Kramskoy biography and creativity. Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy is a realist artist of the second half of the 19th century. interesting facts about Ivan Kramskoy

The canvas belongs to early stage creativity of the artist, but many of his inherent distinctive features, which determined the painter’s style in the future. The portrait depicts the master’s wife, with whom the marriage was successful [...]

The portrait of the poet and artist Taras Grigoryevich Shevchenko was commissioned by philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov. The image of the Ukrainian poet was supposed to replenish the collection artistic images famous artists. By the time the canvas was created, Taras Shevchenko had already […]

The artist Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter. The secret of his success was that he sought to capture not only external similarities, but also to reveal, guess and convey the hidden, deep features of individuality. Also Ivan Nikolaevich […]

The great Russian painter Ivan Kramskoy was one of the key figures of Russian culture of the second half of the 19th century century. In fact, it was he who transformed the genre of portrait realism, becoming the ideological inspirer of many artists, thanks to him Russian painting […]

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy was an excellent portrait painter and was fond of genre painting and was a successful critic. Before entering the Academy of Arts, located in St. Petersburg, he was engaged in photo retouching. The master worked on the canvas “Laughter” for […]

For many art connoisseurs, Kramskoy is associated with peasants. He is one of the few artists who skillfully captured the individual characters of his heroes on canvas. “Peasant with a Bridle” from 1883 is one such example. […]

Ivan Kramskoy (May 27, 1837, Ostrogozhsk - March 24, 1887, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic.

Biography of Ivan Kramskoy

Kramskoy was born on May 27 (June 8, new style) 1837 in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province, in the family of a clerk.

After graduating from the Ostrogozh district school, Kramskoy was a clerk in the Ostrogozh Duma. In 1853 he began retouching photographs.

Kramskoy’s fellow countryman M.B. Tulinov taught him in several steps “to finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching,” then future artist worked for the Kharkov photographer Yakov Petrovich Danilevsky. In 1856, I. N. Kramskoy came to St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in retouching in Aleksandrovsky’s photographs, which were famous at that time.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Markov.

Kramskoy's creativity

In 1865, Markov invited him to help paint the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Due to Markov's illness, the entire main painting of the dome was done by Kramskoy, together with the artists Wenig and Koshelev.

In 1863-1868 he taught at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. In 1869, Kramskoy received the title of academician.

In 1870, the Association of Mobile Travelers was formed art exhibitions", one of the main organizers and ideologists of which was Kramskoy. Influenced by the ideas of Russian democratic revolutionaries, Kramskoy defended the view of high public role the artist, the principles of realism, the moral essence and nationality of art.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy created a number of portraits of outstanding Russian writers, artists and public figures(such as: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 1873; I. I. Shishkin, 1873; Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879 - all are in Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of S. P. Botkin (1880) - State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg).

One of famous works Kramskoy - “Christ in the Desert” (1872, Tretyakov Gallery).

A successor to the humanistic traditions of Alexander Ivanov, Kramskoy created a religious turning point in moral and philosophical thinking. He gave the dramatic experiences of Jesus Christ a deeply psychological life interpretation (the idea of heroic self-sacrifice). The influence of ideology is noticeable in portraits and thematic paintings - “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs,” 1877-1878; "Unknown", 1883; " Inconsolable grief", 1884 - all in the Tretyakov Gallery.

The democratic orientation of Kramskoy's works, his critical insightful judgments about art, and persistent research into objective criteria for assessing the characteristics of art and their influence on it, developed democratic art and a worldview on art in Russia in the last third of the 19th century.

In 1863, the Academy of Arts awarded him a small gold medal for the painting “Moses Bringing Out Water from the Rock.”

Before finishing his studies at the Academy, all that remained was to write a program for a big medal and receive a foreign pension. The Academy Council proposed a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla” to the students for the competition. All fourteen graduates refused to develop this topic, and petitioned to be allowed to each choose a topic of their own choosing.

Subsequent events went down in the history of Russian art as the “Revolt of the Fourteen.”

The Academy Council refused them, and Professor Tone noted: “If this had happened before, then all of you would have been soldiers!”

On November 9, 1863, Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, “not daring to think about changing academic regulations, humbly ask the council to exempt them from participating in the competition.”

Among these fourteen artists were: I. N. Kramskoy, B. B. Wenig, N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A. D. Litovchenko, A. I. Korzukhin, N. S. Shustov, A. I. Morozov , K. E. Makovsky, F. S. Zhuravlev, K. V. Lemokh, A. K. Grigoriev, M. I. Peskov, V. P. Kreitan and N. V. Petrov.

The artist Ivan Kramskoy made an invaluable contribution to culture. He was an art rebel, an ideologist of the Peredvizhniki movement, and an adviser to the collector Pavel Tretyakov, who created the world-famous Tretyakov Gallery. Kramskoy's student Ilya Repin became a famous artist. This year, on May 27, Ivan Kramskoy celebrated his 180th birthday. In the museum. I. N. Kramskoy, named after the painter, houses the artist’s paintings and graphics. The main exhibition of the museum features six paintings Kramskoy. One of the most interesting works– portrait of the artist’s wife and daughter. Kramskoy never had time to complete this painting.

The future ideologist of the Wanderers was born on May 27, 1837 in Ostrogozhsk in the family of a clerk. Ivan Kramskoy graduated from the district school and found work as a retoucher for his fellow countryman, photographer Mikhail Tulinov. He used watercolors to correct portraits of people in photographs. Kramskoy left his hometown to work in Kharkov, and at the age of 19 he moved to St. Petersburg. A year after working in a photographic studio in 1857, he entered the Academy of Arts for the first time.

Ivan Kramskoy “Self-portrait”, 1867

Kramskoy was one of the most talented students. He received a small gold medal for the painting “Moses Bringing Out Water from the Rock.” However, both Kramskoy and other students of the Academy wanted more freedom. When they were offered the competition theme “A Feast in Valhalla” (author best picture received a big gold medal and the opportunity to go to Paris), the students refused and petitioned for everyone to be allowed to develop their own topic. The Academy Council refused. Then 14 of the best graduates, led by Kramskoy, left the Academy and founded the first Artel in Russia free artists, which existed until 1871. This event went down in art history as the “Riot of the Fourteen.”

“It’s interesting that in 1863 the “Revolt of the Fourteen” took place in Russia, and in France in the same year the first exhibition of impressionists took place,” notes the head. exhibition department of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy Olga Ryabchikova. – They were also rebels and were against the academic system. Artists of both France and Russia began to reach out to the light, to greater freedom in creativity.

In 1870, the Association of Traveling Exhibitions was created, the main organizer of which was Ivan Kramskoy. He defended his views on the high social role of the artist, the principles of realism and the nationality of art. The partnership conducted traveling exhibitions and bicycle educational activities. it included famous artists of that time: Vasnetsov, Repin, Surikov, Shishkin, Levitan and others.

Ivan Kramskoy "Portrait of a Lady". 1881

“Kramskoy was ahead of his time in many of his views,” says Olga Ryabchikova. - For example, he had interesting approach to the art education system. He believed that academies and schools were not needed, but that it was worth creating artists’ workshops, to which those who wanted to learn from these masters would come.

Ivan Kramskoy was an outstanding portrait painter, one of the best of his time. He had many orders. Thus, Pavel Tretyakov ordered him to create a gallery of images of prominent people, among whom were Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Nekrasov, Alexander Griboyedov, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin and others. Because of large quantity orders, the artist did not have much time left to paint “for the soul.” He did not have time to finish some of the work. Among them is “Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife, and Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s daughter.” The painting can be viewed in the main exhibition of the museum. I. N. Kramskoy.

Ivan Kramskoy “Portrait of the artist’s wife and daughter”, 1875

Kramskoy met his future wife in St. Petersburg, when he was already finishing his studies at the Academy of Arts. The girl got into trouble. She had an affair with a married artist, who shamefully fled abroad with his legal wife, leaving Sophia to fend for herself. Of course, society condemned her, but Kramskoy was so much in love with her that he did not care about the opinions of others. The artist married Sophia in 1862.

The marriage was happy, the wife supported the artist in everything. She gave her husband six children. Unfortunately, two of Kramskoy's sons died in childhood. The artist began painting the painting “Portrait of a Wife and Daughter” after their death in 1875. The painter did not have time to finish this work; only the figures were worked out, and the background was left unfinished.

“He mentions this portrait in his letters, saying that he just can’t finish it, there’s still no time,” says Olga Ryabchikova. – To some extent, the large flow of orders hindered the artist, although he had to support his family, he earned very good money, and was able to buy a dacha.

IN last years During his life, Ivan Kramskoy was sick with a heart aneurysm. The artist died on April 5, 1887 while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfuss. Kramskoy's grave is located at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

7 interesting facts about Ivan Kramskoy

1. At the first exhibition of the Association of Itinerants, Ivan Kramskoy presented the painting “Mermaids” in 1871. It is written based on Nikolai Gogol’s story “May Night, or the Drowned Woman.” To work on the painting, Kramskoy went to the village of Khoten, Kharkov province. “Mermaids” was bought by Pavel Tretyakov.

Ivan Kramskoy “Mermaids”, 1871

2. Leo Tolstoy passed Ivan Kramskoy as the prototype of the artist Mikhailov, to whom Vronsky commissions a portrait of Anna in the fifth part of the novel Anna Karenina. The writer met the painter when Kramskoy arrived in the village of Kozlovka-Zaseka not far from Yasnaya Polyana to work on a portrait of Tolstoy. During the sessions they had conversations about art and life. The writer attracted the artist with his energy, intelligence and simplicity appearance. “He looks like a genius,” Kramskoy said about him. The artist’s personality also impressed Lev Nikolaevich.

Ivan Kramsko “Portrait of Leo Tolstoy”, 1873

3. In the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, the dome is decorated with the painting “Patronymic” by Ivan Kramskoy. The chief architect of the temple, Konstantin Ton, entrusted the painting to Professor Alexei Markov from the Academy of Arts. He was supposed to receive 75 thousand rubles for painting the dome. Markov took his student Evgraf Sorokin as his assistant. True, his version of the painting horrified Markov, then he offered to continue the work to another of his students, Ivan Kramskoy, paying him only ten thousand rubles. The volume of work was enormous, so Kramskoy invited two fellow artists to assist him. The painting turned out great. Unfortunately, on December 5, 1931, the Bolsheviks blew up the temple in order to build the Palace of the Soviets in its place. Kramskoy's original painting was destroyed. When the reconstruction of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior began in 1988, “Fatherland” was restored according to the artist’s sketches.

Painting "Fatherland"

4. About Kramskoy’s 1872 painting “Christ in the Desert,” Leo Tolstoy wrote: “This is the best Christ I know.” The artist worked on this work for more than five years. Kramskoy said: “This is my first thing that I worked on seriously, wrote with tears and blood... it was deeply suffered by me... it is the result of many years of searching...”. The canvas depicts Christ during a 40-day fast in the desert after his baptism. Kramskoy wanted to capture moral choice, inevitable in the life of every person. In the lonely figure sitting among the cold gray stones, one feels not only thoughtfulness and fatigue, but also a readiness to take the first step on the path to Calvary. So human image Christ at that time could be perceived as blasphemy. At that time, Pavel Tretyakov bought “Christ in the Wilderness” for fabulous money - six thousand rubles.

Ivan Kramskoy “Christ in the Desert”, 1872

5. Perhaps one of the most famous paintings Kramskoy - portrait “Unknown”. The work was written in 1883. The painting depicts a young woman driving in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt. Who this person depicted in the portrait is, the artist left a mystery. Even in his letters and diaries there are no mentions. The beauty, looking down on the audience, is dressed in latest fashion: a “Francis” hat with a feather, a coat trimmed with sable fur, a gold bracelet... All these things were not cheap. By the way, in secular society At that time, it was considered indecent to wear such fashionable outfits, and even to show them off, so appearance women hinted at her “easy” social position. Perhaps for this reason, Pavel Tretyakov, who was brought up in a family with strict views, did not buy the painting. The painter sold the painting to a small collector. “Unknown” wandered from one owner to another for a long time. And only in 1925 she ended up in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Ivan Kramskoy “Stranger”, 1883

6. For the painting “Christ in the Desert,” the Council of the Academy of Arts decided to award Kramskoy the title of professor. But the artist refused, wanting to remain independent from the Academy.

7. The artist’s daughter Sofya Kramskaya also became a painter. She worked in many genres, was a graphic artist, miniaturist, and watercolorist. Kramskoy, seeing talent in his daughter, worked with her a lot himself. Sophia married a lawyer of Finnish origin, Georgy Junker. She continued to paint and participated in exhibitions. The artist became so famous that in 1890-1900 she was invited to paint portraits royal family. For many years, Sophia and her brothers took care of Ostrogozhskaya art gallery, donated many of her works (although during a fire in 1942 most of collection was lost). In 1930, Sophia was arrested under an article for counter-revolutionary propaganda. She was sent into exile in Krasnoyarsk. In 1932 she was released for health reasons and returned home. A year later she died at the age of 66.

Sophia painted this portrait of her father shortly before his death

BY THE WAY
The house where the artist lived has been preserved in Ostrogozhsk

In Ostrogozhsk, the house (Marshak St., 14) where Ivan Kramskoy spent his childhood has been preserved. With whitewashed walls under a reed roof, it immediately stands out from other buildings. It preserves the layout of the rooms and restores everyday details. The museum presents materials dedicated to the Ostrogozh period of the artist’s life. IN hometown he spent 16 years. In the Ostrogozhsky Historical and Art Museum. I. N. Kramskoy (Kramskoy Boulevard, 4) you can see an exhibition about the artist’s St. Petersburg period. The exhibition includes graphic works, mostly by Kramskoy, his students and friends.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy (May 27, 1837, Ostrogozhsk - March 24, 1887, St. Petersburg) - Russian painter and draftsman, master of genre, historical and portrait painting; art critic.

Self-portrait. 1874

Kramskoy was born on May 27 (June 8, new style) 1837 in the city of Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province, in the family of a clerk.

After graduating from the Ostrogozh district school, Kramskoy was a clerk in the Ostrogozh Duma. From 1853 he was a photo retoucher; First, the future artist was taught in several techniques how to “finish photographic portraits with watercolors and retouching” by his fellow countryman M. B. Tulinov, then he worked for the Kharkov photographer Ya. P. Danilevsky. In 1856 he came to St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in retouching in the then famous photography of Alexandrovsky.

In 1857, Kramskoy entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts as a student of Professor Markov.

In 1863, the Academy of Arts awarded him a gold medal for his painting “Moses Bringing Out Water from a Rock.” Before finishing his studies at the Academy, all that remained was to write a program for a big medal and receive a foreign pension. The Academy Council proposed a theme from the Scandinavian sagas “The Feast in Valhalla” to the students for the competition. All fourteen graduates refused to develop this topic, and petitioned to be allowed to each choose a topic of their own choosing. Subsequent events went down in the history of Russian art as the “Revolt of the Fourteen.” The Academy Council refused them, and Professor Tone noted: “if this had happened before, then all of you would have been soldiers!” On November 9, 1863, Kramskoy, on behalf of his comrades, told the council that they, “not daring to think about changing academic regulations, humbly ask the council to exempt them from participating in the competition.” Among these fourteen artists were: I. N. Kramskoy, B. B. Wenig, N. D. Dmitriev-Orenburgsky, A. D. Litovchenko, A. I. Korzukhin, N. S. Shustov, A. I. Morozov , K. E. Makovsky, F. S. Zhuravlev, K. V. Lemokh, A. K. Grigoriev, M. I. Peskov, V. P. Kreitan and N. V. Petrov. The artists who left the Academy formed the “Petersburg Artel of Artists”, which existed until 1871.

From 1863 to 1868 he taught at the Aid Society Drawing School applied arts. In 1869, Kramskoy received the title of academician.

In 1870, the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” was formed, one of the main organizers and ideologists of which was Kramskoy. Under the influence of the ideas of Russian democratic revolutionaries, Kramskoy defended the view of the high social role of the artist, the principles of realism, the moral essence and nationality of art.

Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy created a number of portraits of outstanding Russian writers, artists and public figures (such as: Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 1873; I. I. Shishkin, 1873; Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, 1876; M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1879 - all are in the Tretyakov Gallery; portrait of Botkin[specify] (1880) - private collection, Moscow).

One of Kramskoy’s most famous works is “Christ in the Desert” (1872, Tretyakov Gallery).

A successor to the humanistic traditions of Alexander Ivanov, Kramskoy created a religious turning point in moral and philosophical thinking. He gave the dramatic experiences of Jesus Christ a deeply psychological life interpretation (the idea of heroic self-sacrifice). The influence of ideology is noticeable in portraits and thematic paintings - “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of “The Last Songs,” 1877-1878; "Unknown", 1883; “Inconsolable Grief”, 1884 - all in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Moses' prayer after the Israelites crossed the Black Sea. 1861

While reading Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife. 1866–1869

Female portrait. 1867

Portrait of the artist K. A. Savitsky. 1871

Mermaids. 1871

Portrait of the artist M. K. Klodt. 1872

Christ in the desert. 180 x 210 cm. 1872

Portrait of A. I. Kuindzhi. 1872

Beekeeper. 1872

A girl with a loose braid. 1873

Portrait of I. I. Shishkin. 1873

Portrait of the writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. 1873

An insulted Jewish boy. 1874

Forest worker. 1874

Portrait of the writer Ivan Alexandrovich Goncharov 1874

Peasant's head 1874

Portrait of Sofia Nikolaevna and Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s wife and daughter. 1875

Portrait of the writer Dmitry Vasilyevich Grigorovich 1876

Portrait of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. 1876

Portrait of the sculptor Mark Matveevich Antokolsky. 1876

N. A. Nekrasov during the period. The last songs. 1877–1878

Portrait of the writer Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov (N. Shchedrin). 1879

Portrait of Adrian Viktorovich Prakhov, art historian and art critic. 1879

Moonlit Night 1880

Portrait of Doctor Sergei Petrovich Botkin 1880

Portrait of actor Vasily Vasilyevich Samoilov. 1881

Portrait of the publisher and publicist Alexey Sergeevich Suvorin. 1881

Portrait of Anatoly Ivanovich Kramskoy, the artist’s son. 1882

Portrait of Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, the artist’s daughter. 1882

Girl with a cat. 1882

Unknown. 1883

Peasant with a bridle Mina Moiseev. 1883

Actor Alexander Pavlovich Lensky as Petruchio in Shakespeare's comedy "The Taming of the Shrew." 1883

Bouquet of phlox flowers. 1884

Inconsolable grief. 1884

Kramskoy, painting portrait his daughter, Sofia Ivanovna Kramskoy, married to Junker. 1884

Portrait of the philosopher Vladimir Sergeevich Solovyov. 1885

Portrait Alexandra III. 1886

Children in the forest. 1887

Fully

A picturesque sketch for the painting "Unknown", which is kept in Prague, in a private collection (1883).

This is probably the most famous work Kramskoy, the most intriguing thing, which remains incomprehensible and unsolved to this day. By calling his painting “Unknown,” the clever Kramskoy forever attached to it an aura of mystery. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image evoked concern and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new thing - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the previous system of values. “It is unknown: who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but a whole era sits in her,” some stated. Stasov loudly called Kramskoy’s heroine “a cocotte in a stroller.” Tretyakov also admitted to Stasov that he liked Kramskoy’s “previous works” more than the latter. There were critics who connected this image with Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, who had descended from her heights social status, with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Nastasya Filippovna, rising above the position of a fallen woman, the names of ladies of the world and demi-monde were also called. By the beginning of the 20th century, the scandalousness of the image was gradually covered by the romantic and mysterious aura of Blok’s “Stranger.” IN Soviet time Kramskoy’s “Unknown” became the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication, almost Russian Sistine Madonna- ideal unearthly beauty and spirituality.

In a private collection in Prague there is a picturesque sketch for the painting, convincing that Kramskoy was looking for ambiguity artistic image. The sketch is much simpler and sharper, what has been said and more definite picture. It reveals the insolence and authority of a woman, a feeling of emptiness and satiety that is absent in final version. In the film “Unknown,” Kramskoy is captivated by the sensual, almost teasing beauty of his heroine, her delicate dark skin, her velvet eyelashes, the slightly arrogant squinting of her brown eyes, her majestic posture. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. Her outfit is a “Francis” hat, trimmed with elegant light feathers, “Swedish” gloves made of the finest leather, a “Skobelev” coat, decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details women's suit 1880s, claiming to be expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to high society; rather, on the contrary, the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

The exquisite sensual beauty, majesty and grace of the “Unknown”, a certain aloofness and arrogance cannot hide the feeling of insecurity in the face of the world to which she belongs and on which she depends. With his painting, Kramskoy raises the question of the fate of beauty in imperfect reality.