One of the large and unique parts of the museum collection is a collection of works (about 600 paintings, sketches, sketches) by the People's Artist of Mordovia, Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR and the MASSR Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov (1870-1958), a talented, original, artist-life writer of the village, standing at origins of Mordovian professional fine arts. Cheerful, skillfully executed works of the artist, the heroes of which were his countrymen, are a kind of chronicle of the life of his native land.
Its purpose in the art of F.V. Sychkov saw it in revealing the beauty, the uniqueness of rural life, which he felt and understood more deeply than many other masters, since he came out of this environment and never broke with it. “I dedicated my art to reflecting the life of the Russian village,” wrote the artist. 
In a controversial era of social upheavals and complex ideological and aesthetic quests, F.V. Sychkov remained a faithful successor to the best traditions of the Russian realistic school of painting of the 19th century. The artistic worldview of the master turned out to be alien to avant-garde tendencies, the desire for constructivist forms that had nothing to do with the real world, and then the false pathos of the art of the Stalin era. The tonality of his worldview as an artist of the joy of being is closer to the aesthetics of the second generation of the World of Art with their cult of beauty, which triumphed over the social realism of the Wanderers. 
Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov was born in 1870 in the village of Kochelaevo, Narovchatsky district of the Penza province, now the Kovylkinsky district of the Republic of Mordovia, into a poor peasant family. Orphaned early. He received his general education at a three-year zemstvo school, where teacher P.E. Dyumaev was the first to pay attention to the artistically gifted peasant boy. But a few more years passed before Sychkov picked up a brush and embarked on the thorny path of the artist. Based on the little knowledge in the field of drawing and painting that he received from P.E. Dyumaev, and then in the icon-painting artel of D.A. Reshetnikova, F.V. Sychkov began to work independently, painted icons, portraits of his fellow villagers. Among the early works is the painting "Laying the Arapovo Station" (1892), which was commissioned by the St. Petersburg general I.A. Arapov, whose estate was located not far from Kochelaev. The creation of the picture became a kind of exam, a test of abilities that Sychkov withstood with dignity. The general showed the picture to the director of the Drawing School for Volunteers E.A. Sabaneev. Noting the talent of Sychkov, he advised to bring the young man to St. Petersburg. In 1892, Sychkov crossed the threshold of the Drawing School, where he studied with K.V. Lebedev, I.V. Tvorozhnikov, Ya.F. Tsionglinsky. 
The evolution of Sychkov from a self-taught artist to a professional took place rapidly. Within the walls of the school, he received basic knowledge in the field of drawing and painting, and after a year of classes, his skills become more confident, freer, drawing more accurate. Among the most successful early works is "Portrait of the artist's younger sister Ekaterina Vasilievna Sychkova" (1893). In the way the texture of the fabric is conveyed by pictorial means, how the colors are coordinated, one can see the colossal work that Sychkov did during the year of study. At the same time, he began to paint commissioned portraits. This was due to the difficulty of his financial situation, but he also had a brilliant example of work in a commissioned portrait of the leading masters of that time. Constant work in this genre honed the skills of the young artist. 
In 1895, as a volunteer, he entered the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts. He studied in the class of battle painting with N.D. Kuznetsova and P.O. Kovalevsky, who adhered to the democratic principles of the Wanderers in their pedagogical practice. 
By the time of study at the Academy of Arts is "Portrait of Anna Ivanovna Sychkova, mother of the artist" (1898), created in the best traditions of democratic artists. In the silhouette of a small, slightly hunched figure, one feels crushed by life. This poignant note develops in a color scheme sustained in gray-black monochrome scales. 
During his studies, Sychkov painted several self-portraits. The earliest among them, 1893, dates back to the time of study at the school of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. The artist carefully examines his own face, psychologically accurately and subtly expressing his inner state through his external appearance - a passionate desire to comprehend the world around him, to find his place in the artistic environment. A completely different, more secular, representative character, has a "Self-portrait", written a year before the end of the Academy of Arts. A large head with dark short-cropped hair is modeled clearly, confidently. A high, clean forehead, a calm look of deep-set eyes, in which one can read self-confidence, self-esteem. 
Like many young painters of that time, Sychkov dreamed of studying in the workshop of Repin, whom he had known through General Arapov since the time when he had just arrived in St. Petersburg and entered the School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. The general showed Repin the work of his talented protégé, whom he called only "my Rafael." During the entrance exams to the Academy of Arts, Repin recognized Sychkov and made several useful remarks. More than once he turned to Repin for advice, in particular, when creating his graduation work “News from the War” (1900). Despite the fact that while studying at the Academy of Arts Sychkov studied battle painting, after graduation he found his vocation as a portrait painter and genre painter. 
The end of the Academy of Arts by Sychkov in 1900 happened at the turn of the century, with its fireworks of artistic movements and directions, a whole galaxy of the most brilliant creators in their daring avant-garde searches. In the context of the difficult era at the turn of the century, Sychkov's work seems traditional. He did not experience mental confusion and confusion before the onset of a new one. He was distinguished by a clear position in life, a firm confidence in the chosen once and for all path of the artist-life writer of the Russian village. In his artistic pursuits, he is close to the group of such painters as S.A. Korovin, F.A. Malyavin, A.E. Arkhipov. 
The paintings of that time, and Sychkov was an active participant in many all-Russian and foreign exhibitions, attracted the attention of the audience with the vitality of the plots, that measure of realism that was successfully combined with the lyrical sound of folk images. This was achieved not just by a deep knowledge of peasant life, but by constant existence in this environment - familiar, understandable, beloved. After graduating from St. Petersburg, Sychkov returned to his homeland, which became for him a life-giving source of creative inspiration. In love with the colorful element of full-blooded folk life, he knew how to display the most ordinary aspects of peasant life poetically, without gravitating towards excessive literary content in the plots. Folk festivals, skiing from the mountains, weddings, gatherings - this is far from a complete range of topics and motives that attracted the master. He was able to convey in the paintings of the ingenuous amusements of the villagers (“From the Mountains” (1910), “Shrovetide Riding” (1914), etc.) an atmosphere of unconstrained fun and love of life. 
However, it would be a mistake to reduce all of Sychkov's work to an "eternal" holiday. Own impressions of childhood and youth, coupled with a time of poverty, humiliation, determined Sychkov's democracy, the ability to empathize, to subtly understand the essence of the way of life of the Russian peasantry. 1900 - 1910s - the time of Sychkov's creative maturity. Then he created canvases - “Return from the Fair”, “Village Wedding”, “Blessing of Water”, “Christoslavs”, “Difficult Transition” and a number of others, where the master sought to tell about different aspects of rural life, acting as an attentive observant narrator, without embellishing realities, but also without focusing on the social contradictions of the village community. Sychkov's everyday canvases are formed into a holistic image of a working people living on earth according to their own laws of peaceful existence. They are written lightly and freely with the true skill of a genre painter. They are attracted by the brightness of the portrait characteristics of the heroes, the ability to plastically accurately compose multi-figure compositions, to find expressive poses and gestures that give a special emotional openness to the images. 
He simply and truthfully showed the measured labor rhythm of the life of the village in the paintings “The Flax Millers” (1905), “Return from the Hayfield” (1911). The artist does not dramatize, does not build a complex plot plot, it seems that it did not cost him much effort and effort to transfer scenes of labor to the canvas. But in this ease and naturalness of the construction of the composition, which appears as a living reality, his originality and power of talent. Sychkov's ability to show the everyday everyday phenomenon in an artistic poetic form is evidence of great knowledge, love and understanding of village life. 
In parallel with the main line devoted to the life and way of life of the peasantry, a second line developed in Sychkov's work in the 1900s - this line is associated with a ceremonial commissioned portrait. Sychkov was at that time an unusually popular portrait painter in St. Petersburg. Customers were probably attracted by his ability to write quickly and accurately, capturing the features of the external appearance of the portrayed. Among his "models" are bankers, officials, secular ladies. An excellent example of a ceremonial portrait is "Portrait in Black" (1904), where the very interest in the model - this is the artist's wife Lidia Vasilyevna - made it possible to soften the beauty of the salon and introduce notes of a certain psychologism and decorative refinement into a representative composition. L.V. Sychkova openly poses, the artist takes a point of view from below, giving it majesty, which is typical for a formal portrait, but this motif does not detract from the natural, which is conveyed in a lively and truthful interpretation of the face. The portrait reveals the richness of a person's inner world: dreaminess, enlightened sadness, echoing in their tone with the images of Chekhov's heroines. Lidia Vasilievna Ankudinova, an elegant, fragile young lady from St. Petersburg, became a real muse for the artist. The role of this woman in the fate of F.V. Sychkova was significant and invaluable. In 1903, she became the artist's wife, sharing with him all the joys and sorrows until the end of her life. Together with him she lived in the village of Kochelaevo, in the Mordovian outback, visited exhibitions, was aware of all the events of artistic life. She was respected and appreciated by many artists - friends of F.V. Sychkov. Her pretty face with transparent blue eyes can be recognized in many of the master's paintings. In "Portrait of a Woman" (1903), she is depicted walking along the alley with a lace umbrella in her hands. A strikingly bold combination of a bright red dress with blooming greens. Perhaps this is one of the few works of the master, where he tried to convey in an impressionistic manner the movement of air, green reflexes, harmoniously shading the melancholy-calm state of the model. Often Lydia Vasilievna posed for the artist in the clothes of a Russian peasant woman and looked as natural in this role as in the role of a secular lady. She appears as a peasant girl in Summer (1909). 
An interesting page in the artist's work was children's portraits. He first turned to them in the 900s, except for a few student sketches, where children posed for him as a model. Both picturesque and watercolor portraits of children show a serious and deep understanding of the child's soul by the author. They are captivatingly sincere in their artless simplicity and clarity, the ability to convey the spiritual world of children. "Friends" (1911), "Girlfriends. Children" (1916), "Grinka" (1937) are fundamentally different from the portraits of peasant children painted by the late Wanderers. The social accent is softened in them, there is no sweetness and sentimentalism. 
Sychkov's life was not rich in external events. One of his most vivid life impressions was a trip abroad in 1908. Acquaintance with the masterpieces of Western European art became a powerful impetus for the further creative activity of the painter, raised it to a qualitatively new artistic level. He brought many landscapes from Italy and France - these are marinas, architectural landscapes of Rome, Venice, Menton. The grandiose buildings of Ancient Rome - the Arch of Constantine, the Forum, the Colosseum appear in them as symbols of the former greatness of the ancient empire. The color scheme, built on combinations of light yellow-green and blue tones, conveys the sultry haze of the southern air, in which the outlines of ancient monuments seem to melt. 
However, with the undoubted artistic merits of these landscapes, the artist's soul is most fully revealed in the works dedicated to his native places. He tirelessly painted his native village, rickety wattle fences, huts grown into the ground, spring floods of full-flowing Moksha. Intimacy and warmth of mood are imbued with small-sized winter sketches, sustained in gray-bluish tones. At the heart of the landscapes is a deep poetic feeling, the admiration of the master for the beauty of Russian nature, exciting in its modest charm. 
Sychkov's creative range was quite wide. In addition to portraits, landscapes, genre paintings, throughout his life he painted still lifes: from classically clear in the manner of execution, such as “Still Life. Fruit", created in 1908 during a trip to Italy, to more characteristic still lifes with a landscape approach - "Strawberries" (1910), "Cucumbers" (1917), etc., in which all that sounds in a slightly different refraction. same theme of life and life of the village. Sychkov liked to work in the garden, in the garden. Proudly said: "I am a village man!". Knowing the way of life of the village helped him to create such fresh, colorful still lifes. 
October 1917 he met as a recognized established master. However, for him, as for most of the creative intelligentsia of that time, this event was a difficult test. In Petrograd, his workshop was looted, many works were lost. Nevertheless, he accepted the new government as truly popular, participated in the design of revolutionary holidays, painted posters, portraits of leaders. 
Late 1910s-1920s - the time when Sychkov created, mainly, variants or repetitions of his early works, continuing to develop his favorite and characteristic theme of holidays, varying the plots of pre-revolutionary paintings - Girlfriends (1920), Holiday Day (1927), Holiday Day . Girlfriends. Winter "(1929) and a number of others. His pictorial style evolved at this time in the direction of greater coloristic brightness. The emotional mood of the canvases corresponded to an open temperamental brushstroke. But the era could not but manifest itself in the work of this realist artist. “Portrait of the Chairman of the Kochelaev Party Cell K.I. Chizhikov" (1919) can be seen as an attempt to create an image of the hero of the new time. However, the artist was not too inspired by the social changes taking place at that time in the village. He always aspired to be independent and dependent on no one. This character was formed by many circumstances of his life - the habit of relying only on his own strength, his talent, his conviction in the right of a creative person to be independent. “An artist ... should not be constrained by anyone, and even more so from power. The authorities, especially now the Soviet government, must preserve and protect talents, ”these are lines from Sychkov’s petition, which he was forced to send to Saransk in the 30s, when the new authorities in Kochelaev tried to dispossess him of the kulaks, ranking him among the individual farmers. It was a difficult time in Sychkov's life. 
Time of painful reflections about whether he and his art are needed by the Motherland. Perhaps then, in a fit of despair, he turned to his friend from the time of his studies at the Academy of Arts, K. A. Veshchilov, who emigrated from the USSR in the 1920s, with a request to help him settle in Paris. Veshchilov developed a vigorous activity, in letters he painted bright prospects, how they would paint pictures together in a creative tandem, how comfortable the existence of the Sychkovs would be abroad. And who knows how the circumstances would have developed further if there had not been an unexpected turn in the fate of the master. Sychkov continued at that time to actively participate in the exhibition life of Moscow and Leningrad, but few people knew him in Mordovia. In 1937, the Union of Artists was created in Mordovia. Director of the Academy of Arts I. I. Brodsky took part in the organization of the Union. 
He arrived in Saransk and was extremely surprised that the republic did not know the work of the famous Russian artist F.V. Sychkov, who settled not far from the Mordovian capital. The painter was invited as an exhibitor of the republican exhibition in Saransk. Sychkov's paintings made a splash. Against the backdrop of semi-amateur works by Mordovian artists, the bright, technically perfect Sychkov canvases looked like masterpieces. It was then that Sychkov, who survived a real triumph, was awarded the title of Honored Artist of the MASSR by the government of the republic. Here, perhaps, then the doubts finally disappeared, where his place is, in his homeland or far from it. 
Such a turn in fate somewhat changed Sychkov's relationship with the authorities. In one of his letters to an artist from Chuvashia, N. Kamenshchikov, he wrote: “... I am not a Mordvinian, but a purely Russian one and have seen Mordvinians a little, only now, over the past twenty years, Mordovians have been interested and I really love the past of Mordovians, their national costumes ... I have a lot in recent years, I did it, depicting Mordovian life, but how could it be otherwise, because I turned out to be a real resident of the Mordovian ASSR. Here I was ... awarded the honorary title of Honored Artist of the MASSR ... I was given a personal pension. Well, that's why I'm connected with the Mordovians firmly and for life. It is no coincidence that in the 1930s, when the Mordovian autonomy was formed, the national theme occupied a special place in the painter's work. 
However, addressing this topic cannot be regarded as a nod to the authorities, since the Mordovian ethno-culture has long aroused the interest of the master, as evidenced by numerous photographs from Sychkov's archive. Unlike Russian peasant women, Mordovians continued to wear national clothes during the Soviet period. Dozens of sketches, sketches of the Mordovian national costume, which preceded the creation of such well-known paintings as "Mordovian Teacher" (1937), "Mordovian Tractor Drivers" (1938), - a visual confirmation of the solidity of the artist's creative method, which was based on painstaking work, the desire for deep comprehension of the material of interest to him. 
At the same time, in the works dedicated to representatives of the indigenous nationality, the painter succeeded, harmoniously combining the colorfulness of the Mordovian national costume with the features of typification and generalization in the characteristics of the heroines, to create full-blooded images of women of the “new formation” in their poetic sound. 
In the second half of the 1930s, the themes of Sychkov's art expanded by referring to Soviet reality. The canvases created by him at that time, “A day off on a collective farm” (1936), “A collective farm market” (1936), and others, are distinguished by the mastery of arranging multi-figure compositions, the ability to distinguish individual bright characters among the mass of characters. The above works in their ideological orientation were quite in line with the official Stalinist art. Certain traces of the influence of the techniques common at that time, in an outwardly pompous form glorifying the Soviet man-worker, can be seen in the custom-made panels “Harvest Festival” (1938) and “Presenting an act for the eternal free use of land” (1938). 
Similar canvases, glorifying a happy collective farm life, were painted by many artists at that time. These two large-sized canvases were created by the author in the shortest possible time by order of the exhibition committee of the Volga Region pavilion for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition in Moscow. In addition to the fact that the author wrote them in a short time, he was dominated by the dictates of the exhibition committee, which required the creation of types of propaganda and journalistic orientation, to which many masters of painting of that era were oriented in their work. 
At the same time, Sychkov's work, if you single out frankly custom-made things, is surprisingly whole. His works, with their open, jubilant joy of human existence, turned out to be quite in tune with the pathetic line of socialist realism of the Stalin era. However, despite this, an organic relationship with the aesthetics of that time, Sychkov's position as a free independent personality was different. He openly declares this in a letter to the artist E.M. Cheptsov: “Now it is also known to me that in order to paint pictures about the past and present close to Soviet life, one should not forget the ideas expressed by Lenin and Stalin. 
Well, let the youth, the new Soviet artists, write what is close to them, and we are outdated. We are, after all, dear to the habit of the old. "Old" for Sychkov is, first of all, a folk portrait, of which he was a brilliant master even in the pre-revolutionary period. The master associated all the brightest and most beautiful things in life with a woman who became the main character of most of his not only genre works, but also a number of beautiful portraits. Favorite Sychkovsky type - firmly knocked down, smiling peasant women, boldly looking at the viewer, with some coquetry and enthusiasm, with captivating sincerity and openness. Confidently Sychkov models their cheerful faces with highlights of light and shadow, expressive reflexes that bring special trepidation and liveliness to the disclosure of images. 
His stroke is accurate, free, he is a virtuoso master of glazing painting. This is the Sychkovsky ideal, which, perhaps, is far from perfect beauty, but how much sparkling liveliness, vital trepidation, and poetry are in it. The master's favorite angle is a three-quarter turn, a cut of the figure, either knee-deep or waist-deep. The most characteristic for him was a one-figure or two-figure composition. Despite the similarity of the type, portraits were solved in different ways. This can be a clean portrait, where the model is depicted against a neutral background. 
But Sychkov's portrait is more developed - a picture where he introduces elements of the genre. The main thing in them was the natural coexistence of man with the natural world. In his portraits-paintings, a large emotional role is always assigned to the landscape. The state of nature is in harmony with the state of mind of the heroines or sets it off in contrast. 
In the works of Sychkov there are not so many compositional finds. His predilection for the same motives that run through all the work of the master is known, for example, by the fence, skiing from the mountains. At the same time, it cannot be reproached for monotony and template. In these works, he achieved freedom and genuine pictorial artistry. 
Sychkov did not strive to depict people with complex, contradictory characters. Almost in each of his works one can feel a soft, benevolent view of the world, sincerity and humanity. It is true that a portrait is always a double image: the image of the artist and the image of the model. And although Sychkov is not considered a great psychologist, one can find both depth and spirituality of images in his best portraits. The female images of Sychkov carry certain features of the symbol of national beauty and moral purity. 
The phenomenon of Sychkov as a creative person is in adherence to the criteria he acquired at the beginning of his creative path, loyalty to one theme - the theme of the life and life of the Russian village, passed through the prism of his artistic vision of peasant life as well-established centuries-old traditions. They broke before his eyes in the Soviet period, but he did not want to paint that average type of Soviet collective farm woman in a sweatshirt or a gray jacket, in which both men and women walked, and which was a visual personification of gender equality. A large amount of photo-documentary material has been preserved in his archive. In the photographs of the 1940s, women dance to the harmonica, dressed in gray scarves, tarpaulin boots, and baggy jackets. The faces are the same as on the canvases of the master of an earlier period - open, perky, and laughing. 
The artist actively used photographs as an auxiliary material in his work. But he depicted his models traditionally in Russian sundresses, bright scarves, beads. He was disgusted by the bureaucracy in the clothes of the Soviet era. He kept a pile of Pavlovian shawls, colorful skirts, lace blouses in which he dressed his models in a chest in his workshop. He created a gallery of brilliant portraits of Russian peasant women. 
The works of the 1940s and 1950s can also be regarded as the result of the master's real devotion. It is known that at this time he had serious problems with his eyesight. For him - the artist - it was a real tragedy. But, despite this, with spiritual stoicism, rejecting the disease, he continued to work. “I don’t want to be old,” Sychkov wrote in one of his letters to the artist E. M. Cheptsov. “As they say, artists cannot grow old, their work must always be young and interesting.” In the eighth decade of his life, he created such canvases full of freshness of feelings as "Return from School" (1945), "Meeting the Hero" (1952). 
The last two years before his death, Sychkov lived in Saransk. He worked as before a lot, with rapture, with inspiration. For him, painting was a real source of joy. "Life on earth is so beautiful... 
but the life of an artist in the full sense is the most interesting of all occupations ... ”- lines from a letter from F.V. Sychkov can be an epigraph to the work of this painter, in love with the world around him.
Many are not familiar with the work of such an original talented artist. They created many unique paintings. At the very beginning of the last century, his creations were exhibited in the Parisian elephants, having considerable success.
Biography
Sychkov Fedot Vasilyevich (1870 - 1958), over the years of his life created many masterfully executed works of art. The artist was born in Kochelaev (a village in a family of poor peasants. He lost his father very early, and his grandmother took on the main role in his upbringing.
Quite early, Fedot Vasilyevich began to have artistic talent. It was discovered by a drawing teacher who worked at the school - P. E. Dyumaev. A letter was written to the painter at the royal court, Mikhail Zichy, with a request to intercede at the expense of a talented boy. In response, an answer was received about the need to study at the art academy. Thus, Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich decided that he should study in But due to the plight of the family, the young man had to raise funds for education himself.
Since adolescence, the future artist painted portraits to order, from photographs. The future artist earned funds for studying at the academy by creating frescoes for the icon painting school.
Key dates
In 1892 he left for St. Petersburg. At the Drawing School, General Arapov, who is a member of the Encouragement Society, drew attention to a self-taught artist. This happened after the painting "Laying the Arapovo Station" was created. She was noted by E. A. Sabaneev, who contributed to the move of Sychkov.
In 1895, the future People's Artist Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich graduated from the Drawing School and became a free student at the Higher Art School, located at the Academy of Arts. During the years of study, the main style and themes of his paintings are formed. The life of peasant families, the reflection of peasant life, holidays - all this becomes the main direction in all works.
In 1900 Sychkov was awarded the title of "artist". It was received for his painting "News from the War". 1908 was marked by the artist's travels in Europe (England, France, Germany). Foreign trips helped him get acquainted with the work of famous artists and brought a lot of positive emotions and impressions.
Fedot Vasilievich became an honored worker of arts. Most of his life he lived with his wife in Kochelaev. Fedot Vasilyevich actively participated in the life of the region. Public institutions are decorated with his canvases. He draws up slogans, banners. The life of Fedot Vasilyevich ended in the city of Saransk. He died in 1958.
These are just a few facts from the life of such a person as Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov. A brief biography touches only on the key moments of the artist's life.
Paintings of the painter
Among the works created by the artist, you can see many paintings. All of them reflect peasant life in its most diverse manifestations. Looking at such paintings as "Blonde Coquette", "Grinka", "Girl Picking Wild Flowers", "Girl in a Blue Scarf", "Girl in the Garden" (1912), one can notice the amazing emotionality of these works.
The artist's collection includes about 700 paintings. A simple original environment was created in his works by the people's artist Fedot Sychkov. Fedot Vasilyevich used stories that were close and understandable to people. And very soon he gained national fame.
The most famous paintings of the artist: "Portrait of Anna Ivanovna Sychkova" (the artist's mother), "Water-blessing", "Christoslavs", "Difficult transition", "News from the war" (1900), "Portrait of a woman" (1903), "Portrait in black "(1904), "Flax cutters", "Girlfriends" (1909), "From the mountains" (1910), "Return from haymaking" (1911), "Girlfriends" (1909), "Holiday. Girlfriends. Winter "(1929), "Village Wedding", "Festive Day" (1927), "Day Off on the Collective Farm" (1936), "Presenting an act for the eternal free use of land" (1938), "Meeting the Hero" (1952).
Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich is an artist who managed to reflect in his work all the subtleties and features of peasant life.
The main theme of the paintings
The themes of almost all the paintings are the biography of the everyday life of the peasants, the peculiarities of farm life, rural holidays, folk amusements and other important events in the life of the common people. It is this theme that makes the artist's works close and understandable for perception.
Features of creativity
Sychkov Fedot Vasilyevich depicted very different people in his paintings. But despite the specificity of the images, the image of each of them was collective. All portraits, as a rule, reflected the brightest and brightest emotions of people. The written image is transparent and pure. In the artist's paintings, people are depicted in a good mood, their eyes are filled with light, their poses are dynamic. The brightness of colors, the radiance of sunlight and snow allow you to create a unique image of a simple peasant life. Fedot Sychkov, whose work managed to reflect a special type of beauty, became the most recognizable among many other masters.
There is no place for classical beauty in his portraits. The heroines of the paintings are healthy, strong and strong people. The works reflect the joy of being, the charm of youth, the fountain of vitality. Energy overflows in the works of such a master as Sychkov Fedot Vasilyevich. The paintings are filled with strong, sturdy figures with a blush, full cheeks, wide smiles.
Another favorite theme of the canvases was the image of children. In them one can notice how accurately the artist conveys the labor hardening inherent in the village children. And this expresses the originality of the images, the charm inherent in his paintings.
Awards
Creativity Sychkov has been awarded more than once. At various academic exhibitions in St. Petersburg, he received six awards in various categories.
The year 1905 was marked by the presentation of the A. I. Kuindzhi Prize. It was presented to Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov at the Spring Exhibition held by the Academy of Arts.
The incentive prize was awarded to Fedot Vasilievich at the International Exhibition held in Rome for the painting "Difficult Transition" in 1913. Another award was a silver medal received at an exhibition in the USA (St. Louis).
In 1910, the first prize was received at the All-Russian competition for the painting "Return from the Fair".
The main person in the life of Fedot Sychkov was his wife Lidia Nikolaevna. She was also his muse, inspiring the creation of stories.
Lidia Nikolaevna collected various items of national authentic jewelry, household items. These were shirts, shawls, belts, beads and much more. Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich actively used all these attributes in his portraits.
Another interesting fact in the biography is that one of the artist's paintings was in the collection of the famous aerodynamicist N.G. Abramovich. This picture was - "Coming".
perpetuation of memory
In 1960, an exposition dedicated to such an artist as Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich was organized in the Museum of the Republic of Mordovia. The works are presented in the amount of more than 600 copies. There are also sketches and sketches. The exposure is permanent. Recently, the museum has presented updated works of the artist.
In 1970, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of Culture of the Mordovian ASSR, it was decided to open a house-museum. This event is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the artist. Today in the village of Kochelaevo you can visit this museum.
Another memorable object is a bust located in the memorial and sculptural center in the city of Saransk.
artist and time
During the period of his long life, Fedot Vasilievich created a huge number of unique works. Today in his museum you can get acquainted with paintings from the "Italian Cycle", written during the artist's travels to Rome and Venice. These are Landscapes depicting such objects as the Colosseum, the Roman Forum. Throughout his life, the artist created.
From early childhood to old age. Time turned out to have no power over the talent of Fedot Vasilyevich. At the age of 88, he painted one of his best paintings, Erzyanka (1952). And today the paintings cannot leave indifferent lovers of painting.
Such an original artist as Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich, whose biography today can help us get acquainted with the work of this wonderful and world-famous creative person, made an invaluable contribution to the fine arts of his native land - the Mordovian Republic. With all the breadth of his artistic soul, with his paintings, he introduced the general public to the life and way of life of the common people, and also showed the beauty of the national costume.
In the paintings of Sychkov, love for his homeland, his land, for the people around him can be traced. They have become a harmonious reflection of the lifestyle of an ordinary working person and his simple joys. The beauty of nature, the brightness of emotional images - all this will draw attention to the work of this talented person.
(now in the territory of Mordovia), Russian Empire
Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov(March 13 (March 1, old style), Kochelaevo village, Penza province (now on the territory of Mordovia), Russian Empire - August 3, Saransk, Mordovian ASSR, USSR) - famous Russian (Soviet) artist, Honored Art Worker of the Mordovian ASSR (1937), Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1950), People's Artist of the Mordovian ASSR (1955).
Biography
Born into a poor peasant family. Orphaned early.
He studied at a three-year zemstvo school in the village of Kochelaeva, showed his ability to draw from childhood, studied drawing with a school teacher P. E. Dyumaev. He worked in an icon-painting workshop, painted frescoes in churches, made portraits from photographs. From 1885 to 1887 he worked in Serdobsk, Penza province, for the icon painter D. A. Reshetnikov, a contractor.
From 1887 to 1892 he lived in Kochelaev, he independently painted, painted icons, portraits of his fellow villagers. In 1892, by order of General I. A. Arapov (1844-1913), whose estate was located near Kochelaev, he painted the painting “Laying the Arapovo Station”. Shown to the director of the Drawing School for Volunteers E. A. Sabaneev, the picture made an impression. Noting the talent of Sychkov, Sabaneev advised to bring the young man to St. Petersburg.
In 1892, Sychkov moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. He was supported by General I. A. Arapov. In 1895, F. Sychkov graduated from the Drawing School and became a volunteer at the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts. After graduation, the artist returned to his homeland.
In 1900, he was awarded the title of artist for the painting "News from the War." In 1905, he was awarded the A. I. Kuindzhi Prize at the Spring Exhibition at the Academy of Arts for the painting “Flax Cutters”. Elected a member of the Committee of the Society for the Mutual Aid of Russian Artists.
In 1908 he went on a trip to Italy, France, Germany, brought back many landscapes of Rome, Venice, Menton and sea views.
In 1909-1917, Sychkov's works were repeatedly noted at Russian and international art exhibitions.
In 1918-1920, he participated in the design of revolutionary holidays in the city of Narovchat, at the Arapovo station and in his native village of Kochelaev.
The last years he lived in Saransk.
Creation
The main theme of the artist is the life of peasants, rural holidays. The most famous works of Sychkov:
- "Portrait of Anna Ivanovna Sychkova, the artist's mother" (1898)
- "News from the War" (1900)
- "Portrait of a Woman" (1903)
- "Portrait in Black" (1904)
- Flax Millers (1905, A. I. Kuindzhi Prize at the Spring Exhibition at the Academy of Arts - 1905)
- "Girlfriends" (1909)
- "From the Mountains" (1910)
- "Return from the hayfield" (1911)
- "Shrovetide Riding" (1914)
- "Return from the Fair" (first prize at the closed All-Russian competition of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts - 1910)
- "Country Wedding"
- "Water blessing"
- "Waits"
- "Difficult transition" (encouragement prize at the International Exhibition in Rome - 1911, prize at the Spring Exhibition at the Academy of Arts - 1913)
- "Celebration Day" (1927)
- "Holiday. Girlfriends. Winter "(1929)
- "Day off on the collective farm" (1936)
- "Collective Farm Bazaar" (1936)
- "Mordovian teacher" (1937)
- "Mordovian tractor drivers" (1938)
- "Harvest Festival" (1938)
- "Presenting an act for the eternal free use of land" (1938)
- "Return from School" (1945)
- "Hero's Encounter" (1952).
perpetuation of memory
- Since 1960, the Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts named after S. D. Erzya has housed a permanent exhibition of his works (the funds of this museum contain the largest collection of paintings and graphic works by Sychkov - about 600 works, including sketches and sketches).
- In 1970, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding painter, an order was issued by the Ministry of Culture of the Mordovian ASSR to open a memorial museum in the artist's homeland. The house-museum of F. V. Sychkov was opened on March 11, 1970 in the village. Kochelaev after some reconstruction of the premises.
- Mordovian Republican Art Gallery named after. F. V. Sychkova.
F. Sychkov’s painting “Prigozhaya” was in the private collection of the famous aerodynamic scientist G. N. Abramovich
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An excerpt characterizing Sychkov, Fedot Vasilyevich
- A clean march! ... I knew it, - my uncle spoke (he was a distant relative, a poor neighbor of the Rostovs), - I knew that you couldn’t stand it, and it’s good that you were going. Pure business march! (That was my uncle's favorite saying.) - Take your order now, otherwise my Girchik reported that the Ilagins were willingly standing in Korniki; you have them - a clean march! - under the nose they will take a brood.- I'm going there. What, bring down the flocks? - Nikolai asked, - dump ...
The hounds were united in one flock, and uncle and Nikolai rode side by side. Natasha, wrapped in kerchiefs, from under which a lively face with shining eyes could be seen, galloped up to them, accompanied by a hunter and a bereytor, who was assigned by the nanny with her, who did not lag behind her, Petya and Mikhaila. Petya laughed at something and beat and pulled his horse. Natasha deftly and confidently sat on her black Arab and with a sure hand, without effort, laid siege to him.
Uncle looked disapprovingly at Petya and Natasha. He did not like to combine pampering with the serious business of hunting.
- Hello, uncle, and we're going! Petya shouted.
“Hello, hello, but don’t pass the dogs,” my uncle said sternly.
- Nikolenka, what a lovely dog, Trunila! he recognized me,” Natasha said about her beloved hound dog.
“Trunila, first of all, is not a dog, but a survivor,” thought Nikolai and looked sternly at his sister, trying to make her feel the distance that should have separated them at that moment. Natasha understood this.
“You, uncle, don’t think that we interfere with anyone,” said Natasha. We stand where we are and don't move.
“And a good thing, countess,” said my uncle. “Just don’t fall off the horse,” he added, “otherwise it’s a pure march!” - nothing to hold on to.
The island of Otradnensky order could be seen a hundred fathoms away, and those arriving approached it. Rostov, finally deciding with his uncle where to throw the hounds from and showing Natasha a place where she should stand and where nothing could run, headed for the race over the ravine.
“Well, nephew, you’re becoming a seasoned one,” said the uncle: don’t iron (pickle).
- As it is necessary, answered Rostov. - Punish, fuit! he shouted, answering this call to the words of his uncle. Karay was an old and ugly, burly male, known for taking a seasoned wolf alone. Everyone got into place.
The old count, knowing his son's hunting fervor, hurried not to be late, and before the arrivals had time to drive up to the place, Ilya Andreevich, cheerful, ruddy, with trembling cheeks, on his crows, rolled through the greenery to the manhole left to him and, straightening his fur coat and putting on hunting shells, climbed onto his smooth, well-fed, meek and kind, gray-haired like him, Bethlyanka. The horses with the droshky were sent away. Count Ilya Andreich, although not a hunter by heart, but who knew the laws of hunting firmly, rode into the edge of the bushes from which he was standing, took apart the reins, straightened himself in the saddle and, feeling ready, looked around smiling.
Beside him stood his valet, an old but heavy rider, Semyon Chekmar. Chekmar kept in a pack of three dashing, but also fat, like the owner and the horse - wolfhounds. Two dogs, smart, old, lay down without a pack. About a hundred paces away in the edge of the forest stood the count's other aspirant, Mitka, a desperate rider and a passionate hunter. The count, according to an old habit, drank a silver glass of hunting casserole before the hunt, ate and washed down with a half bottle of his favorite Bordeaux.
Ilya Andreich was a little red from the wine and the ride; his eyes, covered with moisture, especially shone, and he, wrapped in a fur coat, sitting on the saddle, looked like a child who was gathered for a walk. Thin, with retracted cheeks, Chekmar, having settled down with his affairs, looked at the master with whom he had lived for 30 years in perfect harmony, and, understanding his pleasant mood, was waiting for a pleasant conversation. Another third person approached cautiously (it was obvious that it had already been learned) from behind the forest and stopped behind the count. The face was an old man in a gray beard, in a woman's bonnet and a high cap. It was the jester Nastasya Ivanovna.
“Well, Nastasya Ivanovna,” the count said in a whisper, winking at him, “just stomp the beast, Danilo will ask you.”
“I myself ... with a mustache,” said Nastasya Ivanovna.
- Shhhh! the count hissed and turned to Semyon.
Have you seen Natalya Ilyinichna? he asked Semyon. - Where is she?
“He and Pyotr Ilyich got up from the Zharovs weeds,” answered Semyon smiling. - Also ladies, but they have a big hunt.
“Are you surprised, Semyon, how she drives… huh?” - said the count, if only the man was in time!
- How not to wonder? Bold, smart.
- Where is Nikolasha? Above Lyadovsky top or what? the Count asked in a whisper.
- Yes, exactly. They already know where to be. They know the ride so subtly that Danila and I marvel at other times, ”Semyon said, knowing how to please the master.
- Drives well, doesn't it? And what is it like on a horse, huh?
- Paint a picture! As the other day from Zavarzinsky weeds they pushed the fox. They began to jump, from a lot, passion - a horse is a thousand rubles, but there is no price for a rider. Yes, look for such a young man!
“Look…” the count repeated, apparently regretting that Semyon’s speech ended so soon. – Search? he said, turning back the flaps of his fur coat and taking out a snuffbox.
- The other day, as from mass, they came out in all their regalia, so Mikhail then Sidorych ... - Semyon did not finish, hearing the rut clearly heard in the still air with the howling of no more than two or three hounds. He bowed his head, listened, and silently threatened his master. “They ran into a brood ...” he whispered, they led him straight to Lyadovskaya.
Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich Sychkov Fedot Vasilievich
The artist Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov (1887-1958) was the founder of professional painting in the Mordovian region. He connected all his life and work with his native places, with his countrymen, devoting all his rich creative heritage to them. F. Sychkov was born in the village of Kochelaevo, Penza province (now the Republic of Mordovia) in the family of a poor peasant. In his youth, the future artist worked in the artel of icon painters. The participation in his fate of a landowner from an estate adjacent to the village of Kochelaevo, a St. Petersburg official, General Ivan Arapov, allowed Sychkov to enter the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts in St. Petersburg. Thanks to his ability and perseverance, he completed the six-year school course in 3 years, and then continued his education at the Imperial Academy of Arts (1895-1900). No one has experienced so much grief and no one has sung joy, laughter, a lively smile so brightly and sincerely as Sychkov. Maybe he deliberately avoided the dark sides of life? No, there are many sketches in the artist's archive that depict these aspects of life as well. But here, for example, is what the journal Nature and People wrote in 1878 in a July book about Mordovians: songs." Sychkov wholeheartedly accepted this "hidden engine" of the moral health of the people and spoke about it with all the strength of his outstanding talent.
Waits
From the mountains
Return from school
On a holiday
Free time
Skating me on Maslenitsa
Girl in a blue scarf
Two girls and two headscarves
rural beauty
Russian girls
The pictures are winter, but the soul is warm. And funny!!! Our ancestors knew how to love their land, rejoice and live merrily, they also knew how to us ... They bequeathed!
Russian and Soviet painter, Honored Artist of the Mordovian ASSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, People's Artist of the Mordovian ASSR.
self-portrait
Artist Fedot Vasilyevich Sychkov was born in March 1870 in the village of Kochelaevo, Narovchatsky district, Penza province, into a poor peasant family.
He graduated from three classes of the zemstvo school in the village of Kochelaev and was engaged in drawing with the school teacher P.E. Dyumaev. After leaving school, he worked in an icon-painting workshop, painted frescoes in local churches, painted portraits from photographs.
From 1885 to 1887 he worked in the city of Serdobsk (Penza province) as an apprentice for the icon painter contractor D.A. Reshetnikov, then returned to his native village, painted icons and portraits of fellow villagers.
In 1892, General I.A. Arapov (the general's estate was located near the village of Kochelaeva) ordered from the young artist the painting "Laying the Arapovo Station", and then showed this painting to the director of the Drawing School for Volunteers E.A. Sabaneev. The pictures so impressed the head of the school that he advised the general to take Fedot Sychkov to St. Petersburg.
I.A. Arapov helped the young artist get to the capital and enter the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. And three years later Sychkov became a volunteer at the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts. In 1900 Sychkov was awarded the title of artist.
After graduating from college, Fedot Vasilyevich returned to his homeland.
In 1905, the artist received the Kuindzhi Prize at the Spring Exhibition of the Academy of Arts for the painting “Linen Millers”, and in 1908 he went on a trip to Europe, painted landscapes and sea views, quite regularly participated in all-Russian and international exhibitions, including exhibitions Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.
After the October Revolution, the artist left St. Petersburg (his workshop was looted and most of the artist's paintings were destroyed) and returned to his homeland, participated in the design of revolutionary holidays, painted genre paintings about the life of fellow villagers, portraits and still lifes.
He was not at all pleased with the changes that had taken place in the countryside, and after the new Kochelaev authorities decided to dispossess him as a handicraftsman, he decided to leave Russia. The fact is that the artist actively participated in the exhibition life of Moscow and Leningrad, and the authorities of Mordovia did not even imagine that a world-famous artist lives in the village of Kochelaevo.
Fedot Sychkov was already ready to leave the USSR, but then (it was in 1937) the Union of Artists was created in Mordovia and the director of the Academy of Arts I.I. Brodsky, who invited Sychkov, with all his works, to the republican exhibition opening in Saransk. As expected, Sychkov's paintings became the central event of the exhibition. And he was immediately awarded the title of Honored Artist of the Mordovian ASSR. This is how the issue of immigration was resolved - the artist decided that his place was in his homeland.
And he continued to paint his wonderful paintings, in which a woman occupied a central place - ruddy smiling peasant women, perky, sincere.
In the late forties, Fedot Vasilievich began to lose his sight, and this became a real tragedy for him. Here is what he wrote about this in one of his letters:
I don't want to be old. As they say, artists cannot grow old, their work must always be young and interesting.
The artist died in the city of Saransk in August 1958.
