Malyutin Sergey Vasilyevich (1859-1937)
At the end of the 1870s. in Voronezh, a traveling exhibition was opened, among the visitors of which was a young man from a merchant family, who had recently completed accounting courses and served as a clerk. Here he first met with genuine painting, and deep impressions from what he saw gave a very concrete meaning to his vague dreams: he firmly decided to become an artist.
This young man was S. V. Malyutin. In 1883 he entered the MUZhVZ. 1880s were the heyday of Russian art, associated, as in the previous decade, with the activities of the TPHV. Malyutin's classmates at the school were I. I. Levitan, S. A. and K. A Korovins, A. P. Ryabushkin, M. V. Nesterov, A. E. Arkhipov, and among his teachers were famous painters V. E. Makovsky and I. M. Pryanishnikov. He owed his professional training primarily to the talented draftsman E. S. Sorokin.
In 1886, Malyutin graduated from college, receiving the title of a free artist. His activities in the early period (late 1880s - 1890s) were very diverse. Giving preference to lyrical genre scenes without a detailed plot ("Girlfriends", 1889; "Visiting a Neighbor", 1892, etc.), he painted landscapes that reveal a connection with the Polenov school, and historical paintings ("Invasion of the Tatars", 1890 -e).
In the mid 1890s. at the invitation of S. I. Mamontov, he creates scenery for his Nizhny Novgorod Opera, and then works for the Moscow Private Opera. But the biggest achievements of Malyutin during this period, especially at the end of the 1890s, are associated with book illustration ("The Tale of Tsar Saltap", "Ruslan and Lyudmila" and other works of A. S. Pushkin). Despite some uneven and sometimes inconsistent searches, the artist's work in this area was an important step forward compared to the illustration of the second half of the 19th century.
In 1900, Malyutin settled in Talashkino, the estate of Princess M. K. Tenisheva, which was then the center of the revival of artistic crafts. Tenisheva's activities in collecting works of folk art and training carvers, weavers, embroiderers and other craftsmen in specially arranged workshops acquired a wide scope. Sketches of artistic products were made by V. M. Vasnetsov, K. A. Korovin, M. A. Vrubel, N. K. Roerich, but the flourishing of the Talashka craft is associated primarily with the name of Malyutin, under whose constant supervision the work of handicraftsmen was carried out.
According to his designs, the carpentry and carving workshops carried out the external and internal decoration of the Talashka buildings, of which the library house ("Teremok") has survived to this day. Not striving to follow the patterns of traditional folk art and not caring especially about the utilitarian side, Malyutin comprehended the national heritage primarily at the figurative level and became one of the creators of a kind of Russian version of the Art Nouveau style.
In 1900, the magazine "World of Art" introduced the public to the work of the artist, who was gaining more and more popularity. Upon returning to Moscow in 1903, Malyutin joined the Union of Artists and began teaching at the Moscow School of Painting and Art. His most significant work of that time was the design, together with the architect N. K. Zhukov, of the facades and interiors of the apartment building of P. N. Pertsov (1905-07). This building became an interesting phenomenon in the architecture of the beginning of the century. Malyutin received particular fame as a portrait painter.
In 1909, he headed the portrait-genre class at the school, which had previously been led by V. A. Serov. Soon the artist had an idea to continue the creation of a portrait gallery of "the best Russian people", begun on the initiative of P. M. Tretyakov. This gallery was opened by a portrait of V. V. Perepletchikov (1912), followed by portraits of M. V. Nesterov, V. Ya. Bryusov (both 1913), A. M. Vasnetsov, K. F. Yuon (both 1914), V A. Gilyarovsky, N. P. Bogdanov-Belsky (both 1915), I. D. Sytin and others.
In 1914, S. V. Malyutin was awarded the title of academician:: and the following year he became a member of the TPHV. In Soviet times, the painter continued to paint portraits in line with the realistic tradition. In 1922, in his apartment, young realist artists decided to create a new association, which later received the name of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR).
The most famous work of Malyutin of the Soviet era is a portrait of D. A. Furmanov (1922). It organically merged two main themes of the artist's portrait work: a man of a new era, a revolutionary figure, and a man of art. The hero of the portrait - a writer, commissar of the legendary Chapaev division - is simple and natural; his lively, slightly mocking gaze is turned to the audience. The compositional solution of the picture is very successful: the dynamics of the diagonal lines converging in the semantic center - the face of the depicted, enhances the lively mobility and at the same time the monumentality of the image. In the restrained scale of the canvas, decided in grayish, greenish and ocher tones, there is an intense spot of open scarlet color - a military order on the left side of the commissar's chest. This color accent serves as an important touch to the image of Furmanov, who at that time, despite being injured, worked courageously to complete his novel. Malyutin turned to the theme of the heroism of the Civil War in another portrait - "Partisan" (1936), written by him shortly before his death.
Artist's paintings
Self-portrait in a fur coat. 1901
Self-portrait. 1918
Kashchei oil
Portrait of Valery Yakovlevich Bryusov
Portrait of Vera Malyutina
Portrait N. II. Bogdanov-Belsky
Portrait of Vasily Vasilievich Perepletchikov
Sergey Vasilyevich Malyutin is a Russian painter, portrait painter, architect, master of the original. Born September 22, 1859 in Moscow, in a wealthy family of a manufacturer. When he was three years old, his parents died and he became an orphan. Further, his childhood passed in Voronezh, where his aunt took in for upbringing, her husband was a simple official. The environment and upbringing of the boy did not contribute to the development of his artistic talent: he studied at a commercial school, and then graduated from accounting courses and served as a clerk in Voronezh. At the end of the 1870s. Voronezh hosted an exhibition of the Wanderers. This real painting, created by outstanding artists, made an indelible impression on Sergei Vasilyevich, he felt the strength in himself to change his unloved work and take up drawing.
Malyutin returned to Moscow in 1880. Despite the fact that he was born in this city, everything there was unfamiliar and interesting to him: the way of life, people, architecture, the contrast between the central districts of the city and its suburbs. He entered the service of a draftsman of the Brest Railway Administration. Having finished his working day, he could take long walks along the outskirts of Moscow streets.
In 1883 Malyutin S.V. entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and stayed there for 3 years. In 1888, the Council of the Moscow Art Society awarded his work with two small silver medals. Malyutin wanted to get the title of class artist; he completed a sketch and sketches for a picture depicting the work of raftsmen on the Moscow River, but his teacher (V.E. Makovsky) made many critical remarks about this work. Malyutin, being an emotional person, left this picture and in 1890 received the title of non-class (free) artist. From that time on, Malyutin improved his skills without stopping, and earned a living by drawing lessons: from 1891, he taught drawing at the Moscow Elizabethan Institute for three years.
In the 1890s Malyutin performs scenery for the Nizhny Novgorod Opera Mamontov S.I., and then for the Moscow Private Opera. At the end of the same period, he makes illustrations for the books of A.S. Pushkin. In 1896 Malyutin S.V. becomes a member of the Moscow Association of Artists.
The Tale of the Dead Princess (A.S. Pushkin)
During these years, Malyutin worked in various genres: his landscapes are associated with Polenov's technique (for example, "Moscow Landscape" in 1883). Then the landscape will become an integral part of other genres, preserved only in the form of an etude. The artist increasingly writes en plein air (for example, “Window to the Cherry Orchard” in 1887, “Landscape with a Blooming Willow” in 1892), his works contain more and more impressionistic elements that allow you to emotionally convey the interaction of light and color in nature, but his paintings are rather heavy, since Malyutin paid much attention to form. This can be judged by his Crimean landscapes, where his connection with the Polenov school is more and more noticeable. He also worked on genre paintings (for example, "Girlfriends" in 1889, "Visiting a Neighbor" in 1892) and historical paintings ("Invasion of the Tatars" in the 1890s).
A particularly noteworthy picture of this period, written in 1890, "By Stage". In this work, Malyutin tells about the fate of different classes, which is traditional for the Wanderers. The artist creates a generalized image of the lower class with deftly drawn details and poses, as well as a bold, fragmentary composition. The whole picture is saturated with the tragedy of the situation and the suffering of these prisoners: a sleepy guard, a screaming policeman, not a drop of the daytime sky, the blank planes of the walls.
Portrait of a girl
child in a chair
Visiting a neighbor
In 1900, Sergei Vasilyevich Malyutin settled in Talashkino, the estate of Princess M.K. Tenisheva. The princess showed great interest in folk art crafts and contributed to their revival with all her might. Sergei Vasilievich directed art workshops until 1903, according to his sketches, carvers and carpenters performed the interior and exterior decoration of buildings in the estate, Moscow and Smolensk (of all the buildings, only the Teremok library house was preserved). Famous artists N.K. Roerich, K.A. Korovin, V.M. Vasnetsov, M.A. Vrubel created sketches for art products. The works carried out in the Talashka workshops became the impetus for the development of the Russian art industry. In this work, Sergei Vasilyevich took as a basis the images of folk art, avoiding blind technical copying of the traditions of folk art. Therefore, Malyutin is considered the founder of the original Russian Art Nouveau. Already at the end of his life, trying to generalize his achievements, he extolled the role of decorative art, putting it on a par with other types of fine arts.
Also in 1900, Malyutin became a member of the World of Art association of artists. On the pages of the magazine "World of Art" the name of Sergei Vasilyevich appeared more than once, the public was more and more interested in the artist's work.
Town. Wood, carving, tempera
"Teremok"
And yet, Malyutin's state of mind during this period can be called a crisis, despite the stormy creative activity. The time of maturity has come in his life, but he still cannot determine the area of \u200b\u200bits creativity.
In 1903 Malyutin S.V. returns to Moscow, joins the "Union of Russian Artists" and begins teaching at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (where he will work for 14 years until 1917). The most significant work of Malyutin during this period was the design of the interiors and facades of the profitable house of Pertsov P.N. together with the architect Zhukov N.K. This work was a modern phenomenon in the architecture of the XX century.
In 1908, Sergei Vasilyevich's wife dies, all his attention is focused on children: he often draws their portraits, watching how they grow, change, how their character and way of thinking is formed. These works, one of the most poignant in his work, were at the exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists. Next, Malyutin creates a series of stunning, characteristic portraits. In 1909, he became the head of the portrait-genre class at the school. He set himself the goal of creating a portrait gallery of prominent Russian figures (the same task was set by P.M. Tretyakov before the Wanderers): he laid the foundation for the portrait of V.V. Perepletchikov, and then the portraits of M.V. Nesterov, V.Ya. A.M.Vasnetsov, V.A.Gilyarovsky, N.P.Bogdanov-Belsky and many others. Malyutin S.V. became famous precisely for his unique portraits of the Russian intelligentsia of the pre-revolutionary years, and after - the leaders of the Soviet state.
In 1913, Malyutin joined the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, and in 1914 the artist was awarded the title of academician.
Self-portrait in a fur coat
Khovanshchina
sculpture workshop
Portrait of the artist's daughter
landscape with trees
landing stage. Crimea
Landscape with houses
Portrait of V.V. Perepletchikov
Fishermen on the Black Sea
Porter V.Ya.Bryusova
Porter M.V. Nesterova
Since 1918 Malyutin S.V. taught at the Higher Artistic and Technical Workshops (VKhUTEMAS) until 1923. He remained faithful to the realistic tradition in painting, continued to paint portraits. He did not stand aside when the young Soviet Republic was being born. He participated in the creation of the "ROSTA Windows of Satire" (a series of specific propaganda posters created by Soviet artists and poets who worked for the Russian Telegraph Agency - ROSTA). In 1922, the artist became one of the organizers of the "Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia" (AHRR). In 1927 he joined the art group "Association of Realist Artists", where he was until 1931.
Sergey Vasilievich Malyutin was born in Moscow, in a merchant family. At the age of three he was left an orphan. He began to draw at an early age, from the age of 14 he took care of his own earnings. In the 1890s, Malyutin painted portraits and landscapes. The manner of his paintings at that time was very far from Art Nouveau. In the first half of the 1900s, the artist became interested in folk art and Russian antiquity. His friendship began with Savva Mamontov, a well-known friend and patron of artists. By order of Mamontov, Malyutin painted pictures - panels and designed performances.
Sergey Diaghilev drew attention to the works of Malyutin. The artist's works seemed to S. Diaghilev very similar to the canvases of some expensive and rare fabrics, they were so bright and beautiful.
Malyutin's art flourished in the 1900s. He works in the Art Nouveau style and creates many objects of arts and crafts.
From the late 1900s, his work took a different direction. He returns from arts and crafts to painting, paints portraits and landscapes, retaining his own view of the world.
In 1900 - 1903 the artist worked in Talashkino. Princess M. K. Tenisheva invited Malyutin to run a ceramic carpentry workshop, where furniture, sledges, embroideries were made according to the drawings, and balalaikas were painted. According to the project of Malyutin, "Teremok" was built in Talashkino - an elegant building in a smart style.
Tiles were made in the ceramic workshop - painted ceramic tiles for facing stoves or decorations for house facades. Malyutin made sketches of drawings, according to which tiles were then made. In them, the artist combined the traditions of folk art with the characteristic features of the Art Nouveau style.
Sergey Malyutin was one of the creators of nesting dolls, a favorite toy for children and adults. Matryoshka is so loved in Russia that many people consider it a folk Russian toy invented many centuries ago. But this is not so - the Matryoshka was invented at the beginning of the 20th century by Art Nouveau artists .. The matryoshka combined the features of the Russian “roly-poly”, “Vanka-vstanka” and the Japanese “fukurum” toy, it was a fusion of the traditional and the new.
Illustrated books: A. S. Pushkin - "Ruslan and Lyudmila"; B. S. Zhitkov - “What happened”; V. V. Mayakovsky - “The Horse is Fire”; S. V. Mikhalkova - “What do you have?”.
Artist's work
Painter, graphic artist, stage designer, artist of decorative arts, architect
From a merchant family. He spent his youthful years in Voronezh; from the late 1870s he lived in Moscow. In 1881 he entered the evening preparatory courses at the MUZhVZ. Studied at MUZHVZ (1884–1890) under E. S. and P. S. Sorokin, I. M. Pryanishnikov, V. E. Makovsky. In 1886 he was awarded two small silver medals for drawings from nature. In 1890 he received the title of non-class (free) artist and, without completing the competition picture, left his studies.
Lived in Moscow. He painted landscapes, portraits, paintings on everyday and historical subjects; engaged in monumental painting and interior design. In the 1890s he worked for the Russian Historical Museum on the monumental panel "Kulikovo Field" (1896-1898; not realized); became close to the historians I. E. Zabelin and V. O. Klyuchevsky. In 1896, at the invitation of K. A. Korovin, he participated in the design of the Far North pavilion at the All-Russian Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition in Nizhny Novgorod.
As a stage designer, he collaborated in the theaters of G. G. Solodovnikov (1890s), the Russian Private Opera of S. I. Mamontov in Moscow (1896-1902), the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (1911-1913). He created sketches of costumes and scenery for the operas "Kashchei the Immortal" (1902), "Sadko" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov (1909), "Askold's Grave" by A. N. Verstovsky (1912), the ballet "The Nutcracker" by P. I. Tchaikovsky (1913) and others.
In the late 1890s, on the initiative of S. I. Mamontov, he illustrated the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin and Russian folk tales. From the late 1890s, he developed sketches for furniture, utensils, embroideries, and jewelry items. With the turner of the handicraft workshops of Sergiev Posad, he created the first Russian matryoshka doll (1899). In 1899-1903 he lived in the estate of M. K. Tenisheva Talashkino near Smolensk, where he led the carpentry and ceramic workshops; worked on projects and decorative decoration of buildings in Talashkino, Flenovo (Teremok pavilion, Spasskaya church-tomb; both - 1901-1903). Together with V. M. Vasnetsov, he created a project for the building of the Russian Antiquity Museum in Smolensk (1904–1905). Member of the artel of potters "Murava" (1904-1918). The author of the apartment building project was P. N. Pertsova in Moscow (1905–1907; together with the engineer N. K. Zhukov).
In 1914 he was awarded the title of academician.
After the October Revolution, he was a member of the College of Fine Arts of the People's Commissariat for Education (since 1919); participated in the work of the IZO section of Mosgubrabis (1919–1923). Completed the emblem ("Consent of Moscow Artists") for the Professional Union of Painters (1917).
From 1881 - participant of exhibitions (student, MUZHVZ). Member and exhibitor of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers (1888, 1890, 1892; member since the late 1890s), World of Art (1899–1901, 1903, 1921; member since 1900), Union of Russian Artists (1903–1905, 1907– 1922; member since 1903), Society of Artists-Realists (1927-1928, member since 1928). One of the founders of the AHRR (1922–1926, 1928). Member of the association "Izograph" (since 1917), the Moscow Art Society (since 1923). Participated in exhibitions of the Moscow Association of Artists (1893, 1896, 1903), the Munich Secession (1898), 36 artists (1901-1903). Exhibitor at the World Exhibition in Paris (1900), exhibitions of Russian art in Paris (1906), Berlin (1906-1907, 1922), traveling exhibitions in the USA (1924-1925, 1929), exhibitions "Socialist Construction in Soviet Art" (1930, 1931) in Moscow, "Artists of the RSFSR for XV years" in Moscow, Leningrad (1932-1934) and others.
He taught at the Moscow Elizabethan Institute (1891-1893; drawing), MUZhVZ (1903-1917), the First and Second State Free Art Workshops - Vkhutemas (1918-1920).
Malyutin is an outstanding Russian artist of the turn of the 19th - 20th centuries, who distinguished himself in various fields: painting, architecture, theatrical and decorative arts, and decorative and applied arts. In his early work (1890s) he was close to the Wanderers in his narrative, often in the socially critical orientation of his works. The works of the 1900s are dominated by Art Nouveau features; the painting of this time is characterized by a free, dynamic manner of writing, expression, bright saturated color. Paintings of the 1910s and 20s, on the contrary, are characterized by rigor and graphic quality (sometimes softened with pastel in the 1910s). He was a bright innovator in arts and crafts, having a significant impact on the formation of the neo-Russian trend in art.
Malyutin's works are in major museum collections, including the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A. S. Pushkin and others.
The future artist was born on September 22, 1859 in a Moscow merchant family. Left an orphan for three years, he was brought up in the house of an aunt, the wife of a petty official. The boy was sent to a commercial school, and then to an accounting course, after which he was assigned to serve as a clerk in Voronezh. Artistic inclinations manifested themselves early. But the environment was not conducive to their development. Only at the end of the 1870s, when he got to the traveling exhibition that opened in Voronezh, Malyutin saw real painting for the first time. Long-standing vague dreams have found concreteness: the decision has come, in spite of any difficulties, to become an artist.
In 1880 Malyutin returned to Moscow. With new eyes he looked at his native city with its monuments of the past, original life, picturesque suburbs. Malyutin especially liked the outskirts of Moscow streets, similar to rural ones. After the boring service of a draftsman of the Brest Railway Administration, he could wander around them for a long time, absorbing the unique beauty of nature, following the changing lighting, memorizing the subtlest color shades. Subsequently, the artist said that it was during these walks that he developed his coloristic vision, which determined the strongest aspects of Malyutin's talent.
Drawing classes became focused, at the same time Malyutin turned to oil painting. According to the surviving memoirs, neither in Voronezh, nor in the first three years in Moscow, he did not have permanent mentors in art and used only the advice of various people, from students of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture to paint dealers, however, sketches dated 1882 and 1883 are such , like “Head of a Peasant”, “Moscow Yard”, “View of Moscow Region”, cast doubt on the accuracy of these memoirs, the studies are so professional, so organically connected with the general processes in Russian painting of that time. Be that as it may, Malyutin came to the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture well-prepared and was able to enter in 1883 as a volunteer immediately in the figure class, bypassing the primary and head, and a year later become a full student. In the figure class, he studied under the guidance of P.S. Sorokin and I.M. Pryanishnikov, and in full-time his teachers were E.S. Sorokin and V.E. Makovsky. Evgraf Sorokin played a special role in the fate of Malyutin. It was he who drew attention to the abilities of the young man, to him, the famous draftsman, the bearer of academic excellence, Malyutin owes, by his own admission, more than anyone professional training.
Malyutin studied successfully, constantly receiving high marks (first numbers), was considered one of the most gifted students, despite the fact that in the late 70s - in the 80s, I.I. Levitan, S.A. and K.A. Korovins, A.P. Ryabushkin, M.V. Nesterov, S.V. Ivanov, A. E. Arkhipov, N. A. Kasatkin, S. A. Vinogradov, S. Yu. Zhukovsky and many others others, who in the near future were destined to determine the new paths of Russian painting.
In 1886 Malyutin graduated from the College. To receive the title of a class artist, he wanted to present a picture dedicated to the work of raftsmen on the Moscow River, but he only completed a sketch and sketches. Because of the remarks of V. E. Makovsky, which seemed unfair to the touchy and willful Malyutin, he quit his job and left the School with the title of a free artist. Now Malyutin earned a living by drawing lessons and at the same time stubbornly improved his skills. In 1888, the Council of the Moscow Art Society awarded him two small silver medals for sketch and drawing from life.
The work of Malyutin in the 80s - early 90s lies in line with the general processes of art of that time. The painter tries himself in various genres. In the landscape, he relies on Polenov. Polenov's motifs can be found already in the above-mentioned pre-school items. “View of Moscow Region” (1883) is characterized by the desire, while maintaining the freshness of perception, to create a picture with a well-thought-out balanced composition. In the future, the landscape will be replaced by other genres in Malyutin, or rather, it will dissolve in them, remaining only in the form of a sketch. Comparison of sketches of the second half of the 80s - early 90s with earlier ones speaks of the mastery of plein air painting by the artist. The main thing in such works as "Window to the Cherry Orchard" (1887), "Landscape with Blooming Willow" (1892) is the transfer of a certain state of nature, a real light-air environment. However, they are distinguished from the impressionistic works of Konstantin Korovin by their less sharpness in fixing fleeting impressions, and less ease in execution. In Malyutin's landscapes, more attention is paid to the elaboration of form, which is especially noticeable in the Crimean sketches of the early 1990s, where the painter again finds a connection with the Polenov school.
In 1890, Malyutin painted the painting "By Stage". Along the prison wall, the plane of which, occupying the entire background, forms the background of the action, a crowd of weary people slowly moves along the cobblestone pavement. Thanks to Malyutin's favorite high point of view, the horizon line goes beyond the canvas and there is not a piece of sky left on it. The seemingly random foreshortening of the image by the edges of the canvas makes the composition fragmentary, and at the same time it is distinguished by plastic clarity, a well-thought-out ratio of pictorial masses, which brings Malyutin closer to his contemporary Sergei Ivanov. The prisoners are isolated from the outside world by deaf stone planes. The mass of people, thick on the left, slightly thinned towards the middle. Further diagonal movement to the right is stopped by the opposite direction of the figure of a policeman, accentuated by the vertical of a street lamp. The policeman, raising his head, shouts, addressing someone on the opposite side of the prison yard or giving an order. The behavior of the police and the sleepy sentry at the door emphasizes the routine of what is happening and sets off the tragedy of the situation of the prisoners. In their figures, on their faces, the seal of suffering, resignation to fate. Malyutin continues the tradition of the “choral” itinerant painting, which tells about the fate of representatives of different classes, but, unlike his teacher V.E. beggars thrown out of life.
The color structure of the picture is unusual and expressive. Malyutin painted the poor colors of the prison landscape and the wretched prisoner rags with his usual pictorial skill, having managed to extract coloristic effects from this spectacle. However, Malyutin does not just admire color relationships. The coloring is based on the dramatic collision of two contrasting tones - silver-gray and brown-green. They are emphatically opposite in the planes of the background and unite in the reflexes of various spots of clothes: red-pink, tobacco, earthy-gray. In the spring of 1900, Malyutin settled in Talshkin, the estate of Princess M.K. Tenisheva, which at the beginning of the new century becomes the center of the revival of artistic crafts.
Convincingly characterizes the state of mind of Malyutin in the Talashka period "Self-portrait" of 1901. The artist depicted himself standing against the backdrop of a monumental sketch of the Kulikovo Field. A generational figure in an open fur coat thrown over her shoulders is moved close to the viewer. Widely and powerfully written fur lapels almost touch the edges of the frame. The evening light directed to the left falls unevenly in warm spots on shreds of fur, neck, face, and imperceptibly dissolves in the lunar twilight of the field, illuminating a cloud in the sky and the obscure silhouettes of two riders. There, behind him, the plane of the earth, seen from a bird's eye view, rises high. The horizon line crosses the composition at the top of the canvas, coinciding with the level of the model's eyes, which gives the gaze an active force. Movement in depth stops just where Malyutin's gaze is directed at the viewer. One gets the feeling that the space of the Kulikovo Field, with its plastic organization, enters the real spatial environment in which the portrait image lives, organizes and spiritualizes it. An artist between two worlds - the poetic world of his unrealized painting and reality.
The sharp shadow on the right enhances the expression of the illuminated half of the nervous face, full of expression of inner life. The heavy mass of the fur coat emphasizes the fragility of the body and some kind of defenseless nakedness of the neck and uncovered head. In a state of self-deepening, the artist does not notice a stray tie, a carelessly unbuttoned crumpled shirt collar. The mood of uncertainty, anxiety and dissatisfaction is transmitted to the viewer. Malyutin was tired of the search and the burden of unrealized plans. The time has come for life maturity, but he has not yet been able to determine the main sphere of his own creativity, he has not found himself.
Interest in the portrait originated with Malyutin a long time ago. By the end of the 1900s, the number of portraits in his work increased markedly. The artist captures the images of his children. In 1908, after the death of his wife, all his attention was focused on them. Looking closely at the faces of teenagers, following the changes in their spiritual life, the process of character formation, he creates some of the most intimate, personal works. These portraits appeared at the exhibitions of the Union of Russian Artists and immediately attracted the attention of viewers and critics. It was then that Malyutin felt the vocation of a portrait painter. In many ways, his pedagogical activity contributed to the new direction of creativity: in the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, Malyutin replaced Valentin Serov in 1909 in the leadership of the portrait-genre class. Soon the artist came up with the idea of a portrait gallery of outstanding contemporaries, to which he devoted the rest of his life. The Malyutinskaya series, which included portraits of representatives of the Russian democratic intelligentsia of the pre-revolutionary years, and then remarkable figures of the young Soviet state, continued the gallery of “the best Russian people”, “persons dear to the nation”, created by the Wanderers on the initiative of P. M. Tretyakov.
The first half of the 1920s was unusually fruitful for the artist. One after another new works appeared. Malyutin brightly spoke at the VI and VIII Ahrrov exhibitions, showing them, in addition to a large number of studies, thirty new portraits. As before, he pays great attention to the images of the masters of artistic culture. Among his models are V. I. Zholtovsky (1919), D. A. Furmanov (1922), N. S. Morgunov (1924), O. L. Knipper-Chekhova (1925), A. S. Serafimovich (1927). Numerous portraits of painters. Here are those who gained fame even before the revolution - A.A. Borisov (1919), M. Kh. Aladzhalov (1928), V. K. Byalynitsky-Birulya (1929) - and artists of the new generation: F. S. Bogorodsky, A. V. Grigoriev, E. A. Katsman, P. A. Radimov, B. N. Yakovlev, whose portraits were at the exhibition “Life and Life of the Peoples of the USSR”.
The thematic circle of Malyutin as a portrait painter has expanded significantly. Following the portrait of the bridge builder G. P. Perederiy, portraits of the railway engineer Yu. The AHRR declaration called for the creation of images of "revolutionary figures and heroes of labor." The old artist warmly responded to this call. His gallery includes portraits of the locksmith N. P. Khokhlov (1920), art exhibition worker Fedot Kuznetsov (1923), co-operators N. P. Gibner (1920) and A. N. Lavrukhin (1921). Malyutin worked enthusiastically on portraits of participants in the civil war, major statesmen N.A. Semashko (1922), V.Yu. Sablin (1923), A.V. Lunacharsky (1925). He also dreamed of a portrait of V.I. Lenin. The illness and death of the leader prevented the realization of this cherished desire. The artist was among the masters who received a pass to the choirs of the House of Unions during mourning days. Along with a sketch depicting Lenin on his deathbed, he painted a sketch for The Leader's Funeral (1925).
Malyutin's great success was the canvas "Partisan" (1936), in the center of which is the image of a stern warrior of the civil war. It is individualized, almost portrait, and at the same time it is a picture that recreates the atmosphere of those days. Malyutin returns to the favorite technique of his early work - an enlarged figure against the backdrop of a landscape - reminding him of other masters of Soviet painting. The artist boldly frames the composition of the foreground, cutting off a part of the figure with a rifle in his hands and a wagon moving directly towards the viewer with a frame at the bottom. Behind the hero's back are wide snow-covered fields with a village near the horizon, a bend of a gray-gray river, a road pitted with skids. The presentiment of formidable danger is intensified by the contrast of the tense state of the partisan, peering into the distance, and the silence of winter nature. In Partizan, the traditions of Ahrrov's heroic realism are developed. At the same time, the painting, painted in the second half of the 1930s, turned out to be among those few works of fine art in which the disturbing notes of the pre-war time sounded and on which Soviet battle painters could rely during the Great Patriotic War. In the spring of 1934, a personal exhibition of Malyutin was organized, it exhibited works created over nearly fifty years. Arranged at a time when the problems of mastering the realistic heritage were especially relevant, it made a huge impression. Many discovered Malyutin for the first time. For his peers, he gave an example of creative longevity, artistic youth - an example of great art, pictorial mastery. And yet, at the exhibition, which introduced the viewer mainly to portraits and genre paintings, Malyutin was far from being fully represented. In the same years, the artist tries to sum up his path in his autobiographical notes. He also talks about easel painting, to which he devoted the last decades, and about numerous decorative works embodied in material and remaining in sketches. Remembering architectural projects, utensils, tiles, book illustrations, theatrical performances, the master affirms the high mission of decorative art, its equal position with other areas of artistic creativity.
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