Vladimir school of landscape painting. The history of the Vladimir school of painting What is the Vladimir school of painting

Institute of Russian Realistic Art true to his own strategy. On the eve of the New Year holidays, on December 22, the museum opens an exhibition included in our(curators Tatyana Ivanova, Elena Kovalenko, Anna Volkova), dedicated to the local school of landscape painting, which was formed in Vladimir in the mid-1950s. The Vladimir school, often compared with the famous Barbizon school, is characterized by sonority of color, pure colors, texture of broad strokes, cheerfulness and festive color. This artistic direction in a sense is a synthesis of the experience of the Wanderers, art of Russian impressionists and folk art.

The works of the founders of the school, the artists Kim Britov, Vladimir Yukin, Valery Kokurin, Nikolai Mokrov, who drew inspiration from the natural beauties of the Vladimir region, the sonority of the lacquer miniature of Mstera, whimsical folk embroidery, Gorokhovets toys, artistic glass of Gus-Khrustalny (at the opening exhibition, works of decorative art will be "frame" paintings), often compared with the creations of the Fauvists, members of the Nabis group, and Igor Grabar. Young Vladimir painters began their artistic search, feeling the fresh wind of change even before the thaw. " It was in the air, manifested itself not only in painting, but in literature and music. The former style was dying away, restrained coloring, varnishing of reality, - Vladimir Yukin said goodbye to the Stalinist officialdom. - The war is over, people have tasted a new life. It was impossible to repeat the path traveled».

K. N. Britov
"Dust"
2005

K. N. Britov
"Old Vladimir. Market"
1999

K. N. Britov
"March. The guests have arrived
1996

V. Ya. Yukin
"Evening on the Volga"
1991

V. Ya. Yukin
"Self-portrait"
1958

N. N. Modorov
"Industrial landscape"
1986

V. G. Kokurin
"Building a compressor station"
1983

V. P. Dynnikov
"Let's take a walk"
2000

The Vladimir branch of the Union of Artists of the USSR opened in 1945 immediately after the formation of the Vladimir region. The victorious year in which this significant event took place, perhaps, determined the “victorious march” with which the Vladimir paintings go around Russia and the world.

Start

Picturesque victories were difficult, a lot had to be overcome and endured, especially at the first stages of development. It was difficult for the artists of the first years to get into the exhibitions, as they were ideological and were held under the strict control of the party organs. Social realism, with its cold splendor and ideological consistency, made painting monotonous, the arsenal of artistic means was strictly limited. The pressure of the party on art also made itself felt in the Vladimir region, although the creative life here was constantly developing and the paintings in Vladimir were already different from others.

Alas, by the end of the forties the greatest masters of the first generation of Vladimir artists left. The same painters and graphic artists, thanks to which the idea of ​​creating the Vladimir Union of Artists, arose, left. I. S. Kulikov was no longer in Murom, A. I. Vryagin, N. P. Klykov, A. F. Kotyagin, K. I. Mazin in Mstera, D. I. Rokhlin in Vladimir. But new forces were pouring into the organization. A truly creative atmosphere in the already established art centers of the region, the great practical experience accumulated there, and art education well established even before the war, produced amazing results by the beginning of the 1950s.

creative community

An artistic breakthrough is made by former front-line soldiers. It was these authors who were destined to create a unique trend in art - the Vladimir School of Painting. At the end of the forties, the first creative works of N. I. Shishakov (Mster) appeared. At the Fourth Regional Art Exhibition in 1948, for the first time, their works were shown by I. K. Balakin, who studied with I. A. Serebryakov and K. N. Britov, a student of the Kovrov artist S. M. Chesnokov .. After this exhibition, K. N. Britov is accepted as a candidate member of the Union of Artists. The following year, V. Ya. Yukin from Mstera showed his paintings for the first time. His works immediately attracted the attention of the viewer and art criticism.

Since 1950, V. Ya. Yukin, and since 1952, K. Britov have become regular participants in republican exhibitions in Moscow, where they actively exhibit their Vladimir paintings. This is a great success for the Vladimir organization of artists.

In their landscape works, Vladimir landscape painters analyze and rework the experience of painting by the great predecessors - Levitan, Yuon, Rylov, Grabar. The search for new expressive means and experiments with color, started individually, by the end of the fifties united Britov and Yukin, Vladimir Kokurin joined them. It was these artists who formed the basis of the creative union, the union of like-minded people. Then Nikolai Mokrov joined them. In 1959

V. Ya. Yukin moves to Vladimir from Mstera. Now in Vladimir the creative community of Vladimir painters is finally taking shape, which gave life to a remarkable phenomenon in the Russian landscape - the Vladimir school of painting. By this time, the artists had already clearly defined their artistic preferences. They, who went through the war, wanted to reflect the feeling of life and joy that overwhelmed their hearts. That is why their Vladimir paintings began to differ so sharply from the works of other artists.

Of course, it was not at once that such expression and power appeared in their paintings. The best pictures have come a long way. During these years, they enthusiastically study the landscapes of L. V. Turzhansky, P. I. Petrovichev, I. E. Grabar, K. F. Yuon, A. A. Rylov, A. I. Kuindzhi. It was these artists who became "landmarks" in art for Vladimir artists. At the same time, each artist was looking for his own individual path in painting.

Britov is passionate about color and boldly gains large color relationships. Yukina is concerned about the state of nature, the immediacy of feelings, which the artist often enhances with the pastiness of painting. Kokurin, a born colorist, tries to understand and convey the colorful state of nature and its light-air environment.

Vladimir paintings reflect the most characteristic - the eternal beauty of the Russian provinces. We also see villages dear to the heart, small regional towns, bazaars, old streets, discreet fields and copses -

Critics say...

Experts started talking about the fact that Vladimir had its own independent school of painting in 1960, when three Vladimir artists showed their works at the First Republican Exhibition "Soviet Russia".

Critics immediately noted the commonality of their aesthetic views, the unity of their artistic style and creative method, for all the individuality of the manners of each of them, they called to talk about the stable integrity of the young trend in the landscape. Since then, the Vladimir school of painting has been constantly developing and enriched with new achievements. On its basis, a whole galaxy of masters grew up, who confirmed the vitality and seriousness of this trend in art with their work.
These are V. Egorov, V. Kalinin, A Kuvin, V. Kuvin, M Levin, N. Modorov, N. Mokrov, V. Telegin, E. Telegin, V. Titov and others.

Many art critics have devoted their works to Vladimir artists. Art critic Platon Pavlov wrote: “The search for color brightness required the artists to solve some specific pictorial and decorative tasks. Work in "open" tones is primarily reflected in the pictorial transmission of space. In these cases, a simple weakening of color saturation by washing or whitening tones in the background can violate the necessary unity of the color solution.

Therefore, in the paintings of Vladimirites, the backgrounds are often no less intense in color than the front ones, but the quality of the color background with which they are painted is such that the viewer does not lose the impression of space. Artists achieve this by particularly precise selection and combination of color tones. Such a pictorial system entails the need to build a composition in a special way.

It is no coincidence that for Vladimir artists the main knot, the center of the composition - a building or a tree - is often the most intense in color. But color rhythm plays a particularly important role in their canvases. Artists are not afraid to repeat spots of the same tone, deploying them on the canvas. The most characteristic technique of Vladimir landscape painters is the use of a high horizon and a high point of view.

This technique enhances the decorative effect. The sky in the canvases usually occupies the most modest place: it either peeps somewhere between the houses, or is depicted as a narrow strip under the upper bar of the frames. Sometimes it doesn't exist at all. But the earth resembles a flowery carpet. Trees, houses, streets are sometimes arranged as if in tiers. As for technique, that painting, more often pasty, is distinguished by Vladimir artists with an energetic, broad brushstroke.

Success

The success and creative growth of the Vladimir landscape painters were consolidated with each new display of paintings.

In 1970, they performed in Moscow with a separate group exhibition, which was attended by V. Ya. Yukin, K. N. Britov, V. G. Kokurin, N. V. Mokrov, N. N. Modorov and V. S. Egorov. Vladimir paintings were shown to the public in full for the first time. Art critic Y. Nekhoroshev wrote: “the canvases attract attention with the emphasized brightness of colors, taken, as they say, “in full force”“... A similar understanding of the principle of decorativeness, characteristic of folk art, is also inherent in the best works of Vladimir painters ... The rough texture of the canvases is emphasized, The special “rough” primer used by the residents of Vladimir creates an additional decorative effect.Local color spots seem to be crushed on the canvas, which contributes to the optical mixing of colors and makes them “vibrate”.

Similar "impressionistic" methods of applying colors can be found in K. Korovin, I Grabar and other Russian painters. It should be noted that the residents of Vladimir are forcing this technique, which ... has become quite organic for their landscapes.

E. Kostina (1962), O. Voronova (1968), I. Porto (1970), E. Mozhukhovskaya (1970) also gave a high assessment of Vladimir painting.

A spoon of tar

Of course, there was both misunderstanding and rejection. Back in 1964, on the pages of the magazine "Artist" in the article "In the power of the stamp", art critic T. Nordshtein reproached Vladimir artists for "departure from the diversity of the world", for the "standard" and "clichéd" approach to depicting nature, and in general - to "Narrowing the creative horizon."

The official point of view was expressed at that time by the chairman of the board of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR G. M. Korzhev at a creative conference discussing the results of the zonal and republican exhibitions of 1970: “For several years now,” he said, “with the light hand of some art historians, at first half-jokingly, and recently quite seriously and without quotation marks, such a name as the “Vladimir school” in painting has been established ... An increased interest in their painting style, too soon popularity, which some of our printed organs helped them to acquire, led the Vladimir artists, unfortunately, not to new discoveries, but to marking time, to endless chewing on the same motives. We know from the history of art that art schools have always arisen on the solid foundation of a serious artistic program, that they have enriched traditions, affirmed new principles in the name of ever closer to the truth of life. In the so-called Vladimir “school”, in our opinion, something quite the opposite is happening.”

That is why our countrymen had to defend the principles of the new art in long discussions and persistent creativity - the creation of more and more perfect and grandiose canvases.

Confession

The seventies became the time when the Vladimir school of painting was completely rehabilitated. A monograph by O. Voronova "Vladimir landscape painters" (1973, second edition - 1987) was published in Moscow, which summed up the many years of artistic experience of the painters. This monograph showed the significance of the Vladimir school of painting. That is why many spiteful critics had to recognize the Vladimir paintings and their authors.

In 1980, the publishing house "Artist of the RSFSR" released an album of reproductions of the works of V. Ya. Yukin with an introductory article by N. Shamardina and V. Arofikin, in 1985 the same publishing house published a monograph by V. Desyatnikov about K. N. Britov, and in 1988 Art magazine publishes a creative portrait of V. G. Kokurin, written by V. Basmanov.

Today, the best works of the founders and leading masters of the Vladimir school of landscape are kept in the central art collections of Russia - in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, as well as in a number of foreign and domestic museums. Their fame has long crossed the borders of Russia. All this is evidence of the recognition of their talent and skill, which they generously share with their students.

To the Britons. autumn day

The other day I got to the exhibition of Vladimir artists.
Disappointed with the way it is organized.
One tiny room. A dozen paintings with engravings, and even then, perhaps, not the best that is in the local funds, plus two or three exhibits of lacquer miniatures, Gusev glass, and ceramics.
Meanwhile, the fact that Vladimir has its own school of painting has appeared and is developing since the 1960s.
Themes of landscape paintings mostly small villages, district towns, bazaars, old streets, fields and copses - everything that quiet provincial life is full of.
Colors.
Very saturated colors, bright spots of the same tone are often repeated. The center of the composition - the building, the tree - are the most intense in color.

V. Yukin. March

A recognizable reception of Vladimir painters - high horizon and high vantage point. This enhances the decorative effect.

K. Britov. Old Vladimir.

Sky occupies a very modest place on the canvases. Sometimes it is almost non-existent. It barely peeps between houses and trees. But the earth is a flowery carpet.

V. Yukin. Akinshino village.

Trees, houses, streets - are located, as it were, in steps, tiers.

N. Mokrov. On the bank of the river.

Strokes are wide, energetic, large color spots

V. Egorov. Usolye village

The decorativeness of Vladimir artists is akin to folk arts and crafts.
They also have something from the Impressionists - an elusive trembling of color, a play of light and shadow ...

Smirnov. V.I. Beginning of spring.

Similar methods of overlaying paints can be found in K. Korovin, I. Grabar.

A few more non-painting works peeped at the exhibition

Kokurin Valery Grigorievich (born 1930, Vladimir).

Valery Kokurin is one of the creators of the unique Vladimir school of painting. It arose at the turn of the 1950s - 60s and opposed the official art of those years. The canvases of the artists were distinguished by their bright decorative effect, sonorous color, thick, rich brushstroke. In custom-made articles, Kokurin was called an "abstractionist", "cosmopolitan", "impressionist". There were cases when the curators filmed his work on the eve of the exhibition. But, despite all the vicissitudes of life, the artist did not change his palette, retaining his originality. His canvases attracted people with their unexpected, not accepted in those years, manner of writing, deep poetry, open polyphony of colors. The themes of his works are the unique nature of the Vladimir region, villages and small towns with their old streets and colorful bazaars, monuments of ancient Russian architecture - everything that fills the quiet life of the province with its powerful layer of folk culture.

The artist's works radiate the joy of being, they are extremely sincere and spontaneous. V. Kokurin is an inborn colorist, the colors on his canvases are emphatically bright, the festive colors are based on combinations of contrasting, pure, sonorous colors. In the ancient cathedrals and churches that constantly appear in his landscapes, Kokurin sees enduring beauty that naturally and harmoniously blends into the natural landscape.

The artist's paintings are in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Murom Historical and Art Museum, the Vladimir Historical and Art Museum-Reserve, as well as in private collections in many countries of the world.

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