The artist-illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov: biography, creativity, paintings and illustrations. Yury Vasnetsov is a Soviet artist

It is unlikely that anything else will be able to reveal the qualities of a real artist so much as work for a children's audience. For such illustrations, you need all the real things - both knowledge of child psychology, and talent, and spirit. The work for kids does not tolerate any fakes. And if the drawing is made not by a cold heart and soul, if the illustrator has not turned his vocation into a craft, then such a creation will certainly become an event.

It was such a master of his craft that Vasnetsov Yuri Alekseevich was.

Awesome World of the Artist

The books illustrated by Yu. A. Vasnetsov are recognizable at first sight, millions of Soviet children have grown up on them. The images in these books are of paramount importance, they inevitably attract the attention of a small reader.

The inexhaustible imagination, with which Yury Vasnetsov designed books, allows you to plunge into the world of childhood with your head, forget about some worries and disorder of the adult world. The images created by the artist sparkle with optimism, are full of life-affirming force. Animals and birds, the main acting characters of fairy tales, acquire tremendous expressiveness, Yuri Vasnetsov gave them a manner of behavior, movement and habits, which he subtly noticed in real life.

Why Vasnetsov's illustrations are loved by children

He always found a way to the hearts of his young readers and contemplatives who had just begun to explore the world through endless sketches, a continuous study of nature. Fairy-tale heroes, who gave life to Yuri Vasnetsov (artist), at first glance, not real, popular. But he draws exactly as they see the eyes of a small spectator. He does not go into a string of realistic details and details, the main goal of the artist is to make the young reader feel the fairy-tale nature of the characters.

Vasnetsov never dealt with issues of age psychology, nor was he a teacher, but he was able to unmistakably feel his smallest reader and admirer, the one who does not know how to read.

Vasnetsov Yuri Alekseevich. Biography

The future artist was born on 22.03.1900 in the northern city of Vyatka. Father, grandfather and uncle Vasnetsov were clergymen. Yuri was brought up in rigor. The remuneration in the family was modest, but not poor. In 1917, after the revolution, the Vasnetsovs' family was evicted from the cathedral home and learned a great deal of misery. Yuri's father did not want to resign himself, continuing to walk in his cassock.

While still a child, Yuri independently painted the walls of rooms, stoves and stalens in the neighboring houses with bright drawings, where Russian designs, horses, fantastic animals, unknown birds and magic flowers found their place. The art that his people are so rich with, he already valued and loved.

In 1919 Vasnetsov Yuri Alekseevich graduated from the Unified Secondary School, and in 1921 he left his home in Vyatka and moved to Petrograd. In the same year he became a student of the painting faculty of the Higher Art Technical Institute. It was here that he became acquainted with the "organic" trend in painting, which later became the closest to his work.

After graduating from the institute, Vasnetsov Yuri works as a teacher in the art school of Leningrad. In 1926, the artist again goes to school. This time to the State Institute of Art Culture. The creative director of the artist was Kazimir Malevich. Paintings by Yuri Vasnetsov, who received a life in this period - "Cubist Composition", "Still Life. In the workshop of Malevich "," Still life with a chessboard "- carry a beautiful knowledge of the form and role of contrast.

The road to the children's book

Vasnetsov Yuri (artist-illustrator) began his activity, thanks to which he acquired millions of admirers of his talent in 1928. It was then that VV Lebedev, who at that time worked as an art editor at the publishing house Detgiz, drew a young illustrator to work. The first books were "The Swamp" and "Karabash" by V. V. Bianchi. It was in these illustrations that humor, grotesque and good irony of Vasnetsov were realized, which will be characteristic of all his subsequent creativity.

Forever they entered the classics of children's art and later Vasnetsov's illustrations. In 1934 saw the light "Confusion" K. Chukovsky, in 1935 - "Three Bears" by L. Tolstoy, in 1941 - "Teremok" S. Marshak. Still later, there will be "Stolen Sun", "Cats' House", "Fifty Pigs", "Humpbacked Horse". Books were published in millions of copies and did not linger on store shelves due to the writer's skill of their authors and the inexhaustible imagination of the illustrator. The artist created his own unique and only inherent artistic style, which we even now know, even glancing at the illustration.

In the mid-thirtieth Vasnetsov creates several paintings ("Still Life with a Hat and a Bottle," "Lady with a Mouse"), which finally manifests itself as a large-scale artist, brilliantly combining the refined art culture of his time with the traditions of Russian folk art, . But the appearance of these paintings coincided with the beginning of the struggle against formalism, in which the artist was accused.

Military and post-war years

Before the war, Vasnetsov worked for the Bolshoi Drama Theater, developing costumes and scenery. In the war years, Yuri Vasnetsov produces a series of greeting cards. His work during this period is greatly influenced by the ideology of those times. At the very beginning of the war, the artist becomes a member of the "Battle Pencil" - a team of artists and poets who helped their victory over the enemy by their creativity. In 1941 the Vasnetsov family was evacuated to the rear in Perm, and in 1943 - to Zagorsk. The Research Institute of Toys became his place of work. Yuri Vasnetsov works there as the main artist. He returned to Leningrad only in late 1945.

After the war the artist devotes himself to landscapes. The most widely known landscapes were Sosnovo, Estonian and Crimean, sketches of Mill Creek.

Personal life

Illustrator Yuri Vasnetsov did not advertise his personal life, therefore it is not so much already known about it.

In the life of the artist was one and only beloved woman. Yuri Vasnetsov married at the age of thirty-four years on the artist Pinaeva. In 1934 he brought his wife to his native town of Vyatka, and Vasnetsov's father married them in the Church of St. John the Forerunner. Galina Mihailovna gave Vasnetsov two beautiful daughters. Elizabeth was born in 1937, and Natalia in 1939. Later children became a real outlet for Yuri Alekseevich. He perceived any separation with them as a tragedy and always hurried back home to be near his girls.

Yuri Alekseevich was fond of breeding pigeons and was an avid fisherman.

The artist's daughters grew in an atmosphere of love and beauty, Elizabeth often stared at his father's work. Later, she followed in his footsteps and also found herself in the fine arts. Since 1973, she is a member of the Union of Artists of the USSR.

Famous relationship

The name of Vasnetsov is heard by every resident of the country thanks to not only Yuri. His distant relatives were the famous Russian artists brothers Victor and Apollinari Vasnetsovs, as well as Russian folklorist Alexander Vasnetsov. However, Yuri Alekseevich never boasted of famous relatives.

Awards and Prizes

After the war, the artist received the title of Honored Artist of the RSFSR. In 1966, Yuri Vasnetsov received the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR.

In the early seventies, the artist illustrates two collections of Russian folk tales. They are called "Rainbow Arc" and "Ladushki". In the same year, according to his illustrations, the animated film "Terem-Teremok" was shot, which can be safely attributed to the masterpieces of Soviet animation. For these works, the artist was awarded the State Prize of the Soviet Union.

Little-known Vasnetsov

All his life the artist dedicated painting. However, his paintings of the sixties and seventies did not bring him popularity during his lifetime. The most famous works of that period - "Blooming meadow", "Still life with a pussy-willow" - saw the light only after the death of the artist. The fact is that because of the accusations of formalism, Yuri Vasnetsov preferred not to exhibit these works anywhere. He actually made creative pursuits his secret hobby, and could show these creations to the most trusted and native people. After his paintings were presented to a wide audience at the exhibition in 1979, it became clear that the artist is far beyond the scope of the book illustrator. He is an outstanding Russian painter of the 20th century.

The artist died on 03/05/1973 in Leningrad. Yuri Vasnetsov was buried at the Bogoslovsky cemetery in St. Petersburg, which for many years of his life became the artist's native city.