Video: Melancholic paintings and short happiness of the Russian symbolist Viktor Borisov-Musatov
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
They often write about Borisov-Musatov in a minor key - his paintings, imbued with sadness, evoke thoughts of a lonely life, full of adversity, misunderstanding and rejection. However, the singer of abandoned estates, overgrown ponds and ghostly maidens in his short life managed to make friends and become a model for young artists. And he also loved - and was loved mutually …
Viktor Elpidiforovich was born in the spring of 1870. His grandfather was a serf under the Saratov landowner Shakhmatov. After the abolition of serfdom, the father of the future artist remained with the landowner as a valet, then received the education of an accountant and entered an employee in a railway office in Saratov. He married the daughter of the owner of a bookbinder. The marriage was overshadowed by the deaths of the Musatovs' four children in infancy. Their fifth child showed no ill health until the age of three, but suddenly his condition worsened. It turned out that little Victor suffers from severe back injury after an unsuccessful fall, which no one paid attention to at first. Fortunately, the Musatovs managed to find good doctors, whose revolutionary methods at that time helped to stop a significant deformity of the spine, but for the rest of his life Victor suffered not only from an external defect, but also from monstrous back pain and many other ailments.
The parents surrounded the boy with care and love with a vengeance. His father drew books for him and supported his love of creativity. Already at the age of eleven, the future artist demonstrated exceptional success in drawing and sketching. Even contour maps he turned into real masterpieces. He was dreamy, he loved to be alone. However, his classmates recalled that Victor was cheerful and friendly with them, aroused genuine interest in them with his giftedness and intelligence. His physical features and isolation did not repel his peers at all, they strove to be friends with him. And he strove to the bank of the Volga - to paint landscapes … When the art museum opened in Saratov, the young man literally settled there. In those years, it was at least reckless for a person with serious health problems to become an artist - but Victor understood that this was his calling.
He added to his surname - Musatov - the name of his grandfather, becoming Borisov-Musatov. So he was destined to become famous - but the path turned out to be incredibly difficult. Borisov-Musatov entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, as an apprentice to Polenov. One of his student paintings was bought by the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.
He strove with his soul to Petersburg - it was there that real artistic life was in full swing, real, as it seemed to him, art was created. But the damp and cold climate was bad for his fragile health. However, in Moscow there were enough meetings, discussions, experiments. In one of these innovative art circles, Borisov-Musatov met the landscape painter Elena Aleksandrova - and fell in love with her. To his amazement, the feelings turned out to be mutual …
In the life of Borisov-Musatov, two Elena played a huge role - his wife and sister. Both of them inspired and supported him, both served as permanent - and the only - models for his paintings. Sad girls in old dresses (the dresses were sewn by the artist's mother), almost ethereal, wander along the banks of overgrown ponds. But the ghosts of bygone times, rather conventional images than living people, still retain a portrait resemblance to the artist's two beloved women. However, in his life there were other pictorial and romantic hobbies.
Borisov-Musatov was well acquainted with the achievements of French art, visited Paris several times and admired the Impressionists. But he preferred to go his own way - to write a "beautiful era" that did not have an exact time frame. The artist visited abandoned noble estates in search of inspiration - Sleptsovka, Zubrilovka, Vvedenskoye … Two Helens invariably accompanied him on these travels.
Despite the image of a dreamy recluse, Borisov-Musatov played an important role in the life of Moscow art circles. His work was a huge success - albeit in narrow circles. Viktor Elpidiforovich was not a member of any creative union, but was actively involved in organizing exhibitions, was friends with many Symbolists. Critics were merciless towards Borisov-Musatov, he was ignored by buyers and patrons, even the Tretyakov Gallery refused to acquire his works (although later there were a couple of his canvases under Serov's patronage), but young artists and poets admired him and considered him their leader. Borisov-Musatov had nothing to do with the "Blue Rose" - the main association of Russian Symbolists - but they dedicated their exhibitions to him …
In 1904, Borisov-Musatov still managed to get a large order - four wall paintings for the rich mansion of Deoozhinskaya, designed by Fyodor Shekhtel. Here the artist could embody all his old ideas, favorite motives, desire for monumental painting - and improve his unenviable financial situation. But only watercolor sketches have survived - the paintings were never created. In the same year, Borisov-Musatov experienced the joy of fatherhood - his daughter Marianna later became a famous book graphic artist.
Shortly thereafter, Borisov-Musatov moved to Tarusa, where he often spent time at the Tsvetaevs' dacha. In that autumn, he studied a lot of landscape and began to try his hand at a new pictorial style. But, having found a new direction in painting, he did not have time to realize his aspirations - the artist's heart could no longer cope with the load. At the age of thirty-five, Borisov-Musatov died. He managed to tell his friends where he wants to be buried - in a picturesque place on the banks of the Oka. Borisov-Musatov's friend, sculptor A. T. Matveev, created a wonderful sculpture for his tombstone - a boy immersed in a sweet dream. A dream about a beautiful era is no longer one that promises awakening.
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