The ups and downs of the most expressive Russian artist of the Silver Age

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

This fall, the 150th anniversary of the birth of the famous Russian artist of the Silver Age will be celebrated Philip Andreevich Malyavin, a person who has gone through life and creativity with incredible twists of fate. And, probably, in the history of Russian art there is no other such master who worked at the turn of the past two centuries, who would have lived such a stormy and eventful life, to match his creations - bright, expressive, super dynamic.

Even experts still cannot fully attribute the painting of Philip Malyavin to any direction of art that has ever existed. He managed to combine the traditional techniques of impressionism with the style of Art Nouveau, while maintaining a realistic style of writing. Such a stunning artistic mix led to the birth of a new unique style - "Malyavin". But many art critics believe that the creative throwing between styles on the way to their own style is to some extent related to the "Malyavin" canvases with the works of Gustav Klimt.

Thus, the "Peasant" cycle of Malyavin's canvases, painted in the manner of irrepressible emotional expression and overflowing with a riot of bright colors, strength and dynamics, rightfully entered the golden fund of Russian painting of the Silver Age. Despite the fact that the paintings of the painter were repeatedly subjected to harsh criticism, and the artistic manner was blown to smithereens for superficiality, sweeping, "an orgy of colors" and the lack of genuine picturesqueness of culture.

Pages of an amazing biography

"The ways of the Lord are inscrutable!"

Philip Andreevich was born into an impoverished large peasant family of the Molyavins in 1869 in the village of Kazanka, Samara province Yes, yes, namely, the Molyavins. It is much later that Philip Andreevich will deliberately change the letter "o" to the letter "a" for the euphony of the surname. And it just remains to be surprised how, in the realities of life in the Russian provinces, a boy who grew up in a poor family with many children, who had blocks instead of toys, and who received several literacy lessons from a retired sergeant major, could develop an irrepressible passion for drawing? … It was not without the providence of God. Later, the artist himself said that, for as long as he can remember, all the time he sculpted something from clay, carved various figures from wood, and a special passion was drawing with coals on the stove or walls. True, this son's hobby was not shared by his mother, who had to constantly whitewash the "art" of the naughty tomboy.

As the years passed, drawing more and more attracted Philip. While one day a wandering monk, an acquaintance of the Molyavin family, seeing the work of a teenager, offered to go with him to Greece on Mount Athos to the monastery of St. Panteleimon to study icon painting. And I must say that the soul of the future artist was drawn to the church as well: “The church always attracted and pulled me to itself, and I always looked at its domes, bulbs and was unusually happy when I heard the ringing, especially on big holidays … behind this ringing far, far away there is something different, good and wonderful … . Therefore, the 16-year-old Philip, without hesitation, immediately agreed to go with the pilgrim. But because of the poverty in which the family lived, the whole village had to collect money for the road to a fellow countryman who was going on a good cause.

Arriving in Athos, Malyavin quickly mastered the basics and secrets of icon painting, as he was talented, quick-witted and hardworking. However, soon the young novice began to slowly add his elements to the established canons, showing impermissible self-will and insolence in the depiction of holy images, which greatly upset the abbot of the monastery. Therefore, when the obstinate "bogomaz" was called up for military service, the abbot sighed with relief.

However, as they say, it was not so! Malyavin failed to serve as a conscript. The pious official who led the call, having learned about his talent as a painter, issued the recruit a "white ticket" and sent him back to the Holy Mountain in a Greek monastery at government expense.

But this time Philip did not stay in the monastery for long, because fate again abruptly turned the life of a peasant guy. It was noticed by the famous sculptor Vladimir Beklemishev, who visited Mount Athos in 1891. Struck by Malyavin's painting, he promised to assist in Philip's admission to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, if he agrees to go with him to the capital.

Thus, in 1892 Malyavin became a volunteer in the painting department of the Academy of Arts. Ilya Repin himself, in the future patronizing the young talent, was among his teachers, and among fellow students - I. E. Grabar, K. A. Somov, A. P. Ostroumova. The originality of talent, hard work, and dedication soon brought Malyavin wide fame. Pictures of the gifted academician with enviable constancy were acquired for his gallery by the Moscow collector-patron P. M. Tretyakov, which at that time was considered the highest mark of talent.

Graduated from the Academy of Arts Malyavin already a famous master of painting. Newspapers vied with each other that orders for the creation of portraits were received by the gifted student in huge numbers. And in fact, his income aroused considerable envy among fellow students and some teachers.

And could one have thought just a few years ago that the son of a poor peasant would make his way "from an unknown novice of the monastery to a fashionable St. Petersburg painter."

However, the competitive work "Laughter" (1899), written by the artist for the defense of the diploma, led the professors of the Academy into bewilderment, some admired, others rejected, while arguing heatedly. As a result, it was decided to give the graduate Malyavin the title of artist for a series of portraits painted earlier.

And the finest hour of this canvas struck very soon, a year later, in 1900, when the artist for his work "Laughter" was awarded a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris. An unprecedented interest among the European public was aroused by the impressionistic image of Russian women in red robes on a green meadow, as well as the rich color and sweeping impressionistic manner of the master's painting. By the way, now this unique creation of Philip Andreevich is in the Museum of Modern Art in Venice. Western Europe also contains a large part of the artist's heritage from the famous "Peasant Cycle" and most of the works of the immigration period.

And then, at the beginning of the 1900s, having become a member of the Union of Russian Artists, Malyavin, at the suggestion of Ilya Repin, successfully participated in exhibitions of the Association of Itinerants. Soon the artist left the aristocratic Petersburg and settled with his family in his own estate near Ryazan, only occasionally visiting the capital to present his next work to the viewer's judgment.

So, in 1906 Malyavin "thundered" with another painting - it was called "Whirlwind"., - this is how specialists characterized this work in a few words.

It should be noted that on the canvases of Malyavin of that period, for the first time after the ancient icon painting, fiery scarlet and all shades of red sounded in full force. In the same year, the 37-year-old artist, who did not even have a general education, was elected an academician and sent abroad from the Academy for three years.

And what is curious, during this period a striking transformation took place not only in the life of the master, but also in himself. His classmate Anna Ostroumova, who knew him from the Academy of Arts, met Malyavin by chance abroad and was surprised at such changes: Apparently, the dizzying fame played a cruel joke on the artist.

And when the artist returned to his homeland, he again forced to talk about himself, however, already critically and categorically. "Family portrait", exhibited at the All-Russian exhibition, critics unanimously recognized the painter's artistic fiasco. Since then, Philip Malyavin practically stopped exhibiting, while continuing to work intensively on his estate. He painted custom-made portraits, was engaged in easel graphics, wrote copyright copies of the already painted images of peasant women. It was to these heroines that he treated with special trepidation, both in painting and in graphics. In his works, they were always as if for a moment snatched from life: their postures, movements, gestures were surprisingly accurate and believable.

And the "Malyavin" peasant women still inspire the viewer with thoughts about the joy of life, unrestrained fun, the breadth of the people's soul, about an emotional whirlwind of colors and feelings.

In the post-revolutionary 1920, the artist moved to Moscow, and was immediately delegated by the "Union of Russian Artists" to the Kremlin to sketch from life the leader of the revolution and his associates. Lunacharsky introduced Malyavin to Lenin, and Ilyich allowed the artist to freely visit not only the Kremlin, but also visit his apartment.

However, Philip Malyavin somehow did not work out with the Soviet regime - the new reality was not for him … Sent from the new state in 1922 to arrange a personal exhibition abroad, he never returned to Russia. The artist permanently settled in France, where for some time he worked and exhibited fruitfully, not having that overwhelming success. Being far from his native land, the painter now often said that there is no art outside the homeland.

At the same time, some of his works on Russian themes began to bear a grotesque character, and sketches made in the Kremlin turned into evil cartoons and caricatures … Malyavin could not let the new Russia into his soul, and the old one could not be returned. Nostalgia for that former homeland oppressed the master for all subsequent years spent in immigration.

From noisy Paris, Philip Andreevich soon moved to Nice. And since 1930, Malyavin has repeatedly organized personal exhibitions in various European cities. But from the former glory and recognition of the artist, there is practically no trace left.

And in 1940 the unexpected happened. In search of private orders, finding himself in the German-occupied territory of Belgium, Malyavin was arrested by the Nazis on suspicion of espionage. Not knowing, besides Russian, any other foreign languages, he could not explain to the Gestapo either the reasons for staying on Belgian soil, or the fact that he was just an artist who painted portraits to order. And Philip Andreevich was released, thanks to a fluke, since the department of the Gestapo that arrested the artist was led by an officer who knew how to draw and knew about art.

The 70-year-old artist traveled from Brussels to Nice on foot, walking half of Europe. This forced journey and the shock experienced by the artist during his arrest did not pass in vain for him. He returned exhausted, emaciated, and even yellow - he had spilled bile. At home, Malyavin immediately fell ill, he was taken to the hospital, from where he never returned …

In December 1940, Philip Andreevich Malyavin died. "… To cover the cost of her father's funeral, the daughter had to sell fifty canvases for a pittance to an art dealer from Strasbourg."

Such is the fate, full of ups, downs and paradoxes, of a Russian artist who came out of the lower classes, achieved world fame, lost it and ended his life in a foreign land.

Read also: How an artist-chronicler of Stalin's times got the name of a pagan god as a pseudonym … About Vasily Svarog, a socialist realist artist, a native of a peasant family.