artist immediately drew attention to the student, placing high hopes on him, which later resulted in working together above the monumental canvas - . The consequence is successful start became protection thesis with a gold medal and an internship abroad. On his trip to Europe, the artist went with his young family, his recently born son and his young wife, Yulia Evstafievna Proshinskaya.

Subsequently, in 1905, paying tribute fateful meeting with his love, Kustodiev built a house-workshop “Terem” near the city of Kineshma, on the Volga. “Terem” became the place of work and creativity of the artist, and here, almost every summer, Boris Mikhailovich was overcome by a feeling that is commonly called happiness, inspiring him to creativity and awareness of the fullness of life. The beloved wife, who became a faithful assistant, son and daughter, in the indestructible concept of family, were reflected in the artist’s work and became a separate big theme in his painting (the painting “Morning”).

A year earlier, in 1904, the artist spent several months abroad, in and around the world, visiting exhibitions and museums. The native expanses called Boris Mikhailovich to Russia and, returning to his homeland, Kustodiev plunged into the world of journalism, collaborating with the satirical magazines “Zhupel” and “Hellish Mail”. Thus, the first Russian revolution encouraged him to try his hand at cartoons and caricatures of government officials.

The year 1907 became eventful: a trip to, passion for sculpture, membership in the Union of Artists. And in 1908, the world of theater opened up for Kustodiev - he worked as a decorator at the Mariinsky. The popularity of Boris Mikhailovich is growing, the fame of the portrait painter is becoming the reason famous work Nicholas II in 1915, but long before that, in 1909, trouble came to the artist’s family - the first signs of a spinal cord tumor appeared. Despite this, he continues to actively travel around Europe and receives the title of academician of painting in the same year. After visiting Austria, Italy, France and Germany, Kustodiev goes to Switzerland, where he undergoes treatment. Subsequently, in Berlin in 1913, he underwent a complex operation.

It would seem that the disease had receded and 1914 was marked by exhibitions at the Bernheim Gallery in Paris, International art exhibitions in Venice and In 1916, Kustodiev underwent a second operation, which resulted in paralysis of the lower body and amputation of the legs. Since then, the artist’s whole world is his room, memory and imagination. It was during this period that he painted his most vivid and festive paintings, depicting provincial life(, “Rural holiday”) and the beauty of the body ().

But cheerfulness and optimism are unable to overcome the disease, which, as it progresses, allows the artist to hold a lifetime exhibition of his own works in 1920 at the Petrograd House of Arts. The last milestones of life were marked by the design of the play “The Flea” and participation in International exhibition in Paris.

In 1927, on May 26, at the age of 49, Boris Mikhailovich died literally while working on a sketch of the triptych he had conceived, “The Joy of Work and Leisure.” Thus ended a difficult, but full of light and joyful notes of life famous artist who left us a legacy demonstrating a thirst for life and knowledge.