Maxim TYCHKOV, Member of the Union of Artists of Russia, lecturer at the St. Petersburg State Art Academy
Culture plays an exceptional role in the life of Russia. Some works of art determined the image and direction of the thoughts of entire generations. Others were the justification of the eras in which they were created.
There lived in recent times an artist whose name can be put next to the name of Alexander Ivanov - in terms of boldness and majesty of tasks, in terms of skill, and whose service to art is worthy of being called a feat.
Pavel Dmitrievich Korin was an artist not only by vocation, but also by birth. His arrival in great art was prepared by more than one generation of peasant icon painters from the famous village of Palekh. In 1909, the sixteen-year-old master icon painter Pavel Korin went to Moscow to continue his art education. His heart lay in realistic painting, he was delighted when he looked at reproductions from paintings by the great masters of the High Renaissance. From the time of the first acquaintance with these samples and for the rest of his life, his ideals in art were unshakable: only lofty, tragic, spiritual, heroic should be the content of his work. He understood that lofty thoughts should be expressed with powerful plasticity.
Having settled in Moscow, Korin met M.V. Nesterov. The young Paleshani found in the person of the venerable artist a friend, like-minded person and a wise mentor, who directed him on the path of a systematic art education.
After graduating from the Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Korin continued to improve his artistic craft. Until the age of 30, he did not dare to take on his own work, he considered himself a student. In his own words, he “corroded the 17th century out of himself”, consistently developing his already powerful gift as a draftsman. Personal deep faith, rooted in folk traditions, Korin's remarkable talent and exceptional ability to work prepared a bright and thoughtful artist for Russian culture.
In difficult times, a young, full of strength Pavel Korin entered the artistic life. By the beginning of the 20th century, in Russian painting, after its long wanderings in cold Western academism, politicized wandering, marginal decadence, a national "Russian style" had developed and began to develop. In 1916, M.V. Nesterov painted the painting “The Soul of the People ..”, which summed up the return of Russian art to the original Christian soil. In this large Nesterov picture - the Tsar and the holy fool, elders and youths, soldiers and nuns, peasants and great Russian writers - praying, Easter Russia. But there is some anxiety in her ...
Ten years later, the teaching of history will be abolished in Russia, it will be replaced by “political literacy”. The time will come, about which the poet prophetically said: "And many Pontian Pilates, and many crafty Judas crucify their Fatherland, sell their Christ." The people-prayer, sung by Nesterov, two years after the creation of this picture, will begin to renounce their faith or pay for its confession with blood.
The revolution, like a gigantic flood, will flood the Russian shores, lift all the dirt and dregs from the bottom and bring them to the surface, change the sovereign channel of Russian life beyond recognition. A lot of time will pass before the river calms down, the silt settles, the reflection appears again. Other generations of Russian people will come and again see the Sky in reflection, but the shores will already be different ... Korin had the role of a witness to the Russian catastrophe. The creative legacy left by him helps to at least slightly imagine the outlines of of the lost great Russian Empire and to see the path that Russian art could take.
Pavel Korin was a follower of the tradition dating back to the time of A. Ivanov, when “historical” painting was considered the pinnacle of painting. A "historical painter" should paint real heroes, express great, and not momentary thoughts with his work. He has a great responsibility for choosing a theme and its implementation. Under Alexander Ivanov, Russian society was looking for truth at two poles: "Westernism" and "Slavophilism." Being in Italian solitude, observing this division from afar, Ivanov, with the boldness of his creativity, contemplated the heights of the superworld and soared to that height, to which such divisions do not reach.
Korin lived in other times, when the division affected the foundations of being. Everyone was faced with questions: “Who are you?” and “who are you with?”. The historical painter Korin could not pass by this tragedy. He was preparing himself for the big picture, looking for his theme.
Korin could not choose a different theme for the main picture of his life than division of the Russian people . With all his spiritual, artistic, civil dispensation, he was prepared to perceive the true pathos of the events taking place and, bypassing class political, class prejudices, to see the true heroes of his time.
In 1925, in the Donskoy Monastery, at the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon, Korin found the plot of his future picture. All estates and ranks of the former Russia, people of all ages and professions have gathered here to give the last kiss to the Patriarch-Confessor and testify to their loyalty to the persecuted Church. Standing in this endless stream of people, the artist visibly saw how beautiful and invincible Good is. Evil, throwing off all masks and masks, openly destroyed the best representatives of the people, paralyzing the rest of it with fear. The people who came to the funeral of the Patriarch have made their choice. Then they will leave one by one, but now they are the salt of the Russian land, they have gathered last time together. Here the artist had the whole idea of the future canvas. An image of lofty tragedy and greatness arose before him. The last parade of thousand-year Orthodox Russia. It won't easter theme, which Nesterov told, and the theme of Good Friday. The last classic of Russian painting, Korin called the conceived painting "Requiem".
Having started work on a sketch of the future canvas, he started looking for his “heroes” - people who externally and internally resemble those whom he saw at the tomb of Patriarch Tikhon. In his walks around the monasteries and churches of Moscow, Korin often met bright types and characters, but every time he was refused an offer to pose. Already at that time, the Russian people were losing one of their main qualities - gullibility, and for many the “whim” of an artist who started some kind of picture in such a dashing time was incomprehensible.
Through Nesterov, Korin decided to turn to Bishop Trifon Turkestanov. The legendary figure was Metropolitan Tryphon.
In his youth, having received a brilliant education, after meeting with Rev. Ambrose of Optina chose the monastic path. He carried out his obedience both in the transit prison and in the trenches of the First World War, from which he returned with the St. George Cross, a golden panagia with the inscription: "For courage" and with an eye blind from a wound. The Metropolitan enjoyed the love of the whole people; intellectuals and cooks considered him “their Lord”. For the latter, before the revolution, he served night liturgies, so that they could fast and take communion without leaving daytime affairs. Among the spiritual children of Vladyka were actress M.N. Ermolova, singer A.V. Nezhdanova, conductor N.S. Golovanov, artist M.V. Nesterov. At the end of the 30s, Metropolitan Tryphon lived in retirement. An associate of Patriarch Tikhon, he inspired a large flock to stand firm in the faith.
Pavel Korin turned to this bishop. And he warmly supported and blessed his plan, agreed to pose for several sessions. The blessing of Metropolitan Tryphon and the portrait painted from him opened the hearts of people to Korin, to whom the artist now turned with the same request for posing. Having learned that "Vladyka Tryphon himself stood before him," these people agreed to an unusual occupation.
For Korin, a period of intense and inspired work began, which lasted from 1929 to 1937, when he created the entire gallery of sketches for the Requiem. 32 images were captured by the artist on monumental canvases. It was the time of the highest flowering of his talent.
Like his heroes, he was placed on the other side of the line that the new government assigned to “superfluous” people with his whole life, convictions, and faith. No wonder M. Nesterov wrote about the Korin brothers: “... this breed of people is now dying out and, perhaps, doomed to complete destruction. And, however, as long as they exist, I will not get tired of admiring them. The portrait of the young Pavel Korin, made by Nesterov in 1925, shows a person of the same spiritual warehouse as those people whom Korin himself wrote for his Requiem.
In 1930, Korin wrote "Skhimnitsa from the Ivanovo Monastery." Arriving to pose "out of obedience", she did not notice the atmosphere of the workshop, did not delve into the artist's intention, but immediately indulged in her usual business - prayer. Throughout the session, she stood motionless with a copper cross and a lit candle in her hands. When the candle burned out, they offered to take a break. The artist's wife wanted to take the cross from the nun, but, crying out, she dropped it: it became unbearably hot from the flame of the candle. When asked how she held it all the time, the schema girl simply answered: “So I prayed ...”
Korin wrote to a priest from his native village of Palekh, Fr. Alexia. A simple Russian priest, he survived the suicide of his son, the branded “guilt” of the parent, the betrayal of his flock, the desecration of his temple ...
A striking portrait of "Father and Son" - Sergei Mikhailovich and Stepan Sergeevich Churakov. Two generations from big family carpenters and self-taught sculptors, with all their appearance confessing quality in work, patriarchy in everyday life. Korin has preserved for us the appearance of representatives of a traditional Russian family with unshakable moral principles and a hierarchy of relationships between generations.
The 1932 painting “Young Novice” depicts the future Russian New Martyr Fr. Theodore Bogoyavlensky. Then he, a recent graduate of the medical faculty, was just preparing for the tonsure, he lived with the last monks of the Zosima Hermitage. In the midst of the godless five-year plan, he was about to renounce the world. And the world was preparing to respond to him with "class hatred." On the stretcher of the portrait, Korin wrote: "The monk was late, late ..."
Among the studies was "Portrait of a Blind Man". Korin saw this hero of his in the Dorogomilovsky Cathedral, where he served as regent of one of the kliros. Later A.M. Gorky, who came to see Korin's studies for the first time, will be struck by the blind man's fingers, with which he, as it were, "sees" the space in front of him. But he was given to see something else. When he posed, he sensitively caught the sounds of the street coming from the 6th floor, he said: “But Babylon is making noise!” ... The cathedral, in which this Korin hero regent, was demolished in the late 40s.
... There was a second "godless" five-year plan. The destruction of the peasantry began. Newspapers burned with hatred for the "former" - the clergy, professors, nobles. In production, open voting was held for the death penalty for "enemies of the people", children renounced their own parents. In 1930, "war on the temples" was declared.
Korin lived in his studio on the Arbat, an uncomfortable attic filled with huge casts of classical Greek sculptures, picked up by him from the street, where they were thrown out by supporters of Suprematism. Together with his brother Alexander and faithful wife and assistant Praskovya Tikhonovna, they lived from hand to mouth, earning money writing banners for demonstrations and teaching. There were legends about Pavel Korin and his painting in Moscow. Few have seen his sketches, but the news is that in the midst of terrible reality there lives an artist who paints the pillars of persecuted Orthodoxy and thinks of dedicating them to big picture, seemed incredible, instilled courage in many. The artist himself, who encroached on such an odious topic, walked on the edge of a knife. He, far from the artistic trends of his time, was deprived of permanent orders. He had no material opportunity to carry out his large-scale plan, and no change in the situation was foreseen.
And in 1931 M. Gorky visited the attic on the Arbat. From that moment on, the proletarian writer took the artist under his protection. In the same year, he arranged a trip for the Korin brothers to Europe and Italy to get acquainted with the original masterpieces of world art. He contributed to the device of Pavel Dmitrievich in the restoration workshops Pushkin Museum to have a steady income. But, most importantly, Gorky created all the conditions for the implementation of the large-scale plan of "Requiem". In 1932, he set up a spacious workshop for the artist in a separate wing on Malaya Pirogovskaya, ordered a huge woven canvas in Leningrad for a future painting, and, in addition, ensured Korin's immunity from attacks and persecution.
The history of Russian culture knew the friendship between a brilliant writer and brilliant artist, where the writer took his authority to solve the material difficulties of the artist. So, in 1847 N.V. Gogol wrote an article history painter Ivanov”, where he explained to the Russian public the grandiosity, complexity and grandeur of the canvas conceived by Alexander Ivanov, called for support and help to realize the artist’s painting on the “world plot”. Of course, Gogol's role in communicating with Ivanov was not limited to mediating between the "Italian recluse" and Russian society. He provided the artist with spiritual and moral support. It was a communication of like-minded people, enriching each other's creativity and enriching Russian culture.
Gorky's participation in the fate of Korin is an undoubted fact, but one can hardly speak of their unanimity or mutual influence on each other. Both subtle, purely Russian intellectuals, they belonged to different poles of the broad Russian element. Gorky, in his youth inspired by revolutionary ideas, loudly sang violence, was noticed by Lenin himself. After the revolution, he belatedly saw the light, seeing that this Russian rebellion was not only “cruel and senseless”, but also disastrous for the people. He tried to stand up for individual representatives of the intelligentsia, for which he was hardly tolerated in the Land of Soviets. Perhaps in the support of Korin Gorky found consolation and justification for the collapse of his life. In addition, he recognized in the former Palekh icon painter outstanding artist of his time. He was struck by the mastery, deep psychologism, artistic truthfulness, artistry of the etudes for the Requiem. He also approved the general idea, interpreting it in his own way. Gorky himself sought heroism in everything, linking his aspirations to the revolution. In the picture conceived by Korin, he saw, first of all, “nationality”, epicness, corresponding to the tectonic shift of the earth's layers that took place in post-revolutionary Russia. He offered his name to the painting: “Russia is leaving”. Under this name, Korinsky's sketch and idea entered the history of art.
On the sketch of "Requiem" in the interior of the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, the wings of a colossal human wall opened in two directions. The huge hand of the archdeacon seems to give a sound to a huge bell, and this sound, like a smooth wave, passes through the silent human system and goes beyond the picture.
Next to the bogatyr-archdeacon is a small figure of Metropolitan Tryphon in scarlet Easter vestments, which burns like a bright torch in the center of the composition, illuminating the entire space of the picture. The scarlet color prevailing in the picture is the color of Christian martyrdom.
Turning the whole host of those who are coming with their backs to the altar, mixing the attributes and gestures of different services, the artist consciously shows the symbolism, generalization and exclusivity of the depicted event.
Korin depicted three patriarchs at once in the center on the pulpit: His Holiness Tikhon, Patriarch Sergius and Patriarch Alexy 1. Patriarch Pimen of Russia is also present in the picture, he is depicted in the right corner of the picture as a 25-year-old hieromonk, as the artist saw him in 1935.
This is the amazing prophecy of Korin, who simultaneously depicted in his picture four primates of the Russian Church, embracing the entire period of Soviet power from the beginning to its end with their reign.
The presence in the picture of many hermits, whose vocation is prayer for the whole world, testifies that this standing is significant not only for Russian, but also for world history.
Extinguished chandelier candles, scaffolding beams that outlined the living space of the temple on the right - as a symbol of the trampling of Truth in Russia, the destruction of unshakable traditions, violence against the inviolable.
When you look after the gallery of etudes-portraits at a detailed small sketch of the “Requiem”, the first impression is that the artist mechanically combined natural etudes, simply masterfully observing the laws of rhythm and balance. And that there is some compositional timidity in the fact that he retained all the poses that his models took while posing. This is probably due to the fact that portraits-etudes saturated with vital truth and artistic energy press on a chamber and dryish sketch with their monumental power.
This sketch is the fruit of many years (from 1935 to 1959) of the artist’s work and reflections, and it requires the viewer to “stand” in front of him in response – then only the compositional layering, symbolic fullness and fidelity of one thought are revealed. And the remarks about the natural dependence of the author disappear by themselves.
An artist-thinker who studied the heritage of the old masters all his life, Korin managed to solve the most difficult compositional problem. In music, Requiem is a polyphonic cyclic choral work mourning nature. Korin managed to express the epic of universal scale and drama in the language of plasticity and color, revealing all the components of the musical genre.
Since 1936, a black period began in the life of the artist. After Gorky's death, a stream of accusations fell upon Korin that he "broke away from reality, did not participate in the development of proletarian art, went into depicting the reactionary environment" and that everything he had created so far was a mistake. A lot of zealous in the persecution of Korin's "brothers" in the shop. It was later, already in the last decades of his life, that he would be recognized as the greatest artist of our time, the patriarch of “socialist realism”, he would receive the title of People’s Artist of the USSR, his series of portraits of military leaders and artists would enter the treasury of the world portrait art. ... And in the late 40s, Korin was repeatedly tried to be evicted from the workshop. The Tretyakov Gallery removed from the permanent exhibition all the paintings of Pavel Korin, who was declared a “formalist”. When the artist turned to the directorate of the museum with a request to give him for a while some of the etudes for the Requiem, located in the Tretyakov Gallery, which he needed to work on the picture, he received an answer that he could redeem their. Korin moved all his, which became unnecessary new Tretyakov Gallery, paintings to the studio and then paid off the debt for more than 20 years for your work.
During the period of the highest flowering of his talent, at the moment of burning with his plan, the artist was forcibly removed from work. Then Korin fell seriously ill.
For many years, work on the Requiem was obscured by the project of colossal mosaic friezes for the Palace of the Soviets, which Korin undertook to prove his artistic reliability and loyalty to the authorities.
Truly Korin's talent was in demand during the Great Patriotic War. This unprecedented misfortune forced the authorities to recall the thousand-year history of Russia, caused a surge of creative and spiritual strength in our country, which began to lose historical memory people. Korin put all his knowledge of the spiritual beauty and core qualities of the Russian person, learned from the sketches for the Requiem, into the triptych Alexander Nevsky, written by him in 1942. This work, along with the anthem "Get up, huge country" appeared in
that period something big, than a mere piece of art.
Pavel Korin did not write his Requiem. From 1932 until the artist's death, there was a gigantic canvas in his studio, primed with gray paint, which the master's hand never touched. He is like a dumb reproach. But not to the artist, but to the era in which he happened to live. A huge canvas is like the scope of our vast Motherland, and its untouchedness is a symbol of the mighty creative potential not realized by our people. The ingenious sketches of Korin, as well as the outstanding feats with which the Russian people adorned themselves, having exhausted their last strength, were not created in Name, A despite to his time.
Those who knew Pavel Korin at the end of his life testify that he had the eyes of a suffering man. He often bitterly repeated that he had not fulfilled his destiny.
There were purely external reasons due to which Korin was never able to start his picture. Time always does not work for the artist who has conceived a work of large form. Over the course of life, while the artist hatches his idea and works on it, the world around him changes, he himself changes. “What at the beginning of the journey was worth a light glance, now it’s a terrible job,” A. Ivanov admitted at one time. Ivanov himself managed to keep his plan intact and bring it to completion after many years only because he lived as a recluse.
in Italy, away from the thick of public Russian events. Korin could not live outside his time, although he was also known as a recluse. How many "former" people who have become isolated from Soviet reality have been crushed by the Moloch of repressions or the struggle for existence has forced them to abandon lofty ideals! Thanks to Gorky, Korin survived and was free to engage in his work. But to work on the picture, it was necessary to renounce everything, fall out of life, rise above reality. How could he be distracted from the pictures of the destruction of what was the basis and value of his life, from the suffering and death of people close to him? Having obtained through Gorky access to " strong of the world this”, he constantly interceded for friends, acquaintances of priests, someone’s relatives, who were imprisoned, expelled, deprived of voting rights. His heart did not know peace even in later "prosperous" times, when he tried to save architectural monuments from destruction and destruction by the power of his authority, artistic values. All my long life
Korin was deprived of the main condition for working on his epic - the peace of the external and internal. But he did not leave the idea to start and make the main picture of his life. Shortly before his death, he said: “This winter I will nevertheless stain my large canvas ...” At the same time, mechanical scaffolding was ordered by Korin to facilitate work on a gigantic canvas ...
The significance that his painting could have for Russian culture and history was recognized by many of Korin's contemporaries. Vladyka Tryphon blessed him for this work, Gorky asked him to paint a picture, helped him in every possible way and on a large scale. Nesterov also bequeathed to complete the work he had begun, even, jokingly, threatened that he would come from the next world and force him to finish the picture ...
Now all the studies and the sketch for the "Requiem", collected together, are exhibited in the memorial workshop of P.D. Korina in Moscow on Malaya Pirogovskaya. sensitive heart the viewer, aching with the pain of his homeland, will combine the disparate fragments of the Korin epic and compose them in his imagination into a single picture. And confidence will be born that Korin's "Requiem" exists.
Russian painting has gone from St. Andrei Rublev, who depicted the inconceivable - the Pre-eternal Council, the Most Holy Trinity, through the genius of A. Ivanov, who attempted to express the mystery of the Incarnation in paints, to Pavel Korin, who testified in his work the loyalty of the Russian people to Christ.
(1892-1967) Russian artist
Korin Pavel Dmitrievich came from a family of Palekh icon painters, his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were famous icon painters. As a small boy, Korin learned to grind paints and prepare boards on which icons were painted.
The boy's first teacher was his father. However, when Pavel was eleven years old, his father died, and the talented teenager was sent to the state icon-painting school. After studying there for four years, Pavel Korin received the title of master icon painter.
On the advice of his older brother Alexander, in the summer of 1908 he went to Moscow. whole year the young master tried to find a job for himself, but never got any further than an apprentice. Therefore, the following summer, Korin returned to Palekh and began working with his brothers. So his life in Palekh would have passed, if not for the case.
Once a well-known connoisseur of icon painting and artist K. Stepanov came to Palekh. He noticed a talented young man and took him with him to Moscow to his icon-painting workshop. He became the first mentor of Pavel Korin, took him to Moscow museums, introduced him to the history of art, introduced him to the circle of artists, where he introduced him to the famous Russian artist Mikhail Nesterov.
Seeing the work of Pavel Korin, Nesterov convinced him to continue his studies, and in 1912 Korin entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. He studied in the workshop, which was led by the artists K. Korovin and S. Malyutin. Soon his elder brother Alexander also came there. Since that time, Korina's brothers began to live and work together. In the last year, L. Pasternak was Korin's teacher.
A year before graduating from college, Pavel Dmitrievich Korin was invited to paint the tomb of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna in the Moscow Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. He brilliantly coped with this task. After that, they started talking about him as a major original Russian artist.
In 1917, Pavel Korin graduated from college and almost simultaneously completed the murals of the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent. After that, he began working as a restorer of paintings in the museums of the Kremlin and the Tretyakov Gallery.
Gradually, restoration became his second profession. In order to improve his skills, Korin is engaged in a lot of studying the painting of past centuries, as well as copying the paintings of the classics.
Together with his brother, he made several trips to the Russian North, where he collected interesting examples of icon painting. At the same time, the artist painted a series of landscapes, on the basis of which he later created the painting “My Motherland”.
1926 was a turning point in the life of Pavel Korin. He began working as a restorer at the Museum of Fine Arts, in the same year he got married and began working on the painting Departing Rus'.
For this picture, the artist created many portraits of monks and clergymen of Moscow and Palekh churches and monasteries. The traditions of icon painting are felt in every picture of the master. He found his own, very special style of depicting a person. Korin opposes the flatness of the figure to the relief-drawn face and hands of the hero. In each of them, the artist emphasizes the willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of his faith.
By the beginning of the 30s, the artist's acquaintance with Maxim Gorky dates back. On September 3, 1931, Gorky came to the workshop of Pavel Korin on the Arbat. After this meeting, Gorky helped the artist get a new large workshop on Devichye Pole and organized a trip for Pavel and Alexander Korin to museums in Europe. During this trip, Pavel Dmitrievich Korin visited Gorky in Sorrento and painted a large full-length portrait of him.
With the portrait of Gorky in the work of Korin, a new direction began. He decided to create a gallery of portraits of his contemporaries. But he was able to do this only a few years later, because after returning to the USSR he again continued to work on sketches for the painting “Rus' is Leaving”.
In the late thirties - early forties, the artist mastered a new genre for himself monumental painting, having completed a number of paintings for the stations of the Moscow metro.
During the war years, Pavel Korin creates a triptych "Alexander Nevsky" - a hymn heroic defenders Fatherland. The theme of the past helped the artist to better understand the present. In 1945, Korin captured a number of Soviet military leaders, among which the portrait of Marshal Zhukov stands out.
After the war, the main occupation for Pavel Dmitrievich Korin was restoration. He worked hard on the restoration of damaged paintings from Russian museums, as well as from Dresden Gallery. However, he was never able to complete work on his main painting, "Rus' is Departing." More than 400 sketches and a huge canvas have come down to us, which the artist’s brush has never had time to touch.
L. D. Korin is one of the largest, most complex and tragic figures in Russian art of the 20th century. He was born in the famous village of Palekh in a family of hereditary icon painters. The path of life was predetermined. However, talent required development. Korin moved to Moscow, in 1911 he became an assistant to M.V. Nesterov in work on the painting of the church of the Martha and Mary Convent. Meeting with Nesterov, who understood art as spiritual feat, as well as another "meeting" - with the work of A. A. Ivanov, admiration for his ascetic life strengthened in Korin the dream of devoting his whole life to serving art, reaching the heights of mastery, becoming a successor to the great traditions of Russian painting.
In 1916, Korin graduated from the MUZhVZ, but, dissatisfied with his first independent work, he realized how far the cherished ideal was, how difficult the path to the intended goal was. In 1918-25, in the midst of turmoil in the country and in art, Korin seemed to carry out voluntary obedience: he draws a lot, copies, studies anatomy. He is convinced that the new and latest artistic trends do not expand, but sharply narrow the possibilities of the artist, do not give him sufficient plastic means in his hands, that this movement is not up, but down.
In 1925, Korin, like A. A. Ivanov once, acquires his own theme. In April of this year, Patriarch Tikhon dies. All Orthodox Russia gathers in Moscow for his funeral. Shaken by what he saw, Nesterov's disciple, an Orthodox Russian, Pavel Korin realizes himself as an artist of this Russia, seemingly doomed, but continuing to live, confident in his spiritual rightness. He plans to portray procession during the funeral of the patriarch.
Soon work began on preparatory sketches for the painting, which Korin called "Requiem". At the same time, the artist creates the first big job- panoramic landscape "My Motherland" (1928). This is a view of Palekh from a distance. Korin seems to be touching his native land, gaining strength to implement a grandiose plan. He again seems to swear allegiance to the great national tradition, to his constant teachers - A. A. Ivanov and M. V. Nesterov.
Work on sketches for a large picture took ten years. The last portrait - of Metropolitan Sergius, the future patriarch - was painted in 1937. Executed with a rare art of the 20th century. plastic power sketches together make up a unique series of portraits. Orthodox Rus'- from the beggar to the highest church hierarchs - appears before the viewer. Characters merged general condition, are full of inner spiritual fire, but at the same time each has an individual character.
In 1931 M. Gorky unexpectedly visited Korin's workshop. From him, the picture received a new name - "Rus' leaving", which distorted original intention, but also "covered" the artist from possible attacks. Thanks to Gorky, the brothers Pavel and Alexander Korin go to Italy. There they study the works of old masters, Pavel Dmitrievich paints landscapes and the famous portrait of Gorky (1932). At this time, it finally takes shape painterly style Korina: powerful plastic modeling, chased and generalized form, restrained and at the same time saturated colors with the introduction of individual color accents, dense, multi-layered painting, using glazing (Korin is a brilliant connoisseur of painting technique).
After Gorky's death in 1936, the circumstances of the artist's life changed dramatically, he was actually forced to stop working on the painting. The already prepared huge canvas remained untouched. The sketch (1935-37) shows that the Departing Rus' could become the most significant work of Russian painting after 1917, full of power and symbolic significance. This is the Church going into battle. In the center are three patriarchs, Tikhon, Sergius and Alexy, whose contemporary was Korin. In front of them is the Metropolitan in red Easter vestments (Easter is the feast of the Resurrection and eternal life). The huge archdeacon, with an exorbitantly (and intentionally) long arm, raises the censer with a gesture that marks the beginning of the Liturgy: "Bless the censer, Vladyka!" - but does not address the patriarchs, as the rite requires, but, as it were, directly to God. This is the Church "leaving" for eternity.
In fact, the same qualities of spiritual asceticism are emphasized by Korin in the portraits of cultural and scientific figures, for which the artist receives an order in 1939. Among those portrayed are M. V. Nesterov, A. N. Tolstoy, actors V. I. Kachalov, L. M. Leonidov, pianist K. N. Igumnov; after the war, portraits of M. S. Saryan, S. T. Konenkov, the Kukryniksy, and the Italian painter R. Guttuso were added to them. With all the skill and strength of these works, in their very painting there is a feeling of tragic anguish, the painting seems to be closed and crystallized, immediacy leaves, the paintings seem to be chained in the armor of smooth, dense strokes. It `s naturally. And Korin himself feels like a warrior, constantly reflecting the onslaught of hostile forces.
During the Great Patriotic War, the artist turned to the historical theme, which he continued to work on until his death. The images of warriors - the defenders of not just their native land, but the spiritual ideals of Russia - attract Korin. Such is Alexander Nevsky - the central figure of the famous triptych of the same name (1942) - in which the features of both saints from ancient Russian icons and mighty heroes of the Italian Renaissance live.
Korin fought all his life. Like an artist. As a collector of works of ancient Russian art doomed to perish. As an outstanding restorer, to whom mankind owes the salvation of many great works, including the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery. How public figure- defender of cultural monuments of Russia. But to win the main victory - to complete the work to which he realized he was called - Korin failed.
Requiem (Departing Rus'). Sketch of the overall composition. 1935-37. Oil
Portrait of S. T. Konenkov. 1947. Oil
Schimnitsa from the Ivanovo Monastery. Study for the painting "Requiem". 1930s Oil. Fragment
Alexander Nevskiy. The central part of the triptych. 1942. Oil
Korin's paintings are deeply human, deeply pictorial - this is a high step in the development of Russian art. And Korin's life - intense, passionate, entirely devoted to art - can serve as an example for many artists.
The watercolor "" hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery. This is a simple medium - Russian landscape: low slopes, ravines, on the slope - dark log huts, all around - autumn fields... A utterly simple landscape, but in each of its features - rye wort, dandelions, a bell tower directed to the sky - there is so much charm that the viewer can stand in front of this picture for a long time and, leaving, mark in memory the name of the great artist Pavel Korin.
" was written by Korin in 1927. Few people knew the artist then. He lived, unknown, somewhere in the attic on the Arbat and dreamed on the canvases of the quiet expanses of the Vladimir-Shuya native land. Perhaps this seclusion would have continued for a long time if the discoverer of talents, Gorky, had not found Pavel Korin.
Korin knew Gorky's work very well, he had seen the writer more than once at art exhibitions. At one of them, Gorky drew attention to the work of Pavel Korin and expressed a desire to visit his workshop.
September 3, 1931, Korin remembered for the rest of his life. On that day, Gorky came to his studio and found, God knows how, the attic of an artist from Paleshan. Carefully, one by one, he looked at Korin's works. He especially liked the group portrait "" - one of the sketches for the painting "". He looked at sketches, copies from Ivanov and said:
- Great. You are a great artist. You have something to say! - the writer said to Korin.
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- To Italy, my sir, go ... to Italy!
- Yes, how to go - then, Alexei Maksimovich?
- Come with me. Here I am going in a month, and you pack up.
Such a high assessment of Gorky was a complete surprise for Korina. Thus began their friendship.
Korin lived in Italy for about a year. In the galleries of Florence, Rome, he discovered high painting Renaissance. And he, a hereditary icon painter, who absorbed the traditions of Russian national painting into flesh and blood, began to study the works of Michelangelo. Raphael. Korin made many skillful copies, wandered with a sketchbook around the outskirts of Rome, where Alexander Ivanov had previously painted sketches.
At the same time, the artist had the idea to write portrait of Gorky. Daring dream! After all, Gorky was painted by outstanding Russian artists - V.A. Serov, I.E. Repin, M.V. Nesterov, in the Soviet era - V.M. Khodasevich, I.I. Brodsky and many other painters.
But Gorky, as if guessing the thoughts of the artist, once said himself:
- You know what - write - a portrait of me.
Korin was excited. Will he be able to capture for the descendants of the great writer the way he was now, on the slope of his life?
Gorky encouraged him:
- Nothing, nothing, handle it, it will come out!
“A big, old man, who has passed the mountains and crossroads of life, is standing to his full height, looking ahead and thinking about his own. The artist emphasized the past years with sharp folds of wrinkles on the cheeks and neck, broad shoulders slightly hunched over from the severity of the years endured, drooping eyebrows and unruly strands of gray hair on the right temple and senile mustaches hiding lips - yes, an old man! And then look at your eyes. Clear, staring, they see far and see new roads along which one must go, along which life goes on and this person with her. And his wrinkles, and gray hair, and the tiredness of the body emphasized by the artist make him look younger in a special way, give him a special strength and strength, uh, yes, this old man is younger than many of us, ”the playwright L. Afinogenov wrote about the portrait of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky, which was written in 1932.
In one of the letters to his wife Korin tells about the work on the portrait: “I wrote, Pashenka, today with a frenzy, my throat is dry, my back is all wet, even Alexei Maksimovich noticed, he says: “Your eyes are hollow.” A few days later he continues in another letter: “Hurrah! Hooray! Hooray! The portrait is out. The head is almost ready, it remains to finish a little tomorrow. Everyone is delighted. Aleksey Maksimovich himself is satisfied. Here are his words: ... Many wrote from me, and everything is unsuccessful, your portrait is successful.
Later, in his memoirs, Korin told how, during joint walks with Gorky, he saw the writer as he captured him in the portrait: “He walked, leaning on a stick, stooping, his angular shoulders rose high, graying hair stood up above his high forehead; he walked, deep in thought, against the backdrop of the Gulf of Naples.
Work on the portrait was completed in 1932 and Gorky donated it to the Tretyakov Gallery. In later years Korin made a lot drawings about to write another portrait of Gorky, but this was prevented by the death of the writer in 1936. Korin did drawing and from the deceased Gorky. Now it is kept in the writer's museum in Moscow.
A year passed, and Moscow heard about the young painter. At the exhibition "XV years of the RSFSR" in 1933 appeared portrait of A.M. Gorky written by Pavel Korin in Sorrento.
The painting caused controversy. Some pointed out that the anatomical details were not verified, others - that the painting was dryish, whitish. But no matter what professionals say about individual imperfections, the viewer was captivated by the monumental figure of Gorky, standing on the seashore, leaning on a stick.
The dream of becoming an artist came to Korin early, in his childhood. And this is not an accident: he was born and raised in the world-famous village of Palekh in the family of an icon painter. This village is currently Ivanovo region is the center of miniature painting on lacquerware. For several centuries, the Korin family gave many painters, but the most outstanding was Pavel Dmitrievich Korin. Before becoming an artist by vocation, he was one by birth. Recalling his childhood, Korin talked about how his father and older brothers worked, how wonderful pictures appeared on special boards prepared by his mother - bright and colorful. Usually the whole family worked in the creation of icons. As a child, Pavel learned to grind paints, prepare boards on which icons were painted. But not only icon painting was the source of artistic education for Pavel Korin. The very life of the Paleshans, their houses with wooden carvings, painted walls, the surrounding nature are marked by special beauty.
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The boy's giftedness manifested itself early, but the narrow confines of icon-painting traditions made it impossible for his talent to develop. Many advised Pavel to go to Moscow to study with the masters of painting. But Pavel Korin did not immediately find the way to great art. For many years he worked in icon-painting workshops in Moscow, first as an apprentice, then as a master. The case brought Korin in 1911 with the wonderful Russian painter M.V. Nesterov.
“Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov,” Korin recalled, “had a huge influence on me. I was eighteen years old, and I was an icon painter who dreamed of high art. And here is the meeting with Nesterov. About art Nesterov always spoke ardently and somehow sublimely. In one of the conversations, he told me: "You know, Korin, art is a feat." Later, on my life path as an artist, I understood the truth of these words, and then I believed. I worked together with Mikhail Vasilyevich, I saw how he writes: the whole method of his work amazed and delighted me. I learned the art of execution from him.”
Having met the young man Korin, Nesterov immediately guessed his deep nature, talent, nobility, and extraordinary mind. He advised the young painter to enter the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. “You need a systematic art education,” he told Korin. In 1912, at the age of twenty, Korin became a student of this school. The outstanding Russian painters - K.A. Korovina, S.V. Malyutina, A.E. Arkhipov, he studied the art of drawing, composition, perspective, tone, color, mastered the basics of the artist's skill, but he always considered Nesterov his teacher first of all.
Many years later Korin created portrait of Nesterov. He perfectly conveyed the severe restraint of his teacher and his passionate love for art.
The portrait is dynamic: it seems that Korin shook Nesterov at the moment of a sharp, principled dispute about art.
This friendship continued for many years. In Nesterov's house, Korin met outstanding scientists, writers, and artists. Nesterov had an invaluable influence on the formation of the aesthetic and social views of the young artist.
Korin learned a lot from Nesterov: devotion to Russian art, exactingness, tireless search for the new. Throughout his life, Korin sought to improve his skills and not stop there.
Korin graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1916. A year later, the Great October Socialist Revolution took place. Before the eyes of the artist, a new life was being created.
Korin was offered to work at the school, which became known as " Free art workshops". Korin taught, together with V.V. Mayakovsky worked in the windows of satire ROSTA, wrote revolutionary slogans, painted posters, participated in the design of the festive decoration of the streets. All the time Korin worked tirelessly as a painter, improved his skills, painted copies of the works of the great masters of Russian painting. In order to study the anatomy of the human body more deeply, he worked for several years in the anatomical theater.
Every summer, Korin went to his native Palekh, painted sketches there, culminating in the painting - panorama " My motherland”, on which the artist worked for a considerable twenty years.
Korin always wanted to paint a Russian landscape "subtly, chased and with a solemn mood." And he created a typical poetic image of Russian nature, its middle zone. Coniferous and deciduous forests, fields crossed by country roads, a gray-blue evening sky - this is how Palekh captured Pavel Korin in his picture. Panoramic landscape is a favorite genre in Korin's painting. The creative heritage of the artist has a lot landscapes of Italy, central Russia, Crimea.
Love for art, the desire to preserve the greatest works of the past for posterity prompted Korin to collect and restore paintings. For forty-five years Korin collected his collection of ancient Russian painting, and then donated it to the Tretyakov Gallery. Often the works of the ancient masters fell into the hands of Korin in such a way that years of hard painstaking work were needed before the pristine beauty appeared before the viewer.
Restoration fascinated Korin, the artist gave him many years. Hundreds of masterpieces of Russian and world classics found a second life, having been in the skillful and talented hands of the artist-restorer Pavel Korin. For almost ten years, Korin led a group of restorers in the workshops of the Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, who restored life to the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery. Korin himself restored " Sistine Madonna» Rafael . The restoration work was Korin's civic feat. And although it took the artist the precious time he needed to create own works He gave himself completely to her. And there were a lot of creative ideas. Back in the 30s, he began to work on a series of portraits of his contemporaries: scientists, writers, pilots, artists. Already the portrait of Gorky determined a special, "Korin" style in the portrait genre.
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The artist never aspired to a documentary-narrative image. For him, the main thing was to recreate the character of a person, to reveal his spiritual essence. Portraits of Korin conveyed the charm of the person depicted, it seemed that the artist wants to convey to the viewer part of his love for those whose portraits he paints.
Korin was attracted by bright human characters. In 1940 he began work on portrait of People's Artist Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov, whose performances were a holiday for contemporaries.
In this portrait, he wanted to convey a sense of the joy of art, its festivity, optimism, faith in happiness, penetrating the work of Kachalov. Korin portrayed the artist in full growth, emphasizing in his figure monumentality, stately posture. Posing for the artist, Kachalov read him poetry, excerpts from performances.
During the Great Patriotic War, Korin turns to the themes of the heroic past of the Russian people. He is painting a huge triptych.”
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The image of Alexander Nevsky, who saved Rus' from foreign enslavement, was close to the artist, echoed the characters of his contemporaries who defended Soviet country from the fascists. In the central part of the triptych "" Korin depicted a Russian prince on the banks of the Volkhov River. In the distance one can see the golden domes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, the close ranks of soldiers.
When Novgorod was liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet Army in 1944, a huge copy of this painting was installed at the entrance to the city. The Old Russian warrior greeted his heroic descendants.
Finished work on the triptych. Korin started writing a series portraits of Soviet commanders, among which was a portrait of an outstanding Soviet commander Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.
In the post-war years, Korin was increasingly fascinated by the portrait genre. In 1956, he paints a group portrait of famous Soviet artists - satirists Kukryniksy. “I was working on a portrait,” Korin recalled, “I wrote Mikhail Vasilyevich Kupriyanov(KU), Porfiry Nikitich Krylov(KRY), Nikolai Alexandrovich Sokolov(NIKS), and also painted artists Kukryniksy. This was the most important thing in my portrait.
I wanted to understand and express what made them so. The portrait was difficult. I had to convey the inner spiritual posture of each of them and unite in one powerful, extremely expressive and sharp posture the artists of the Kukryniksy, the artists of political satire ... "
Korin loved to paint people of art, especially attracted to his painters. Penetrating into the artist's creative world, capturing the originality and originality of his talent in his portrait - such a task seemed especially interesting to Korin.
Soviet sculptor Sergei Timofeevich Konenkov Korin depicted in a working blouse. It seems that the sculptor has just moved away from the machine. His large, overworked hands lie quietly, resting. The gaze is turned to the work just completed. The portrait was painted in 1947, when the name of the sculptor was already widely known.
In 1961, in Italy, Korin met with the outstanding Italian artist Renato Guttuso, whose work he had long known from many Moscow and European exhibitions. Guttuso is a progressive artist, his favorite characters are peasants, fishermen, workers. Korin wrote Guttuso in his studio. A small room, one of the artist's paintings hangs on the wall, there are cans of paints. Guttuso sits on a folding chair, as if interrupting his work for a second.
Korin began as usual with pencil drawing. By the end of the first session, when the artist sketched the outline of the head, Renato and his friends who were in the studio decided that the portrait was almost ready. Great was their surprise when Korin persistently and stubbornly searched for the desired background for the portrait for many more days, sought to convey as accurately as possible in colors the passionate character of the Italian painter, implacable to evil, to transfer the sunny colors of Guttuso's homeland - Sicily to the canvas.
The last years of his life, Korin was fascinated by monumental art. He dreamed that his works would decorate public buildings.
Once the architect A.N. came to visit Pavel Dmitrievich. Shchusev. He invited Korin to create mosaics for the design of the Moscow metro station " Komsomolskaya - ring road”, which was built according to his project.
Shchusev used the motifs of ancient Russian architecture in the architecture of this station. Korin created eight mosaics on the themes of the history of Russia, and today they adorn the ceiling of the station. One of the most successful works is a mosaic depicting a Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy defender of Russian lands from the Tatar-Mongol conquerors.
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Korin worked with different materials, created mosaics, wall paintings, stained glass windows.
Mosaic pictures of the metro station Komsomolskaya - ring road", colored stained-glass windows of the station" Novoslobodskaya" And residential building on Vosstaniya Square, plafonds of the assembly hall of the University1951. Smalt, marble, mosaic
In 1962, the country honored Pavel Dmitrievich Korin. He is 70 years old. Academician, laureate of the Lenin Prize, People's Artist of the USSR, he received worldwide recognition. Lived for over thirty years P.D. Korin in a house specially built for him on the initiative of A.M. Gorky in one of the picturesque corners of Moscow - not far from Zubovskaya Square. Many of his works were created here. Friends of the artist liked to come here - writers, scientists, actors, artists. This house after the death of Korin became a branch of the Tretyakov Gallery.
Pavel Dmitrievich Korin (1892-1967) - Russian soviet artist, portrait painter, muralist. Originally from the city of Palekh, Vladimir Region. He studied at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
A one-story old Moscow mansion between Bolshaya and Malaya Pirogovskaya - the house of Pavel Korin. Now here is the memorial museum-workshop of Pavel Dmitrievich Korin, a branch of the Tretyakov Gallery. The works of Pavel Korin got into the gallery in 1927. Now in Lavrushinsky Lane there are many of his paintings and drawings. He forever entered the Tretyakov Gallery, and she herself entered his house.
And although Korin's workshop has become a museum, everything in the house is alive, non-museum. The hearth of home comfort does not go out here. On the walls in the living room are watercolors painted by Pavel Korin in Italy, in Palekh, his native village. Above the antique sofa is a portrait of young Korin by his teacher Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov. In a black shirt, with a palette in his hand, he looks somewhere to the side - all captured by creativity. His eyes are burning feverishly, the colors on the palette are burning with fire. "Inspiration" - that's how I want to call this portrait.
In the living room behind the large round table, in cozy armchairs upholstered in green damask, many prominent people: writer Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy, artist Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov, architect Alexei Viktorovich Shchusev, artists, Diego Rivera,. .. Many considered it an honor to visit Korin. The library is the most impressive. Hundreds of volumes bound in gold-embossed leather, books that any bibliophile would be proud of.
Everything in the house of Pavel Dmitrievich Korin breathes art. In each item - the taste of the master, his artistic flair, his subtle understanding of the beauty and nobility of things. This world is consonant creative pursuits Korina. A person who lived here could say: “My art must be spiritual-titanic. At the height of the spirit!
S. Razgonov
The art world is not stingy with paradoxes. The musical avant-garde presented the sophisticated listener with works without a single sound. The artistic avant-garde has taught us to admire the gaping emptiness of a frame hanging on the wall. However, here and there a certain Meaning was always assumed, which means that there were those who claimed to comprehend it, arranging applause for the creators of unknown masterpieces.
Much more often, unfortunately, an unhewn block of marble or an untouched stack of sheets music paper- only evidence of the uncreated, a monument of Creative Failure. During the life of Pavel Dmitrievich Korin, in front of a huge, eight by seven meters, solid piece of canvas, neatly stretched and carefully primed, there was no praise and applause. Years passed, and the canvas remained untouched, becoming little by little a kind of symbol of the artist's fate.
... The boy from Palekh was hardworking. It was zeal that did not allow him at first to get lost among other hereditary and gifted peers of the same age, who received icon painting as their main legacy. And now he is already in Moscow, in the icon-painting workshops, and after a while - as a student of Mikhail Vasilyevich himself
Korin's diary reflected the painful internal processes of those years. How stunning was the “discovery” that “besides artistic craft there is art in the world! What was to be done? “Skinning my skin, I crawled out of the icon painting.”
Nature rewarded him with the gift of apprenticeship. Korin himself measured the deadlines for himself, he chose the standards himself. Years on the anatomical theater, on copies from favorite masters, on unparalleled trips to the old Russian cities, where Theophanes the Greek was. Half-starved existence, odd jobs, later - the hard bread of the restorer. First independent work appear when the artist is thirty-three. The "eternal" disciple is immediately recognized as a mature master; his paintings were acquired by the Tretyakov Gallery.
Further - recognition and again work. It was then, according to the artist's wife, that Korin's idea for the painting was born. In the midst of the reckless construction of a bright future, he plans to write the Requiem. At the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon (1925) from all over the former Russia, “passing kaliks, wanderers” gathered, “mossy hermits crawled out of all the cracks.” With the sharp intuition of an artist, Korin prophesies: “Write all this, don’t let it go! This is a requiem…”
Requiem. Sketch of the overall composition. 1935-1939 years.
And the sketches begin. He collects models for the Painting literally on the street. Some have to guard, so as not to run away, others - to cover with rags with gasoline because of excessive lice. A hundred year old man. Dirty legless beggar. Father and son are carpenters… The sketches came out in such a way that soon all Moscow art lovers started talking about them.
A wave of rumors reached M. Gorky. The writer personally visited Korin's workshop and, after viewing the paintings, called his art "real, healthy and condo". Praise was not limited. Acquaintance with Alexei Maksimovich turned into a long-desired trip to Italy for the artist. The contract with the All-Artist provided the means and the opportunity to focus on the Painting. Gorky, approving the idea, subtly advised to change the name to "Outgoing Rus'". By his efforts, the necessary canvas was also ordered. He also suggested that Korin paint his portrait in order to "justify" the artist's stay abroad. The portrait was a success, and after Pavel Dmitrievich had a chance to paint Kachalov and Nesterov, A. Tolstoy and Zhukov.
Portrait of the artist M. S. Saryan. 1956
Portrait of the sculptor S. T. Konenkova. 1947
Portrait of the artist M. V. Nesterov. 1930
Portrait of A. N. Tolstoy. 1940
Portrait of the artist L. M. Leonidov. 1939
Portrait of an Italian artist 1961.
Portrait of pianist K. N. Igumnov. 1941-1943 years.
And what about the Picture? With the death of Gorky, it had to be postponed. He barely managed to defend the sketches, which he had to buy (!) from Vsekokhudozhnik, which refused to finance further work and demanded that everything that had already been done be handed over. It was open bullying. For twenty years, the artist took on any orders, gave lessons in order to pay for his own sketches, without which the Picture could not have been painted. Among other things, the Korins were almost evicted from the wing ...
First personal exhibition Pavel Dmitrievich took place on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The success was huge, there were a lot of visitors, there were queues. And the old artist, enjoying the glory that came so late, still believed that he would start his Picture, that if he did not complete it to the end, then at least he would master the drawing, “the canvas would be dirty.” A few years later he was gone.
Alexander Nevskiy. Mosaic ceiling of the Komsomolskaya metro station.
He left us magnificent monumental portraits, a house-museum with a collection of furniture, icons and paintings, mosaics of the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya metro station and stained-glass windows of Novoslobodskaya. And a spacious mysterious canvas, a companion of almost his entire creative life, a mystical twin of his painted paintings.
“Everything is given a double honor:
to be that - and that. The subject happens
that he really is,
and what it reminds of.
In the Moscow Memorial Museum of Korin (now a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery), these images arouse genuine and ever-growing interest, both of the artist's compatriots and foreign visitors to the museum. Perhaps this interest is explained not so much by the pictorial skill, although it is obvious, but by the nature of the images of the Korin epic itself. The modern viewer, so experienced and sophisticated, is shocked by the highest psychologism of the characters and the amazing concentration of spirituality. And now, having comprehended the vain wisdom of the 20th century, often misguided, our contemporary freezes at the canvases and, spellbound, perhaps for the first time so acutely feeling the diversity human being, seeks to absorb a particle of that deep spiritual power and moral strength that these images are filled with.
High professionalism and a realistic manner of painting make the heroes of Korin's "Rus" amazingly alive. These are people of amazing genuineness and openness, their fortitude does not suppress, rather the opposite: being a silent example of real human dignity, they encourage the viewer to straighten up and call for spiritual composure and courage. It is no coincidence that in the sad 1930s for Russia, N.I. Bukharin, who visited Pavel Korin again, already doomed, would say: “Pavel Dmitrievich, excuse me, but I felt the need to visit you again, to look at your Rus once again ... to gain strength for a possible future…”
... Under most of the canvases are the dates of those terrible years for Russia: 1930, 1931, 1933, 1935 and, finally, 1937! And when a modern museum visitor notices this, his amazement grows even more. The same questions arise: who are these people, where did Korin see them, how the cycle was created?
Korin saw them in the spring of 1925 at the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon. The patriarch died in his Moscow residence, at that time the Donskoy Monastery. This event - the death of the First Hierarch of the Russian Church - caused a mass pilgrimage to the bed of the deceased. On all roads to Moscow, to the walls of the Donskoy Monastery, full-flowing human rivers flowed. Tragic guise, silently, day and night, this Rus' went on and on. Writers, composers, and artists have been there - all those who could understand the significance of what is happening. Among the artists was a sincere singer of this spiritual, or, as he himself called it, "Holy" Rus' - Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov. And with him a constant companion and by that time the closest friend - Pavel Korin. Both - both the student and the mentor - looked at this procession with the eyes of philosophers, realizing that they were present at the last, so unexpected and mass phenomenon, it would seem, long gone and suddenly appeared again from the darkness of centuries of Rus' of pilgrims, kalik passers-by, schemniks and monks.
Schimnitsa from the Ascension Monastery.
Young nun. Fragment.
Schimnitsa from the Ivanovo Monastery.
Schiegumenya (mother Fomar).
This Rus', which by the will of fate had existed on earth for a millennium and had not changed a single feature of its spiritual face in this millennium, was doomed under the new historical conditions. And she left, knowing that she was leaving forever, but preferring to leave, to disappear than to change her essence. Korin sees how this very Rus', for the most part miserable in Everyday life, in these last, tragic for her, but at the same time stellar moments, shows all the strength of character. She, this Rus, left in Russian style, showing by her very departure a sign of eternity.
Is it any wonder that an artist with such a philosophical mindset that Pavel Korin was endowed with had an acute desire to capture such a majestic and tragic outcome, to preserve the images and characters of these people for future generations. One must imagine the situation in Russia of those days in order to understand the difficulties of the artist who set himself such a goal. But the biggest problem turned out to be the problem of posing. How to persuade a pilgrim or a monk to stand in front of an easel in Moscow in the 1930s?! For advice and help, Korin comes to his friend and mentor Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov. Mikhail Vasilyevich is ready to help and recommends Korin to his acquaintance, one of the hierarchs of the Russian Church who was then living in Moscow, already retired, Metropolitan Tryphon. Metropolitan Trifon, in the world Prince Boris Alexandrovich Turkestanov (or Turkishvili), belonged to an ancient Georgian princely family, and by his mother - to the Naryshkin family. A man who received a brilliant secular education, great piety, an unsurpassed preacher, he gained immense popularity and love among believers. All Orthodox Russia of that time respected and honored him. Metropolitan Tryphon receives Pavel Korin and agrees to pose. True, referring to poor health, sore legs and old age, for only four sessions. In very difficult, tense conditions, for the four sessions allotted to him, the master painted only the head of the hierarch. Everything else - perfectly found for the psychological characterization of the metropolitan - a fiery Easter vestment with all the attributes - Korin will write and prescribe from a mannequin. This is where some disproportion in the image of the model comes from. But the main thing has been achieved. The image of Metropolitan Tryphon was captured and quite successful.
Metropolitan Tryphon.
Village priest (Fr. Alexy).
Perhaps it is precisely because of these harsh conditions, the lack of time to work from nature, that the Requiem's gallery of portraits is growing very rapidly.
At the same time, the rumor about the artist Pavel Korin is spreading. Many people aspire to get into his workshop. In the summer of 1930, not in Moscow, not even in Russia, but far away in Italy, in Sorrento, Alexei Maksimovich Gorky would hear the name of Pavel Korin. And then he would make a firm decision: he would certainly return to Moscow and visit the artist's studio. This day is coming. September 3, 1931 Gorky came to Korin. Having already seen numerous images of the "Requiem", shocked, leaving Korin's painting workshop, he said: "Listen, Korin, you are real, great artist and you have something to say. You are on the eve of creating a great epic. It is felt. Look, Korin, be sure to write! ... "
From that moment on, Alexei Maksimovich took the painter under his protection. Soon, on the advice of Gorky, Korin will change the name of the epic: instead of "Requiem" - "Leaving Rus'". Thus, the writer manages to somehow legalize the grandiose work of the artist. Gorky's understanding and care allow Korin to work on the theme of "Requiem" for five years - until the death of the writer himself. With the death of Alexei Maksimovich, the situation of the painter becomes more complicated, the conditions necessary for the continuation and completion of work on the epic quickly disappear. The last image of the "Departing Rus'" is marked in 1937. This is a huge, full-length portrait of Metropolitan Sergius, the then locum tenens of the patriarchal throne.
Metropolitan Sergius.
It is worth dwelling on this majestic image of the most famous hierarch, not only because it adequately completes the grandiose gallery of images of the “Departing Rus'” (in size, this is one of the two largest studies that the artist himself called “basses-profundo”), but and for the sake of reminding our contemporaries of the full significance of Sergius in the history of Russian Orthodoxy and in the history of our Fatherland.
This hierarch headed the Russian Church immediately after the death of Patriarch Tikhon and remained at its head until 1944. This fact alone speaks of his wisdom and remarkable diplomatic abilities. Now, probably, there are no more people left who could testify that this was a person from whom, literally in the first hours of the war, Stalin received moral encouragement.
At the same time, the metropolitan wrote his famous “Appeal to the Orthodox flock of Russia”, in which he called on the “faithful children” of the Russian church to help the Russian army in overcoming the terrible enemy. By the way, the well-known paragraph from this appeal, together with the “brothers and sisters”, will be read by Stalin in his memorable speech of 1941. And in fact, from the hands of this hierarch, the Soviet command received tank brigades named after Russian heroes: “Ilya Muromets”, “Dobrynya Nikitich”, “Alyosha Popovich”, fully equipped with funds raised by believers.
The image of Metropolitan Sergius is one of the few in which we have the opportunity to recognize a specific historical person, which served as a kind for the artist. In most cases, we do not know the people who posed for Korina. The artist himself answered this usual (and most frequent) question evasively and in monosyllables: "Living people when I painted them." Moreover, such, in general, natural curiosity caused him usually slight annoyance, because such concretization of images deprived them of philosophical meaningfulness: it was not for nothing that Korin himself called his studies types: “Young Hieromonk”, “Blind”, “Father and Son” , "Beggar" and so on. The portrait of Metropolitan Sergius is one of the few personalized works of the master, and at the same time the last in the cycle of images of "Outgoing Rus'".
Two. Hieromonk Mitrofan. Fragment.
The only thing Korin allowed himself to think and work on, returning to the theme of "Rus" again and again, was the development of a sketch of the overall composition. Under the sketch are the dates: 1935-1959 - evidence that we have before us the fruit of reflection throughout the life of the artist. The seriousness and grandeur of the composition is also evidenced by the fact that it is being built for the interior of the once main temple of Russia - the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
An attentive viewer studying the overall composition will undoubtedly be puzzled by the upraised huge hand of the protodeacon. After all, this is a gesture that does not end the liturgical action, it is preceded by it. And at the same time, the artist restores the original name of the epic: "Requiem", that is, the outcome, the last procession. How to combine and compare it - "End" and "Beginning", outcome and anticipation? Perplexity seizes us, but not them, coming to us on the canvas. After all, these people see the beginning in the end, in the end of the temporal - the beginning of the eternal.
Another mystery of the picture is the triumvirate of the Patriarchs. historic moment there can be only one such figure, but there are three of them on the canvas. And the image of each is carefully spelled out, and we recognize in the center Patriarch Tikhon, who died in 1925, to the right of him - Patriarch Sergius, who died in 1944, and to the left - Sergius's successor - Patriarch Alexy, who died in 1970. Before us, as it were living history Russian Orthodoxy of the 20th century. But the most amazing thing is that Pavel Korin in 1935, in the form of an ordinary 25-year-old hieromnach Pimen (Izvekov), saw the fourth and put him in the foreground! This is the figure of the modern patriarch Pimen. Let us note that already on the corresponding study, the figure of the bishop is, as it were, a picturesque background for this hieromonk, judging by the panagia on his chest.
And the last. This is the figure of Metropolitan Tryphon. He was actually small in stature. On the etude, it is even lower. And so, by transferring this character into the composition, Pavel Korin not only retains that bodily understatement, he exacerbates it, bringing it to the grotesque. Placing the metropolitan next to the giant protodeacon, he accentuates his small figure with color, retaining the Easter fiery vestment] Highlighting the metropolitan in tone and position, the master makes him the core of a colossal human wall. After all, if you try to extinguish this torch, then the huge human wall will inevitably go out and collapse. It is unthinkable without the figure of Tikhon. Here, perhaps, is the allegorical key with which one should approach the disclosure of the painter's intention. According to Pavel Korin, a person is always a victory of the strength of the spirit over the flesh.
Archbishop Vladimir.
Recently, another powerful image appeared in the museum's exposition. Obvious pictorial merits distinguish him even among the most significant images of "Rus". In the gloomy interior of a temple or chapel, with its head slightly bowed, stands a figure in bishop's vestments and a miter. Out of nowhere, a ray of light from above revealed details of the vestment: miter stones, a figured hilt and a precious staff. Above the shoulder of the hierarch and behind his figure, in the unsteady light of numerous candles and multi-colored lamps, one can guess the strict image of the Headed Savior. The lowered right hand of the hierarch depicts a censer with smoldering coals of incense. When you peer into this image, associations involuntarily arise with the paintings of the brilliant Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn: the same beating, almost mystical ray of light from nowhere snatches out of the twilight and makes jewels, robes play, mysteriously enlivens the human face, so that in a strange half-light-half-darkness it reveals all the complexity of human nature - "victims of demons, but constantly striving for perfection ..."
According to the artist's wife P.T.Korina, Korin himself showed this study to almost no one, saying that the thing was not finished, the face of the hierarch was not written, although today the real reasons for the master's alleged neglect of his creation are becoming clear. Firstly, this face, and in front of us it is the face, and not the face, does not need to be drawn - it already exists. Secondly, we have before us not just an image, a portrait of some clergyman, but a portrait of spirituality as such, and, moreover, of such concentration and strength that analogies can only be found in the icon. That is why, probably, the name of the picture - "The Departing Rus'" - became forced in those difficult times, when in order to glorify the spirit of a truly Russian character, it was necessary to at least formally recognize these features as leaving.
Those who knew Korin also knew that he did not believe in the departure, the disappearance of spirituality. Everyone remembers his passionate statement: “Rus was, is and will be. All the false and distorting its true face can be, albeit a protracted, albeit tragic, episode in the history of this great people. That is why now, when the time of insights and results has come, the images of his epic, perhaps, are needed by people more than ever.
Vadim Narcissov. Magazine "NN".
