Vasnetsov Apollinariy Mihaylovich
Apollinarius Mikhailovich Vasnetsov is a Russian artist, master of historical painting, landscape painter, theater artist, art critic and teacher. The younger brother of Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov.
Biography
He was born on July 25 (August 6), 1856 in the village of Ryabovo, Vyatka province, in the family of a hereditary Orthodox priest. He became an orphan at the age of 13. He received his general education at the Vyatka Theological College (1866-1872), where he began taking drawing lessons from the Polish artist Michal Andriolli.
In 1872, he moved to St. Petersburg at the insistence of his older brother. He studied painting with Viktor Vasnetsov, as well as with V. D. Polenov, I. E. Repin, M. M. Antokolsky, V. M. Maksimov. In 1875, he refused to enter the Academy of Fine Arts and passed the exam for the title of national teacher, after which he went to work in the village of Bystrica near Vyatka. He soon became disillusioned with populist ideas and in 1878 moved to Moscow to live with his brother.
Since 1882, he spent the summer every year at his brother's dacha in the village of Akhtyrka near Abramtsev, Savva Mamontov's estate. Since 1883, he began to show his works at the expositions of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions.
In 1900 he became an academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, and in 1903 — its full member. In 1901-1918, he led the landscape class at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
After the 1917 Revolution, he was elected chairman of the Council of Moscow Art Organizations. He worked in the Old Moscow Commission, and since 1923 he has been its chairman. In 1922-1930 he taught at the Handicraft and Art College.
Creation
In the early period (1880-1890s), he painted mainly landscapes close to the Peredvizhnik tradition. His works of the 1900s brought him fame, in which he sought to reproduce the appearance of pre-Petrine wooden Moscow. At the same time, he solved historical and archaeological rather than artistic tasks.
Among the famous works are:
"Gray Day" (1883) — the artist's first success, the painting was acquired by Pavel Tretyakov.
"Homeland" (1886-1924) is a generalized image of native nature.
"The Moscow Kremlin. Cathedrals" (1894) is one of the first landscapes dedicated to Moscow.
"The Moscow dungeon. The end of the XVI century" (1913) — was awarded a gold medal at the International Art Exhibition in Munich.
He worked as a theater artist since 1885. He created the sets for the operas "The City of Kitezh" by S. N. Vasilenko, "Sadko" and "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh and the Virgin Fevronia" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, "The Oprichnik" by P. I. Tchaikovsky, "The Tsar's Bride" by N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov, "Life for the Tsar" by M. I. Glinka.
Social and scientific activities
Apollinarius Vasnetsov was actively engaged in social activities. In 1900, he flew over Moscow in a hot air balloon and made sketches from a bird's-eye view. In 1906, he became a full member of the Moscow Archaeological Society, and in 1912, he became a member of the Commission for the Study of Old Moscow. In 1918, he headed this commission and conducted archaeological research during excavation work in the central part of the city.
In 1931, he became the only artist who publicly opposed the demolition of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior," he wrote a letter to the Izvestia newspaper.
Teaching activities
As a teacher, Vasnetsov defended the realistic method. He wrote: "I tried to convey to my students the same principles of art that guided me: I insisted on drawing, the correct transfer of colors and the overall impression. With particular insistence, I demanded the impression of space for the landscape painter.: without the impression of space, there is no landscape."
Among his students was the future pictorialist photographer Yuri Eremin.
There is a Museum apartment of A.M. Vasnetsov in Moscow.