Video: Virtuoso of one genre: works of the 19th century Russian portrait painter in the Renaissance style
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The fate of the Russian artist Alexey Kharlamov turned out amazingly. His parents were serfs, it is natural to assume that he was destined for a similar fate. However, life circumstances turned out differently: he not only managed to escape from slavery, but also received an art education and emigrated to Paris, where he became famous as an outstanding portraitist … His works, written in the spirit of the era Renaissance, and today arouse keen interest among connoisseurs of painting.
Alexei Kharlamov was born in 1840 in the village of Dyachevka, Saratov province, and soon his parents were sold to Saratov, where a few years later, by the will of the landowner who bought them, they received freedom. The released family decides to move to St. Petersburg, where the boy Alexei is fond of painting. First, he takes private lessons, and then enters the Academy of Arts, which he graduates with honors. Professor A. Markov becomes Kharlamov's mentor. As a reward for their academic success, Kharlamov and several other graduates of the academy receive trips to Europe. This is how the beginning Russian artist became acquainted with world masterpieces, and an interest in life abroad appeared.
At the age of 32, Alexei manages to move to Paris. The lessons of Leon Bonn were decisive for his creative manner. Having entered his courses, Kharlamov is fond of his style of painting: the ability to create a realistic portrait, which at the same time is close in style to the canvases of Spanish masters. Having mastered this technique to perfection, Kharlamov quickly gained popularity among his contemporaries, but just as quickly and was sent into oblivion as a master of one form, one genre.
Many intellectuals saw a real talent in Kharlamov. Ivan Turgenev was fond of him, the Viardot spouses spoke enthusiastically about him, Emil Zola predicted a great future for him. Having made his debut with colorful portraits of Italians and Gypsies, he never managed to evolve: portraits made in this style sold well, and there was simply no obvious reason for further creative searches. Over and over again, Alexei Kharlamov reproduced similar stories, and over time, of course, they began to pall and bore the audience.
It is noteworthy that interest in the artist's work revived in the 21st century. Rediscovering Alexei Kharlamov's paintings, buyers of prestigious auctions spared no expense in purchasing his paintings. So, at Sotheby’s in 2007, one of the collectors bought the painting "Young Flower Girls" for $ 3 million! Kharlamov's works are now kept in a museum in the French town of Vele, where the artist lived and worked for many years, as well as in many Russian cities.
The work of Alexei Kharlamov went down in the history of Russian painting, but his works are a repetition of the same images and characters. A different approach was preferred portrait painter Pyotr Sokolov, with his watercolors, he created an atlas of the history of Russia in the 19th century.
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