The painting “Portrait of the Artist I. Shishkin” by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy is a living image of the painter who dedicated his work to Russian nature
“Portrait of the artist I. Shishkin” – a painting by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy, dedicated to one of the most famous Russian landscape painters. The author depicted the painter in the open air. The figure occupies the entire central part of the work. Soft, comfortable clothes are matched to the tone of the surrounding landscape. High boots protect from thorny grass, hat – from the sun. With his left hand, the hero holds an easel and an umbrella, the shaft of which he uses as a cane. The surrounding landscape has not been worked out in detail.
It is difficult to determine what kind of dark mass rises behind Shishkin. It is probably bushes. The sky appears white with dust. Underfoot is dry, pale-yellow clay earth, from which, as if stuck, rare plants stick out. The heat burned the grass, leaving only the strongest stems with ripened seeds. The feeling of inevitable decay does not make the native space less beloved to the character’s heart. A laid-back pose, narrowed eyes and a smile, partially hidden by a thick mustache and beard, create an image of an energetic, self-confident person.
Name of the painting: “Portrait of the artist Ivan Shishkin.”
Author: Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (1837-1887).
Year of writing: 1873.
Size: 110.5 x 78 cm.
Style: Realism.
Genre: Portrait.
Technique: Oil painting.
Material: Canvas.
Location: State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy – a talented Russian artist of the XIX century
Even during his lifetime, he earned in the eyes of his contemporaries the glory of a skilled portrait painter, who noticed the very essence of the character of his heroes. Ivan Nikolaevich worked in the style of realism, achieving optimal expressiveness and authenticity. The collection of the State Russian Museum has preserved sketches for the portrait, made on paper with a graphite pencil. A small drawing, 22 by 29 cm, displays five dynamic positions of the master of landscapes, recorded by the author during a joint walk with I. I. Shishkin.
The painting “Portrait of the Artist Ivan Shishkin” by Ivan Kramskoy was painted for the collection of Pavel Tretyakov. The philanthropist decided to preserve the faces of the best painters of Russia for history. The image of the famous landscape painter took a worthy place among the exhibits of the gallery immediately after its opening in 1874.
