Artist S. V. Gerasimov: biography, creativity, photo

He was not a cell artist, living only in the world of his images, and actively participated in the life of his country. S. V. Gerasimov for a long time led the Union of Artists of the USSR, and therefore, participated in the leadership role of the Communist Party in the field of fine arts. He is remembered as an able administrator with the reputation of a moderate liberal, he was an attentive and skilful teacher who left many students. But his main legacy is paintings, watercolors and graphics, marked with a seal of great talent and a subtle soul.

Little Motherland

In 1885 in the suburban Mozhaisk in a wealthy family was born Sergei Vasilyevich Gerasimov. Biography of the artist says that his life was connected with these places for a very long time. Later, already occupying responsible positions in Moscow, he came to his Mozhaisky house, where there was a small workshop, and used every opportunity to paint pictures, trying to express in the landscapes the soft beauty of the surroundings.

Son of a handicraftsman-tanner, he managed to get a wonderful education, having graduated from two leading capital art schools: Stroganov Art and Industry and the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Lucky for him and with the teachers, among whom were Konstantin Korovin and Sergei Ivanov. In addition to the virtuosic painting technique of oil painting, Sergey Vasilievich mastered watercolor, lithography, etching and other kinds of graphics, which expanded his creative abilities.

Search for a style

He met the October Revolution with an accomplished master. S. Gerasimov was known for works created in various materials and in various genres: "The cart" (1906), "Wedding in a tavern" (1909), "Portrait of ID Sytin" (1912), "In the North "(1913). Genre scenes, portraits and especially the landscapes of that time are filled with a subtle poetic feeling, expressed in a free, picturesque manner, close to impressionism.

The search for new forms in painting, which marked the beginning of the twentieth century, could not pass by the young, but very educated Gerasimov. Subsequently, the artist will pass the period of fascination with Cezanne and the early Cubists (Frontier (1926)). There was a time when primitivists seemed close to him. But the opinion of a large number of critics who attribute Gerasimov to the outstanding masters of Russian impressionism seems to be the most justified. Even the mechanical attribution of it to the founders of socialist realism in painting is more associated with its high position in the official hierarchy.

New Times

After a long break, caused by the First World War and the difficulties of revolutionary time, SV Gerasimov joins the active artistic life of the young country. He participates in the work of such creative associations as Makovets, the Society of Moscow Artists and the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR), which became the forerunner of the Union of Artists of the USSR.

He tries to master the revolutionary propaganda genre: "The oath of the Siberian partisans" (1933), "V. I. Lenin at the Second Congress of Soviets among the delegates-peasants "(1931)," Kolkhoz Holiday "(1937). SV Gerasimov successfully worked in the genre of illustration, creating graphic sheets for the Artamonov Cause, The Captain's Daughter, Nekrasov, Tolstoy, Ostrovsky's plays, and other classical and contemporary books. His watercolors, which guessed the methods of work with pasty, oil paints, were recognized as innovative by many domestic and foreign connoisseurs. But the landscape was my favorite genre.

Middle Band Singer

The artist traveled a lot. Sergei Vasilievich Gerasimov, whose biography contains information about the tour of European countries, left a series of virtuoso full-scale sketches made in Italy, France, the Caucasus. During the Great Patriotic War he got into evacuation to Central Asia. There, in his paintings, "hot" oriental flavor "settled", with bright colors and blinding light. But there was an edge where he always was drawn, where he always returned - the Moscow region, the native Mozhaisk.

In small sketches depicting the neighborhood of his native town, and in more elaborate canvases, the master's talent is especially harmonious. Sergei Gerasimov is a Russian artist who continued the traditions of Levitan, Vasiliev, Kuindzhi. The main thing in his landscape paintings - Winter (1939), Plotinus (1929), Spring Spill (1935), a series of Mozhaisk species (1940-1950) and many others - amazing emotional content, harmony and freshness of color, virtuosic Pictorial mastery.

1943, "The Mother of the Partisan"

His work is truly multifaceted. The master of subtle poetic nuances, the artist Sergei Gerasimov during the war creates a canvas that has become a symbol of the people's steadfastness, manifested in confronting a formidable and cruel enemy.

The image of an elderly peasant woman, whose son is taken to be executed, tells about the spiritual force that has become an invincible barrier to the invaders. This picture told foreign viewers about the Russian character more than the volume of ideologically held literature. She explained a lot, telling about the reasons for the invincibility of our people. What motivated Gerasimov to write this picture? Seeing only the desire to meet ideological criteria is wrong. "The mother of the partisan" is a work of a truly Russian artist whose soul is inseparable from the people, from the land and nature that brought him up.

Sergey Gerasimov, the artist. short biography

Time and place of birth - September 14, 1885, Mozhaisk.
1901-1907 - study in Stroganovka.
1907-1912 - studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
1912-1914 - participation in exhibitions, teaching in an art school at the ID Sytin printing house.
In 1914 he was called up for military service.
1917 - return to Moscow, participation in creative artistic associations.
Teaching: The State School of Printing at the People's Commissariat for Education (1918-1923), Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (1920-1929), Moscow Polygraphic Institute (1930-1936), Surikov (1937-1950), Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after SG Stroganov (1950-1954).
1958-1964 - First Secretary of the Union of Artists of the USSR.
He died on April 20, 1964.