Krasnoyarsk artist Pozdeev. Biography of Andrey Pozdeev. Pozdeev A. Portrait of the artist T.V. Riannel

September 27 would have been the 90th anniversary of the birth of Andrei Pozdeev. Legendary artist. His paintings are exhibited in Tretyakov Gallery. And Krasnoyarsk residents have practically no place to see his work. There is not a single permanent exhibition of Andrei Pozdeev’s works in the city. The only place where you can find the artist's paintings is his creative workshop, where he worked for the last 18 years of his life.

Artist's House

Pozdeev did not climb marble stairs to receive gold prizes, was not invited to ceremonial receptions, and was not crowned with laurels. He survived hunger and cold, was a prisoner and a soldier, a fireman and an artist. But his painting is far from the artist’s way of the cross. If it concerns life’s adversities, it presents them in a complex allegorical form of symbols invented by the artist himself, and therefore requires decoding and intense work of imagination. This is all that our contemporary, who walked the streets of the city with us, left us as a legacy.

In the workshop on the street. Lenin's soul still lives on as an artist. Photo: AiF/Svetlana Khustik

The house where the artist’s work lives today is, at first glance, an ordinary high-rise building in the center of Krasnoyarsk. Only if you look closely, you will notice that on the last, seventh floor there are unusually high floor-to-ceiling windows. These are artists' workshops.

The house was built especially for them. And in 1980, Andrei Gennadievich was given an apartment here on the 6th floor. And on the floor above he got a workshop. He chose it himself; he needed a large wall and maximum distance from it in order to paint large-format paintings. It was at this time that the artist conceived a biblical series, for which a large panel was needed. As a result, I wrote 15 papers. Two today are in the Tretyakov Gallery: “The Feast of Jesters” and “The Creation of the World”, one - “Calvary” - in the Tsereteli Museum. The rest of the works are stored in the KIC; they are exhibited occasionally on holidays.

A master next to his work. Photo: Andrey Pozdeev Foundation

“He really loved this workshop. One day, in a conversation with friends, it turned out that this workshop was a graphic workshop. It has bright light: windows to the east and west, and is quite dark. There was talk about Albrecht Dürer (a famous German graphic artist) and that his workshop was all black so that the white sheets could be seen better. Andrei Gennadievich caught fire and began to paint the workshop black. I painted the floor and one of the walls and was horrified - it turned out very depressing. The wall was immediately repainted white, and the floor has remained black ever since. In general, we try to preserve this workshop in the same form in which it was under the artist. Brushes, tubes of paint, household items, the atmosphere,” says Valeria Guryanova, president of the Andrei Pozdeev Foundation and a family friend.

Kaltat - the artist dedicated one of the series to his beloved Pillars. Photo: Andrey Pozdeev Foundation

Pozdeev's secret

Andrey Pozdeev was born in Nizhny Ingash, Krasnoyarsk Territory. I studied poorly. But I have been drawing since I was five years old. In the 4th grade, he received a prize at a regional competition for a drawing that depicted Pushkin. At the beginning of the war, because he left for his mother to work at a combine plant, he ended up in prison for 6 months, where he designed wall newspapers and made stencils for tattoos.

At the age of 17 he went to the front and fought on the Eastern Front. He wrote for officers who sent paintings to their wives. Then he was discharged and he went to Tura for treatment. Afterwards he moved to Minusinsk, where he worked at the Martyanovsky Museum. Returning to Krasnoyarsk, he entered the art school to the class of Andrei Prokopyevich Lekorenko. In fact, I taught myself: drawing, mixing paints, graphics.

All his life Pozdeev worked with Russian paints. Even when foreign ones began to appear, he said: “I don’t know their properties, I don’t know how they mix.” He created unusual colors. Even his black was not flat and uniform, but composite. And artists who today try to copy his works, finding them not very complex in composition, are at a loss. His drawings can easily be drawn with a grid and transferred to canvas. But when it comes to color selection, the picture falls apart.

One of the main themes of creativity is flowers. Photo: AiF/ Svetlana Khustik.

Flowers in armfuls

No one can say exactly how many paintings Pozdeev left. He wrote for 72 years. I gave a lot of works to friends and acquaintances; they still pop up every now and then somewhere in the dachas. He destroyed some. If, in his opinion, they did not fulfill the task that he set at the beginning of the work. Valeria recalls how the artist painted the painting “Ascension”:

“This is a black and white work consisting of triangles. Completely abstract: something diamond-shaped suddenly flies up. Uniform and symmetrical both vertically and horizontally. He wrote it when one eye was already affected by cataracts. Very calmly and carefully, with a brush, he painted over the junction of black and white, and said something at the same time.”

But if you look at this picture, it is full of not only expression, but also sacredness, because this is the Ascension of Christ. You want to stop in front of it, like in a church in front of an icon.

Probably each of us, when mentioning Pozdeev, imagines his flowers. It is difficult to find an artist who so tenderly and tenderly depicted roses, dahlias, gladioli, asters, lilies and lilacs. When I got money, I bought bouquets by the armful, since I painted only from life. These paintings seem to emanate a sweetish aroma.
Another one famous topic- Pillars. A whole series is dedicated to them - “Kaltat”. Kaltat is a river in the reserve, where he came for several days and worked enthusiastically.

Series “People” Photo: Andrey Pozdeev Foundation

At the end of his life he returned to working with nature. This happened after the film “Eve”. On a purple background there is a light figure with red hair. The girl grew her hair for three years to pose for him. In general, he did not choose people for life. Often this happened by accident. The master still has many portraits of people who visited his studio only once in their lives by chance.

Poor but free

Pozdeev - unique artist also because until the end of his life he remained faithful only to his art. It was impossible to force him to write, it was impossible for him to order work. It was absolutely not for sale to anyone and for any money. He said: “I want to be poor because I want to be free.” And many artists who worked to order were very jealous of him. Although it was difficult to survive, times were difficult. And for sure, if he lived closer to Moscow, he would simply be destroyed for this desire to be free. They also tried in Krasnoyarsk.

“For many years there were not only no personal exhibitions of Pozdeev, but his paintings were not exhibited at all. The Arts Council selected them, printed exhibition catalogs that included his works, but they were not included in the exhibitions. They cynically noted: “You, Andryusha, are falling out, as soon as you hang your work, it’s so unclear what to hang next to it - everything fades,” recalls Valeria.

Two close people were always close. Photo: Andrey Pozdeev Foundation

He lived very ascetically. Paints, canvases, materials - all this was on credit. There was practically no income. He was saved by his disability pension and the salary of his wife Valentina Mikhailovna, a teacher of Russian language and literature. There was no title. The only award is a silver medal.

The artist’s wife was a friend, colleague, faithful assistant and beloved person. Every day at exactly two o'clock he came down from the workshop for lunch. When Andrei Gennadievich was weak after an illness, she, a fragile little woman herself, carried his cassette player, which contained cardboard sheets of paper and sketches. And in the evenings I read to him Pushkin and Kafka, whom he loved very much. Today she and Valeria Guryanova are working on the artist’s legacy. Valeria has been in the Pozdeev family for a long time. Valentina Mikhailovna’s student often visited, helped the artist, cleaned the studio, washed windows, and was simply nearby. When the artist died in 1998, he and Valentina Mikhailovna decided to create a public foundation in his name. Its main task is to preserve the artist’s creativity.

It so happened that in a city of one million today there is no place where it would be possible to organize a permanent exhibition of Andrei Pozdeev’s works. IN anniversary year During the week, about 500 of his paintings will be shown: “Flowers”, “Initial period”, “Final period”, “Printed graphics”. And you and I have a unique chance to see them. Perhaps the only one.

Abstraction by Pozdeev Photo: Andrey Pozdeev Foundation

Exhibition schedule:

Exhibitions have already opened and are running:

"Flowers of Andrey Pozdeev"

House of Artists, Mira Ave., 56

"Paintings by Andrey Pozdeev"

On Podmostki, st. ak. Vavilova, 25

Upcoming opening:

"The Artist's Way"

Art Museum, Prospekt Mira, 12

Opening at 17:00

"Color of Life"

MC "Ploshchad Mira", pl. Mira, 1

Opening at 19:00

"Printed Graphics"

Kamenka, st. ak. Pavlova, 21

Opening at 19:00

"Flowers for Pozdeev"

School named after A. G. Pozdeeva

Prospect Mira, 115-a, building 1

Biography

Born into the family of a postal employee Gennady Danilovich Pozdeev and his wife Evdokia Ivanovna.

He worked as an assistant fireman. During the Great Patriotic War he served in the Far Eastern Fleet.

He began to comprehend painting on his own: he visited exhibitions, museums and galleries, studied the works of great masters of the past, read books, and painted from life. Subsequently he graduated from the Krasnoyarsk Art School named after V. I. Surikov (teacher - A. P. Lekarenko).

Andrey Pozdeev about his understanding of the artist’s work:

...The artist as a person is more individual. He allows himself what other people may not allow. But he has a great responsibility: to give of himself as he is. He is naked, he is “naked.” And he must also have a head, think like a philosopher. Philosophers of thought are an incredible thing. They talk about the same thing, but each from their own individual perspective. And I also have to convey color. And I am obliged, if I “got into” this business for the rest of my life - and here life is not enough - to constantly improve and develop to the very best. last day, how much fate has given me.

The artist’s personal exhibitions were held in museums in Tallinn (1984; with the assistance of O. Subbi) and Riga, at the State Museum, at the State Tretyakov Gallery, and at the Central House of Artists in Moscow. Paintings by Andrei Pozdeev are in many museums around the world, including the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. A significant collection of paintings by the artist is in the collection of the Krasnoyarsk State art museum named after V.I. Surikov.

Andrey Gennadyevich Pozdeev is included in the international artistic rating (world rating of artists of the 18th-21st centuries who shape the world artistic heritage).

The artist died on July 12, 1998 in his studio in Krasnoyarsk. He was buried at the Badalyk Cemetery.

Some pictures

• “Crossroads” 1957, m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Sails” 1959, m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• "Evening. Taxi rank" 1958, art., m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Ready for voyage” 1959, art., m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Warm Day” 1959, m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “At the Pier” 1959, m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• "Old Town" 1960s KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Yenisei. Embankment" 1960s. k., m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “City landscape” 1962, KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “On the Yenisei” 1963, m. KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Sails” 1965, oil on canvas, KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “City landscape” 1965, KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “May Day” 1965 KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Prospect Mira” 1967 KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova
• “Landscape with a red house” 1968, KGKhM im. V. I. Surikova

Gospel cycle “Life”:

• "Composition". 1990 Oil on canvas. 140 x 140 cm.
• "Calvary". 1989 Oil on canvas. 150 x 150 cm
• “Human Life” 1989 Oil on canvas. 140 x 140 cm (7 paintings)
• "Christmas". 1989 Oil on canvas. 140 x 140 cm.
• "Elders". 1980 Oil on canvas. 110 x 110 cm
• “The Last Supper” 1989. Oil on canvas.
• "Bowl". 1990 Oil on canvas. 130 x 140 cm.
• "Ascension". 1989 Oil on canvas. 140 x 140 cm.
• "Planet". 1990 Oil on canvas. 150 x 150 cm.
• "Eve and the Serpent." 1996 Oil on canvas. 150 x 150 cm.

Albums

Eleven albums by Andrey Pozdeev have been published:

• “100 paintings by the artist A. G. Pozdeev” (1992)
• "Andrey Pozdeev. Space and Time" (1993)
• "Andrey Pozdeev. From the collection of S. Obraztsov” (1997)
• "Andrey Pozdeev. Collection from the KKhM im. V. I. Surikova" (1999)
• “Portraits of Andrey Pozdeev” (2001)
• “The World of Andrey Pozdeev” (in 3 volumes):

• "Painting" (1999)
• “Graphics, watercolor” (2001)
• "Archive, Memories" (2002)

• “Andrey Pozdeev: Human Lives” (2004)
• “Graphics by Andrey Pozdeev” (2005)
• “Kaltat of Andrey Pozdeev” (2006)

Painter from Siberia. Andrei Pozdeev went through almost all the main stages of world art in his development: realism - impressionism - post-impressionism - fauvism - abstractionism. And this was not imitation, but a consistent development of his personal consciousness and creative method.

Source: Trigaleva N. Andrey Pozdeev./ Natalya Trigaleva.// Tobolsk and all of Siberia. Number eight. Krasnoyarsk: Almanac./ Comp. M.V. Moskaluk. - Tobolsk: Publishing department of the Tyumen regional public charitable foundation “Revival of Tobolsk”, 2007. - 340 p.

The situation with the art of Andrei Gennadievich Pozdeev is complicated. He has many enthusiastic and convinced fans, mainly in professional circles. Among the non-professional public, some evaluate his paintings according to the principle “incomprehensible, but great,” while others tell their companions with bewilderment that “I can do such a daub.” There are also those who are perplexed among professionals. One of my friends, good and very famous artist, a 100% realist, although not at all a dogmatist and not denying the avant-garde, speaks well of early works Pozdeeva sincerely does not understand where the art is in his latest, non-figurative paintings. And he considers Pozdeev’s fame to be inflated and exaggerated.

Pozdeev A.G. 1962 K. fragment is being built in Divnogorsk, m. 50 x 70

Pozdeev is a unique person, a real genius and a self-mademan (from English “selrmademan” - a person who “made himself”), studied for only a year at an art school, surpassing many, many who spent 10-15 years at a school-college-institute. And this one year was enough for him just to learn the basics of literacy and understand the main thing that should distinguish a professional from an amateur. Then he studied on his own, from nature and from the masters of the past, whose works he diligently and, most importantly, consciously copied in his youth. He also learned to recognize and express himself and his unique vision of the world.

Pozdeev A.G. 1968 Young artists H., m 133 x 205

He is called the “Siberian Matisse”; there are probably grounds for such a comparison, but he is not Matisse, but Andrei Pozdeev. And he never adjusted to anyone, he wrote as he breathed, without trying to surprise anyone. Only in last years intuition was replaced by reason, mathematical calculation and rigid geometry appeared in the paintings, although color still remained elemental in Pozdeev’s style. Perhaps this was the result of a fascination with books on formal analysis, which Pozdeev, a childish soul with shining eyes, allowed himself to be carried away by.

Pozdeev A.G. 1974 Gennady Danilovich Portrait of Father K., m. 122 x 100

Not that it was harmful, and Andrei Gennadievich himself was not one of those who blindly follows someone else’s orders. Most likely, he was internally prepared for something similar, for the search for formulas and symbols capable of containing meaning that could not be conveyed by the language of object art. Although before that he was absolutely independent and, having many imitators among his young admirers, he himself never imitated anyone. Here, having become, as many believe, a completely different Pozdeev, he not only tried to express the inexpressible, but also, I fully admit, to play a most exciting game. After all, until old age, being a wise and mature man, he remained a child at the same time.

Pozdeev A.G. 1975 When I paint lilac X., m 105 x 120

And formal composition is such a fascinating game! You draw a black circle on a white background, and it becomes a window into space, it is a symbol of the universe and a metaphor for our life. And here black and white compete, but do not win. What happens if you add black? Or turn it down? Who will win? Black or white? Good or evil? God or devil? What happens if you add red? Or intersect the white circle with the black one so that a blue oval appears in their overlap? And so on ad infinitum, each time getting new and new options. Semantic. Picturesque. Decorative, finally...

Pozdeev A.G. 1979 Reading X., m 103 x 122

A lot has been written about Pozdeev; it is often noted that in different periods His creativity was influenced by various artistic movements. In his works they see either the influence of Van Gogh, or similarities with Albert Marquet, etc., etc. Not that this is not true. And it’s not that he didn’t depend on anything. Any artist, one way or another, depends on his predecessors, and any artist, better or worse, knows the history of art. All this happened somehow differently in relation to Pozdeev. Who hasn’t met artists, most often young ones, who, having discovered a new idol, tried to be like him. And Pozdeev himself was such an idol for some. And who doesn’t know artists who are knowledgeable about the most the latest trends, but not at all applying this knowledge in their own creativity.

Pozdeev A.G. Composition

Here is Znak or Ryauzov: what, they didn’t know Gauguin or Kandinsky? But they wrote in their own way. Art has the right to be different. It is stupid to deny so-called avant-gardeism, but it is no wiser to proclaim the imminent death of realism. If you are talented and honest, you can follow the path paved by the old masters, but you will walk along it your own way.

Pozdeev A.G. 1995 Elders H., m 110 x 110

Andrei Pozdeev went through almost all the main stages of world art in his development: realism - impressionism - post-impressionism - fauvism - abstractionism. And this was not imitation, but a consistent development of his personal consciousness and creative method. For him, these phases were natural steps of personal creative growth. Having mastered realistic manner, enriched by the experience of impressionism, he became a completely traditional and good landscape painter. Works from the turn of the 1940s and 1950s are superbly written and confidently composed, even at the sketch level showing the ability to be paintings. The level of professionalism is such that it is impossible to believe that the author has only a year of art school behind him.

Pozdeev A.G. 1997 Colors of the earth. Flowers and sun H., m. 70 x 100

And he could, by continuing this line, become on par with other good landscape painters. But, both in world art and in the development of Pozdeev, impressionism said almost everything that could be said about visible reality. And a need arose to express something that is hidden behind it, that is in our experiences about this visible reality. And it, this reality, can be changed in some way, deformed, colored differently. Otherwise, how to write a dream? Sadness? Love? Pain? Joy? This is what post-impressionism, which grew up on the soil of impressionism, learned, and this is what Pozdeev came to in the landscapes and still lifes of the early 1960s. And in the mid-1960s, the realization gradually came that the world in which we live was not so good. He can be dangerous, inhuman. His future is unclear and tormented by premonitions of trouble. And the stream of red flags flowing through the streets and bridges on the day of the October demonstration becomes a stream of blood, filling the soul with horror and anxiety.

Pozdeev A.G. 1986 Asters H., m. 120 x 97

And the mountains pile upward in intense effort. And the killed game cries out for vengeance. Actually, this is where Pozdeev’s discord with some of the public began. The viewer, accustomed to seeing a double of reality in a picture and capable of appreciating only the external verisimilitude of the depicted objects, seeing broken houses depicted without volume and perspective, primitively drawn trees, cars and human figures, is sincerely perplexed: “My child can draw even better!” How does such a viewer know that a child - and children really are geniuses and can spontaneously draw something that no academician of painting is capable of - a child, however, will not be able to so accurately build composition and rhythm, achieve a symbolic sound of color and coloristic harmony .

Pozdeev A.G. Composition

Simply put, there is no requirement for a house or a person to be similar. From the purpose of the image, the object turns into a means. A means to express something beyond visible reality. A kind of sign, and it is enough for it to be read: here is a house, here is a person, here is a tree, here is a flower. It looks like expressionism, but the art of “The Scream” (the name of the painting by Edvard Munch, which has become a kind of business card this direction) strains consciousness too much. There comes a moment when you want not to scream about the horror of this world, but to try to improve it, at least around you, to bring harmony and clarity.

Pozdeev A. Krasnoyarsk. Embankment

Naturally, when the resource of an object as an exponent of what lies behind the object has been mastered and is close to exhaustion, the question arises: is this object needed now? So in late period creativity Andrei Pozdeev comes to non-objective painting, and in this direction, which is by no means new for world art, he did not get lost, he remained himself.

Pozdeev A.G. Poems 1977

Pozdeev’s graphics are a special topic; you can’t talk about them in a few words. I will only note that such laconicism and precision of the composition, such confident use of the chisel and such an ability, almost without a line and practically without a stroke, with just spots of white and black, to achieve in linocut the impression of both the depth of space and the volume of form, achieved by an artist who has never studied graphic arts. technicians are simply phenomenal.

Pozdeev A. Portrait of the artist T.V. Riannel

Each time, having mastered a certain level of form and content, he could further cultivate this field of complete perfection. But he was called forward new task, and he began a new ascent. I dare say this. If there had been no impressionism, no fauvism, etc., Pozdeev would have discovered them, because he developed in the same direction as all World culture. Maybe he physically would not have lived to see abstract art, but he also went to it simply according to the logic of his evolution, his ascent to a sophisticated understanding of the inexhaustible possibilities of art and life.

Andrey Gennadievich Pozdeev born on September 27, 1926 in the village of Nizhny Ingash, Krasnoyarsk Territory, in the family of postal employee Gennady Danilovich Pozdeev and his wife Evdokia Ivanovna. He was proud of his belonging to the original Siberian family, he said: “I am a Yenisei tradesman. The family includes blacksmiths and cabinetmakers.” Mother was from the Angara River.
The family constantly moved due to his father's work. They lived mainly in villages along the Yenisei. WITH early years Andrey Pozdeev was engaged in drawing. In 1937 he took part in the regional competition children's drawing, dedicated to the centenary of the memory of Pushkin, and received a cash prize for the portrait of the poet.
At the very beginning of the war, Andrei Pozdeev began working at the Combine Plant. For going to his mother and grandmother, who then lived in the village of Tyukhtete, he received 6 months in prison under the “Stalinist decree”. In the colony he constantly painted, designing wall newspapers and various “corners.”
After his release, Andrei Pozdeev was sent to study at a vocational school at the Yenisei station. In 1943 he went to the front as a volunteer. Was sent to the Far East. Participated in hostilities (signalman in artillery). After the end of hostilities he served in the Kuril Islands
After demobilization due to illness (tuberculosis), Pozdeev returned to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, to Minusinsk, where his family then lived. In 1948 he participated in an exhibition of Minusinsk artists.
From 1948 to 1953 he entered art schools in Sverdlovsk and Leningrad. Each time I entered, but was forced to return due to worsening illnesses.
After moving to Krasnoyarsk in 1950, Andrei Pozdeev was accepted into the “Artist” partnership and entered a children's drawing school, which he completed in two years. His teacher was Andrei Prokofievich Lekarenko.
Since 1956, Andrei Pozdeev began working at the Art Fund as a copyist.
In the autumn of the same year, Pozdeev participated in an exhibition of works by Siberian artists, which took place in Irkutsk, and was accepted as a candidate member of the Krasnoyarsk organization of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR. The candidacy dragged on until 1961.
In the 60-70s, Andrey painted a lot from nature of the city and its surroundings. In addition to the streets of Krasnoyarsk, depicted in watercolors and drawings, at the same time the artist painted a large series of works called “Kaltat” (after the name of the river in State Nature Reserve"Pillars")
Andrey Pozdeev participated in Regional and Zonal exhibitions (there were 31 of them), and from 1964 to 1997, 11 personal exhibitions were also held: Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Norilsk, Tallinn, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Zelenogorsk. The artist appreciated exhibitions; they helped to sum up what had been done and find new ones. creative outlets. In 1983, two of his paintings were presented at the exhibition “Soviet Russia” - “Dandelions”, “Kuzmicheva Polyana”. Andrey Pozdeev participated in the All-Union exhibitions: “Exhibition of works by young artists Soviet Union To World Festival youth and students", Moscow, 1957 and All-Union art exhibition“40 years of the Komsomol”, Moscow, 1958
All his life Pozdeev painted flowers. IN different years he painted them in different ways and created a huge number of paintings with the title “Bouquet” or “Flowers”.
In the 80s, Andrei’s reading circle included the Bible and books on Sacred History. Esoteric literature also aroused great interest. In the new workshop, which the artist received in 1980, as a result of the rethinking of this literature, a series of works was created, which included such paintings as: “Calvary”, “Prayer of the Cup”, “Creation of the World”, the cycle “Human Life” and others.
In 1991, exhibitions were organized in Moscow (Central House of Artists, 1993) and St. Petersburg (State Russian Museum, 1996), albums were released, several television programs were created, and articles were published in central art magazines.
Pozdeev’s official recognition began with his first personal exhibition in Moscow in 1993. Based on its results, he was nominated for competition. State Prize. In 1998, Andrei Pozdeev was awarded a Diploma and a silver medal Russian Academy arts
July 12, 1998 A.G. Pozdeev died in his workshop in Krasnoyarsk.
Since 1992 to date, 12 personal albums by A. Pozdeev have been published: “100 paintings by the artist A. G. Pozdeev” (1992); "Andrey Pozdeev. Space and Time" (1993); "Andrey Pozdeev. Ichs from the collection of S. Obraztsov” (1997); "Andrey Pozdeev. Collection from the KKhM im. V.I.Surikov" (1999); “Portraits of Andrey Pozdeev” (2001); “The World of Andrey Pozdeev” (in 3 volumes): “Painting” (vol. 1) (1999), “Graphics, watercolor” (vol. 2) (2001), “Archive, memories” (vol. 3) (2002); “Andrey Pozdeev: Human Life” (2004); “Graphics by Andrey Pozdeev” (2005); “Kaltat of Andrey Pozdeev” (2006), “Printed graphics of Andrey Pozdeev” (2009).

Andrey Gennadievich Pozdeev is an extraordinary man and an extraordinary artist. The first is probably not so rare in our country, where we are surrounded by people with incredible, fabulous biographies and incomprehensible, undiscovered possibilities; but the second quality is quite remarkable where, for many decades, care was taken to ensure that educational institutions came out similar friend against each other, “correct” artists. Andrei Gennadievich is a very correct master in his own way, that is, convinced, consistent, faithful to his calling, hardworking, but his rules were not suggested to him by anyone, they are not placed within any exhibition framework; like any confident in choosing his path as an artist, he belongs to a cohort of creative, therefore obstinate people. Nevertheless, he was recognized (if not even understood), accepted into the Union of Artists, he has a spacious, bright studio in the center of Krasnoyarsk. Not that he stayed. is not known at all: friends write about him, although little has been published; several paintings were shown by enthusiasts from the Siberian Salon in Moscow. But it must be said that Pozdeev is one of the largest and most original artists in the country, with his art he would bring joy to countless art lovers, and it is truly bitter that essentially the familiarity of the domestic public with the paintings of the great master remains ahead.

Andrei Gennadyevich Pozdeev is amazing and original not at all because he wanted to be different from others. Those who have such a desire, who draw their originality from the pages of foreign magazines, are indistinguishably similar to each other. Pozdeev is unique, because all of his amazing life led to creativity, which could only merge with her. His odyssey is a story of wanderings and vicissitudes, tragic and happy accidents, with which the fate of the people is full. A descendant of Siberian skilled blacksmiths and carpenters, the great-grandson of an exiled Pole, Pozdeev was born in 1926. The old way of life lost stability and collapsed, leaving scattered fragments of groups and families. Future artist was a street child, studied at the FZO school, became a fireman's assistant, worked, and during the war years learned the soldier's share in Far East. Finally, fate brought him to a children's art school, no longer in early age, but attempts to study further were unsuccessful: Pozdeev was not accepted into the art institute either in Moscow or in Leningrad. It is difficult to say what would have happened to the artist if he had been accepted into the institute; whether he would have managed to preserve his originality (some people succeeded, although not often); one way or another, Andrei Gennadievich was left to his own devices and developed like a rare flower, to the surprise of everyone who was lucky enough to see his paintings. Oddly enough, the richest impressions of a worker, a soldier, a Russian wanderer and a passion-bearer did not become the visual repertoire of his work, a constant source of his images. Everything Pozdeev experienced unexpectedly took shape in the whims of the imagination, patterned fantasies, luxurious gardens and flower beds of a free dream. This rise of imagination in the gloomy and cramped dungeons of existence is well known to us both in poetry and in the novel,

and in painting; What was unexpected here was the feeling of a free, unfettered and joyful soaring of fantasy, elevated above the impersonality and joylessness of life. This joy as a general emotional tone of creativity, as a high tension of the soul, is almost incredible V is our unreasonable time, but perhaps it is precisely this that we all miss most, and right now.

The general impression of a happy dream, the joyful charm of painting, however, has nothing in common with the desire to turn away from reality, to forget about it, to plunge into a kind of blissful sleep in which art serves as something like a narcotic. On the contrary, Pozdeev’s beautiful fantasies, his waking dreams and patterns, unbridled inventions are by no means ghosts, visions, or decorative entertainment: they absorbed not only the magic of fiction, but also the whole life experience, all the artist’s experiences, albeit in a fabulously transformed world of fantasy. Therefore, in Pozdeev’s paintings one can feel not only the charm of life, but also the bitterness of loss, the pain of loneliness, and most importantly, the joy of discovering the world anew - far from vulgar truisms and from habitual lies.

The fate of Andrei Gennadievich was not easy at all; his path in art was not smooth either. For about thirty years he had to meet with dull misunderstanding; They refused to recognize him; in his paintings they saw a mockery of all the rules of universally accepted art, if only departmental games accepted at zonal and regional exhibitions can be called art. But Pozdeev, a quiet, modest man beaten down by life, did not think about making fun of anything, he simply followed the call of his talent, did what he could not help but do. He was not understood, he was blamed, but he also did not understand those who blamed him. It is difficult for an artist to understand that he is not loved because he is an artist, because his art is not subject to general discipline, but to a powerful inner voice. Pozdeev’s voice, the “demon,” as the ancient philosophers called it, is especially strong.

Where did the “demon” lead the artist? Are there any roads in art that no one has ever walked before? Here life, as it were, staged a kind of experiment that gave a dual result. Everything that came out of Pozdeev’s brush is undoubtedly his his own creation of artistic fantasy, born by himself: he owns the unusually ringing, festive inflorescence of pure colors, and the combination of decorative, carpet elegance with the drama and psychologism of the figurative structure of the picture, and the symbolic signs invented by the artist, living their own mysterious life. When you look at the paintings of Andrei Gennadievich, you experience an exciting feeling of contact with a special, original type of art, which is organically inherent in the Krasnoyarsk hermit. Many features characteristic of Pozdeev’s work are not completely unfamiliar to world painting. In a certain sense, Pozdeev resembles that mathematics teacher who, in a remote Russian province, independently discovered differential calculus, repeating the discovery of Newton and Leibniz. But art is not mathematics; any independent discovery in it can become a unique revelation if it enters into a new artistic whole as its organic part. One can, of course, recognize in Andrei Gennadievich’s paintings a cheerful and daring play of decorative harmonies and exotic dreams, reminiscent of the collages of the great Henri Matisse; interest in the bizarre life of a sign, a hieroglyph, makes Pozdeev’s art similar to the Munich expressionist Paul Klee, with the Catalan surrealist Joan Miró, with some of the abstract expressionists of the 40s and 50s, like the American Mark Tobey or the Japanese Domoto Iney, and, of course, with many young artists of our day. It is possible, however, not to remember the predecessors, as it were, with whose work Pozdeev became acquainted when his art had already taken shape. The important thing is that it was not lost in the Siberian distances and was connected with hidden threads with world artistic culture.

A Siberian anchorite and magician, Pozdeev is not, however, the familiar figure of a home-grown prophet preaching truisms. Andrey Gennadievich is not only an original thinker, but also a connoisseur, a researcher of the art of signs, hieroglyphs, conventional symbolic

a double of not yet clarified meaning. At the same time, Pozdeevsky signs are full-blooded artistic creations, living tense and joyful life lines and colors. Blue, yellow, red, green spots create a fascinating spectacle, while carpet patterns conceal the restless and gloomy drama of life. Pozdeev’s canvases differ sharply from similar works that appear in Europe, America or Japan: they contain not only philosophical reflection on the contradictions of life and the vague aspirations of people, but also a feeling of direct contact with pain points and unhealed, bleeding wounds. Next to the visions of a happy, prosperous and warm country - distant Oceania or domestic subtropics - crosses of Golgotha ​​appear, like antennas stretching towards a distant sound; the faces of Christ and Pilate float on top of each other, like the Sun and Moon at the moment of an eclipse. There are images that are joyful and ominous at the same time, like the large painting “Tiger,” joyful and disturbing, like the grandiose triptych “The Creation of the World.”

Among the numerous canvases of Andrei Gennadyevich Pozdeev, there are many images of human figures: sometimes these are symbols, like “Adam and Eve,” sometimes portraits. What the artist is talking about is clearly expressed here: “When the painting has taken place, it becomes alive, it has a soul.” . In portraits human soul looks directly at us with eyes full of trust and hope. “The Marriage Portrait” of 1984 is made in the manner of a naive artist or a child, but the more powerfully the charming melody of openness of the soul, gullibility, love, timid and happy faith in the future sounds in it. The self-portrait of 1985 is more geometric, more solid and even prickly, but in in the eyes one can see the same kind faith, the same hope living in a man who has been painfully and mercilessly beaten by life. “Gennady Danilovich” - a portrait of his father, painted in 1974 - is sadder, a skeptical fold at the eyes and mouth, an ironically raised eyebrow, but the kindness and warmth of the gaze seem indestructible.

Our country is great and rich in talent. It is so rich that the many years of struggle waged against talent, the merciless subordination of talent to general discipline, could not destroy, even drown out the creative energy of Russian art.

A.M.Kantor. One hundred paintings by artist A.G. Pozdeev. Painting. Gallery CITY, 1992