Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin is an outstanding Russian and Soviet artist of the first half of the twentieth century. The paintings of Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin are made in a unique manner, to which the painter remained faithful all his life.
Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin drew inspiration by looking out for characteristic faces in the crowd, studying the Italian Renaissance and ancient Russian icons. Sincere, natural perception of the world was magically intertwined in his works with mysticism and symbolism.
Biography of Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin
Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin was born on November 5, 1878 in Khvalynsk.
In 1890, the boy met local icon painters, from whom he learned the skill of creating icons. After graduating from a four-year city school in 1893, he went to Samara to study for a railway worker, but failed the entrance exams. For more than a year and a half, Kuzma was interrupted by odd jobs, and also took drawing lessons from the Samara artist Fyodor Emelyanovich Burov.
In April 1895, the young man returned to his small homeland, where he was helped by chance. In the summer of 1895, the famous architect Robert-Friedrich Melzer stopped in Khvalynsk and stayed with his friend, the merchant Yulia Ivanovna Kazarina. Kuzma’s mother, who served as a maid for Yulia Ivanovna’s sister, showed her son’s paintings to the guest, and they made a deep impression on the architect. Then Yulia Ivanovna Kazarina appointed the young man a scholarship, and in the fall of 1895 he began his studies at the St. Petersburg Central Stieglitz School of Technical Drawing. The new student brought his drawing teacher to a white heat, demonstrating a complete lack of technical ability with the obvious talent of a painter.
Kuzma Sergeevich moved to Moscow and entered the Moscow School of Painting.
There Valentin Serov became his mentor. The first self-portrait of the future genius belongs to this period. In April 1901, the painter went on a bicycle to Munich. Having given his vehicle to a fellow traveler in Warsaw, he reached his destination by train and on foot. Hungry, overgrown with a tramp, Kuzma appeared on the threshold of Anton Ažbe’s private school, in which he studied for about a month.
In an effort to know the world, in 1905-1906. the young man first traveled all over Italy. The works of Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, Giorgio Barbarelli da Castelfranco, Giorgione, Raffaello Santi made an indelible impression on the artist. Then he went to Paris, where Pablo Picasso worked on “The Maidens of Avignon.” Kuzma Sergeevich attended avant-garde exhibitions and made sketches of city landscapes. By the age of 28, he already masterfully mastered painting techniques and drawing techniques. Having visited Algeria and Tunisia, in 1909 the master returned to his homeland with disillusionment with Impressionism, admiration for Paul Cézanne and Henri Émile Benoît Matisse.
In Russia, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin immediately took a special position. His work combined the majestic monumentality of the classics and the emotionality of the avant-garde. The gifted artist became a discovery, an icon, great hopes were pinned on him, he gained fame in both capitals. By this time, the inimitable style of the master was fully formed. The painter took the October Revolution and large-scale changes in the country as a long-awaited renewal. The turning point in history was marked by the works “Petrograd Madonna”, “After the Battle”, “Fantasy”.
From 1918 to 1932, Kuzma Sergeevich taught at the Higher Art School in Petrograd. From the end of 1928 he was seriously ill. Doctors forbade him to work in oil, but the artist stubbornly continued to paint in one of his favorite genres still life.
Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin died of tuberculosis on February 15, 1939. He remained in the history of art as a great master who found the intersection of innovation and academicism.
The most famous paintings by Petrov-Vodkin
Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin’s paintings have internal dynamics. Bright colors, expressive images capture the viewer, change their perception of the world around them. Among the most significant works:
- The Dream (1910), a work written in a symbolic vein, refers to Raphael’s The Knight’s Dream.
- Bathing the Red Horse (1912) is a revelatory painting that combines the past and the future of painting. The cosmic landscape, the “signature” spherical horizon, the mighty scarlet horse and the young messiah make a powerful impression.
- The Herring (1918) is a kind of anthem of the era. Black bread, potatoes, rusty herring everything you can eat for dinner in revolutionary Petrograd.
- “Death of the Commissar” (1928) the film raises the theme of self-sacrifice for the sake of a brighter tomorrow.
- “Bird cherry in a glass” (1932) an unusual perspective. A box of matches and a shortage of a cup of tea testify to the author’s invisible presence.
- “1919. Anxiety “(1934) the atmosphere is tense, the expectation of something terrible hovers in the air.
