Monumental paintings by Ilya Glazunov: brilliant canvases or irrepressible pathos

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Around Ilya Glazunov a storm of passions was always in full swing, and this only intensified interest in unique creativity. Exhibitions of his grandiose works gathered almost a kilometer of queues. Visitors were deeply impressed by the giant canvases ranging in size from 6 to 8 meters in width and 3 meters in height, on which they recognized many famous faces.

The world community, which had not yet known an example of monumental painting similar to Glazunov's paintings, both in content and in its complexity, was shocked by the greatness and genius of the artist's works. But in Russia, art connoisseurs divided into two camps: some argued that Glazunov was the best artist of the Russian land of the 20th century, others, mainly official critics, pointed to the irrepressible pathos of the works, historical jambs and extraordinary flat writing technique. The artist went through almost his entire career in an atmosphere of persecution for "propaganda of Dostoevism and religious mysticism", for his enthusiasm for the "accursed past" of Russia.

"Eternal Russia" (1988) - dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus

- an admiring phrase of one of the visitors of the exhibition, near the canvas "Eternal Russia", in which there is pride for the Motherland, and delight, and undeniable recognition. This is a titanic work that reflected the historical path of Russia, all its ups and downs, as well as the triumph and defeat, indeed of all her great sons.

Looking closely, we see masterfully written images, architectural structures, icons that are not only recognizable, but also “sound” as a whole. There are about 180 of them on the canvas.

Behind the image of each of the Orthodox saints, grand dukes, kings, commanders, writers, painters, scientists, composers, politicians who created the history of a mighty state, there is a human destiny.

How the continuity of generations was captured by Ilya Glazunov and his family in this unique chronicle. In a young man with a candle, and a girl next to him, in the center of the canvas, one can recognize the features of the artist's parents, and in the left corner of the picture, the features of his grandfather, in the image of a state dignitary.

"Mystery of the XX century" (1978) - a protest to the worship of the leaders of all nations over the past 100 years

In the late 70s of the last century, Western magazines were full of headlines: "A picture that Russians will never see." In fact, only after many years, hundreds of thousands of spectators saw the painting "Mystery of the 20th Century" in the Moscow Youth House.

The scale of the canvas "Mystery of the XX century" is simply amazing with its grandeur: 2342 characters are depicted on a canvas measuring 8x3 meters. In general, the picture looks like a frozen film-disaster, which demonstrates how much horror and injustice mankind has done on earth over the past hundred years.

The history of the painting itself is also interesting: written in 1978, at the end of the 90s it became much larger in size, in the literal sense. Glazunov added to it the era of perestroika, the collapse of the Union, privatization and all the figures who had a hand in this. age, than he showed his responsibility for the apocalypse unfolding on the planet. And in the mirror, which he supports with his hand, everyone had to see themselves.

And whatever there were no polar opinions about the artist's work, the halls of the art gallery in Moscow at 13 Volkhonka are always full of visitors. There you can see the artist's paintings and graphics in all possible styles and genres, and what is most surprising: anti-communist canvases peacefully coexist with portraits of communist leaders, lyrical scenes of Russian nature with ideological paintings, religious and spiritual painting with sketches in the nude style. Here everyone will find something to their liking.