What is still life?

Still life is a genre of painting that depicts inanimate nature. The genre originated in the 17th century.

Still life is primarily surprising and interesting because it makes people see beauty and harmony in everyday, boring things that surround us all the time, but do not draw our attention to themselves.

The genre is not as simple as it seems at first glance: in most of these paintings, artists use allegory - they try to tell people something important through a certain set of objects, their arrangement, chosen colors, the overall composition, to convey what worries them, to tell about their feelings and thoughts.

Despite the gloomy translation "dead nature", canvases are often full of bright colors, delight the viewer with their originality and quirkiness, awaken the desire to live and admire the world around them, to see the beauty in it.

There are many types and subspecies of still life, for example, plot-thematic, creative, educational and creative, educational. They are also subdivided according to the colors used, lighting, color, performance time, location, etc.

The founders of still life as an independent genre were Dutch and Flemish artists. Initially, the paintings appeared in religious use. Also in the era of the origin of the genre, paintings of a gloomy nature with a deep philosophical meaning and dark tones, in the center of the composition, which were skulls, candles and some other attributes, became widespread. Then, gradually developing, the genre absorbed more and more new directions and over and over again became more and more widespread in all circles of society. Flowers, books, vegetables and fruits, seafood, dishes and other household items - everything is reflected in art. One of the most famous artists Still lifes were Ambrosius Baschart, Miguel Parra, Jan Brueghel, Joseph Launer, Severin Rosen, Edward Ladell, Jan Davids de Heem, Willem van Aelst, Cornelis Brize.

In Russia, the genre originated in early XVIII century, but no one was seriously engaged in this, it was considered a "lower" genre. At the beginning of the 20th century, still life painting reached greatest flourishing; artists created their masterpieces, set themselves new tasks and reached unspeakable heights in skill, used unusual techniques, selected new images. Russian still life, unlike the Western one, did not develop gradually, but at an accelerated pace. Creating in this genre, such Russian artists as K. Petrov-Vodkin, I. Levitan, I.F. Khrutsky, V. Nesterenko, I.E. Grabar, M. Saryan, A. Osmerkin, P.P. Konchalovsky, S.E. Zakharov, S.I. Osipov and many others.

IN modern painting still life is undergoing a new upsurge and now firmly occupies a rightful place among other genres of fine art. Now it is one of the most sought-after directions in painting. Having a huge number of opportunities for self-realization in creativity, artists paint a wide variety of still lifes. And viewers, in turn, buy paintings, decorate their interiors with them, enlivening their home and bringing comfort and joy to it. Museums are constantly replenished with still lifes, more and more new exhibitions are opening in various cities and countries, to which crowds of spectators interested in art come. Several centuries later, having passed a long full-fledged path of development, still life is still relevant and has not lost its significance in world painting.

Let's move on to the final stage of this series of posts about the still life genre. It will be dedicated to the work of Russian artists.

Let's start with Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783-1873). Still life graphics by F.P. Tolstoy, a famous Russian sculptor, medalist, draftsman and painter, probably the most outstanding and valuable part of his creative heritage, although the artist himself said that he created these works "in his free time from serious studies."

The main property of Tolstoy's still life drawings is their illusory nature. The artist carefully copied nature. He tried, in his own words, “with strict clarity to transfer from life to paper the copied flower as it is, with all the smallest details belonging to this flower.” To mislead the viewer, Tolstoy used such illusionistic techniques as the image of dew drops or translucent paper covering the drawing and helping to deceive the eye.

Ilya Efimofich Repin (1844-1930) also repeatedly turned to such a still life motif as flowers. Such works include the painting “ autumn bouquet” (1892, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), where the artist depicts with equal attention an autumn landscape, a young woman standing against the background of golden trees, and a modest bouquet of yellow and white flowers in her hands.

I. Repin. Autumn bouquet. Portrait of Vera Repina. 1892, Tretyakov Gallery

The history of the painting “Apples and Leaves” is somewhat unusual. The still life, combining fruits and leaves, was staged for Repin's student, V.A. Serov. The teacher liked the subject composition so much that he decided to write such a still life himself. Flowers and fruits attracted many artists, who preferred these, among other things, to show the world of nature most poetically and beautifully. Even I.N. Kramskoy, who was dismissive of this genre, also paid tribute to still life, creating a spectacular painting “Bouquet of Flowers. Phloxes” (1884, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow).

Valentin Alexandrovich Serov (1865-1911) is known to most of us as an artist who paid attention in his work to landscape, portrait and history painting. However, it should be noted that the subject in his work always played important role and often occupied the same equal position as other elements of the composition. A little higher, I already mentioned his student work "Apples on Leaves", 1879, made under the direction of Repin. If we compare this work with a work written on the same theme by Repin, we can see that Serov's still life is more etude than the canvas of his teacher. The novice artist used a low point of view, so the first and second shots are combined, and the background is reduced.

Known to everyone since childhood, the painting "Girl with Peaches" goes beyond portrait genre and it is no coincidence that she is called “Girl with Peaches”, and not “Portrait of Vera Mamontova”. We can see that the features of a portrait, interior and still life are combined here. The artist pays equal attention to the image of a girl in a pink blouse and a few, but skillfully grouped objects. Pale yellow peaches, maple leaves and a shiny knife lie on a white tablecloth. Other things in the background are also lovingly drawn out: chairs, a large porcelain plate decorating the wall, a figurine of a toy soldier, a candlestick on the windowsill. Sunlight pouring from the window and falling on objects with bright highlights gives the image a poetic charm.

Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1856-1910) wrote: “And again it hits me, no, it doesn’t hit me, but I hear that intimate national note that I so want to catch on canvas and in ornament. This is the music of a whole person, not dissected by the distractions of an ordered, differentiated and pale West.”

At the Academy of Arts, Vrubel's favorite teacher was Pavel Chistyakov, who taught the young painter to "draw with form" and argued that three-dimensional forms should not be created in space with shading and contours, they should be built with lines. Thanks to him, Vrubel learned not only to show nature, but as if to have a sincere, almost loving conversation with her. In this spirit, the wonderful still life of the master “Wild Rose” (1884) was made.

Against the backdrop of exquisite drapery with floral motifs, the artist placed an elegant rounded vase painted with oriental patterns. Delicate White flower rose hips, tinted with blue-green fabric, and the leaves of the plant almost merge with the dimly shimmering black neck of the vase. This composition is full of inexpressible charm and freshness, which the viewer simply cannot help but succumb to.

G.N. Teplov and T. Ulyanov. Most often, they depicted a plank wall, on which knots and veins of a tree were drawn. Various objects are hung on the walls or plugged behind nailed ribbons: scissors, combs, letters, books, music notebooks. Clocks, inkwells, bottles, candlesticks, dishes and other small things are placed on narrow shelves. It seems that such a set of items is completely random, but in fact this is far from the case. Looking at such still lifes, one can guess about the interests of artists who were engaged in playing music, reading, and who were fond of art. Masters lovingly and diligently depicted things dear to them. These paintings touch with their sincerity and immediacy of perception of nature.

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev (1878-1927) also devoted a lot of his work to the genre of still life. On his cheerful canvases you can see bright satin fabrics, sparkling copper samovars, the brilliance of faience and porcelain, red slices of watermelon, grape clusters, apples, mouth-watering muffins. One of his wonderful pictures is "The Merchant for Tea", 1918. It is impossible not to admire the bright splendor of the objects shown on the canvas. A sparkling samovar, bright red pulp of watermelons, glossy apples and transparent grapes, a glass vase with jam, a gilded sugar bowl and a cup standing in front of the merchant's wife - all these things bring a festive mood to the image.

In the genre of still life great attention was given to the so-called "still life-dummy". Many still lifes are “tricks”, despite the fact that they main task was the misleading of the viewer, they have undoubted artistic merit, especially noticeable in museums, where, hung on the walls, such compositions, of course, cannot deceive the public. But there are also exceptions. For example, “Still Life with Books”, made by P.G. Bogomolov, is inserted into an illusory "bookcase", and visitors do not immediately realize that this is just a picture.

Very good “Still Life with a Parrot” (1737) G.N. Teplov. With the help of clear, precise lines, turning into soft, smooth contours, light, transparent shadows, subtle color nuances, the artist shows a variety of objects hung on a plank wall. Masterfully rendered wood, bluish, pink, yellowish shades which help to create an almost real feeling of fresh smell of freshly planed wood.

Russian still lifes-"tricks" of the 18th century testify to the fact that artists are still not skillfully conveying space and volumes. It is more important for them to show the texture of objects, as if transferred to the canvas from reality. Unlike Dutch still lifes, where things absorbed by the light environment are depicted in unity with it, in the paintings of Russian masters, objects painted very carefully, even petty, live as if on their own, regardless of the surrounding space.

IN early XIX century big role in the further development of the still life, the school of A.G. Venetsianov, who opposed the strict delimitation of genres and sought to teach his pupils a holistic vision of nature.

A.G. Venetsianov. Barnyard, 1821-23

The Venetian school opened a new genre for Russian art - the interior. The artists showed various rooms of the noble house: living rooms, bedrooms, studies, kitchens, classrooms, people's rooms, etc. In these works, an important place was given to the depiction of various objects, although the still life itself was of little interest to representatives of the Venetsianov circle (in any case, very few still lifes made by the famous painter's students have survived). Nevertheless, Venetsianov urged his pupils to carefully study not only the faces and figures of people, but also the things around them.

The object in Venetsianov's painting is not an accessory, it is inextricably linked with the rest of the details of the picture and is often the key to understanding the image. For example, the sickles in the painting “The Reapers” (second half of the 1820s, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg) perform a similar function. Things in Venetian art seem to be involved in a slow and serene life characters.

Although Venetsianov, in all likelihood, did not actually paint still lifes, he included this genre in his teaching system. The artist wrote: Inanimate things are not subject to those various changes that are characteristic of animate objects, they stand, hold themselves calmly, motionless before an inexperienced artist and give him time to penetrate more accurately and judiciously, to peer into the relationship of one part to another, both in lines, and in light and shadow by color itself. , which depend on the place occupied by objects”.

Of course, still life played a big role in the pedagogical system of the Academy of Arts in the XVIII- 19th century x (in the classroom, the pupils made copies from the still lifes of the Dutch masters), but it was Venetsianov, who encouraged young artists to turn to nature, who introduced a still life into his program of the first year of study, composed of such things as plaster figures, dishes, candlesticks, multi-colored ribbons, fruits and flowers. Venetsianov selected subjects for educational still lifes so that they were of interest to novice painters, understandable in form, beautiful in color.

In the paintings created by talented students of Venetsianov, things are conveyed truthfully and freshly. These are the still lifes of K. Zelentsov, P.E. Kornilov. In the works of the Venetians there are also works that are not essentially still lifes, but, nevertheless, the role of things in them is enormous. You can name, for example, the canvases “Study in Ostrovki” and “Reflection in the Mirror” by G.V. Magpies kept in the collection of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

G.V. Magpie. "Office in Ostrovki". Fragment, 1844, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

Still lifes in these works do not act independently, but as parts of the interior arranged in a peculiar way by the master, corresponding to the general compositional and emotional structure of the picture. The main connecting element here is light, gently passing from one object to another. Looking at the canvases, you understand how interesting the world an artist who lovingly depicted every object, every smallest little thing.

The still life presented in the “Study in Ostrovki”, although it occupies a small place in overall composition, seems unusually significant, highlighted due to the fact that the author fenced it off from the rest of the space with a high back of the sofa, and cut it off with a frame on the left and right. It seems that Magpie was so carried away by the objects lying on the table that he almost forgot about the rest of the details of the picture. The master carefully wrote out everything: a quill pen, a pencil, a compass, a protractor, a penknife, an abacus, sheets of paper, a candle in a candlestick. The point of view from above allows you to see all things, none of them obscures the other. Attributes such as a skull, a clock, as well as symbols of “earthly vanity” (a figurine, papers, abacus) allow some researchers to classify the still life as a vanitas, although this coincidence is purely coincidental, most likely, the serf artist used what was on the table his master.

The famous master of subject compositions of the first half of XIX century was the artist I.F. Khrutsky, who wrote many beautiful pictures in the spirit of Dutch still life XVII century. Among his best works are “Flowers and Fruits” (1836, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), “Portrait of a Wife with Flowers and Fruits” (1838, Art Museum Belarus, Minsk), “Still Life” (1839, Museum of the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg).

In the first half of the 19th century in Russia, the “botanical still life”, which came to us from Western Europe. In France, at that time, the writings of botanists were published with beautiful illustrations. Greater fame in many European countries received by the artist P.Zh. Redoubt, who was considered "the most celebrated flower painter of his time." "Botanical drawing" was a significant phenomenon not only for science, but also for art and culture. Such drawings were presented as a gift, decorated albums, which thus put them on a par with other works of painting and graphics.

In the second half of the 19th century, P.A. Fedotov. Although he did not actually paint still lifes, the world of things he created delights with its beauty and truthfulness.

Objects in Fedotov's works are inseparable from people's lives, they are directly involved in the dramatic events depicted by the artist.

Looking at the painting “The Fresh Cavalier” (“Morning after the Feast”, 1846), one is amazed at the abundance of objects carefully painted by the master. A real still life, surprising with its laconicism, is presented in the famous painting by Fedotov “Courtship of a Major” (1848). Glass is palpably realistically conveyed: wine glasses on high legs, bottle, decanter. The thinnest and transparent, it seems to emit a gentle crystal ringing.

Fedotov P.A. Major's marriage. 1848-1849. GTG

Fedotov does not separate objects from the interior, so things are shown not only reliably, but also picturesquely subtly. Every most ordinary or not very attractive object that takes its place in the common space seems amazing and beautiful.

Although Fedotov did not paint still lifes, he showed an undoubted interest in this genre. Intuition prompted him how to arrange this or that object, from what point of view to present it, what things would look next not only logically justified, but also expressively.

The world of things, which helps to show a person's life in all its manifestations, endows Fedotov's works with a special musicality. Such are the paintings “Anchor, more anchor” (1851-1852), “The Widow” (1852) and many others.

In the second half of the 19th century, the still life genre practically ceased to interest artists, although many genre painters willingly included still life elements in their compositions. Things in the paintings of V.G. Perov (“Tea drinking in Mytishchi”, 1862, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), L.I. Solomatkin (“Slavilshchiki-gorodovye”, 1846, State Historical Museum, Moscow).

Still lifes are presented in genre scenes by A.L. Yushanova (“Seeing off the chief”, 1864), M.K. Klodt (“The Sick Musician”, 1855), V.I. Jacobi (“Pedlar”, 1858), A.I. Korzukhin (“Before confession”, 1877; “In the monastery hotel”, 1882), K.E. Makovsky (“Alekseich”, 1882). All these canvases are now kept in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery.

K.E. Makovsky. “Alekseich”, 1882, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

In the 1870s-1880s, everyday life remained the leading genre in Russian painting, although landscape and portrait also occupied an important place. A huge role for the further development of Russian art was played by the Wanderers, who sought to show the truth of life in their works. Artists began to give great importance working from nature and therefore increasingly turned to landscape and still life, although many of them considered the latter a waste of time, a senseless passion for a form devoid of inner content. So, I.N. Kramskoy mentioned the famous French painter, who did not neglect still lifes, in a letter to V.M. Vasnetsov: “A talented person will not waste time on the image, for example, basins, fish, etc. It’s good to do this for people who already have everything, but we have a lot of work to do.”

Nevertheless, many Russian artists who did not paint still lifes admired them, looking at the canvases of Western masters. For example, V.D. Polenov, who was in France, wrote to I.N. Kramskoy: “Look how things are going here, like clockwork, everyone works in his own way, in a variety of directions, what anyone likes, and all this is appreciated and paid. With us, what matters most is what is done, but here it is how it is done. For example, for a copper basin with two fish they pay twenty thousand francs, and in addition they consider this copper craftsman the first painter, and, perhaps, not without reason.

Visited in 1883 at an exhibition in Paris V.I. Surikov admired landscapes, still lifes and paintings depicting flowers. He wrote: “Gibert's fish are good. Fish slime is conveyed masterfully, colorfully, kneaded tone on tone.” There is in his letter to P.M. Tretyakov and such words: “And Gilbert's fish are a miracle. Well, you can completely take it in your hands, it’s written to deceit. ”

Both Polenov and Surikov could become excellent masters of still life, as evidenced by the masterfully painted objects in their compositions (“Sick” by Polenova, “Menshikov in Berezov” by Surikov).