Still life in the artist's work. Still life in Russian painting

Still life as an independent genre of painting finally took shape in the 17th century. in the work of Dutch and Flemish artists.

Until that time, it was not an independent genre, but was only included in other genres as a frame for other paintings (for example, flower garlands), decoration of furniture, interior, etc.

Term

The word "still life" in French means "dead nature" (nature morte). Flowers in a vase is a still life; the same flowers in a flower bed or in the front garden - a landscape. AT broad sense still life is artistic image inanimate objects: plants, game, dishes, etc. The artist does not depict objects “from nature”, as they are located in the interior, but consciously arranges them in such a way as to solve some of his own semantic and artistic task.
Often still lifes contain hidden allegory through the use of ordinary objects that the artist endows with a symbol, additional meaning and meaning. An example of an allegorical still life is vanitas (from the Latin vanitas "vanity, vanity").

Varieties of still life

Vanitas

Michael Conrad Hirt. Vanitas
Vanitas is an allegorical still life. Usually on it, among other things, a skull is depicted. Such a still life is intended to remind you of the transience of life, the futility of pleasures and the inevitability of death - reflections on the meaning human existence. The term is taken from a verse from the Bible: "Vanity of vanities, said the Ecclesiastes, vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" In Latin it sounded like this: Vanitas vanitatum dixit Ecclesiastes vanitas vanitatum omnia vanitas". You can read more about vanitas.

Dutch still life

Dutch still life, which took shape in the 17th century. as an independent genre, influenced further development throughout European painting. It turns out that ordinary objects also live, but their life is quiet and invisible to humans. There is some mystery in this. Apparently, this is why the genre of still life became popular and has survived to this day. Sometimes a still life attracts the eye, excites feelings, it is impossible to tear oneself away from it - some associations, fleeting memories arise ...

flower still life

This type of still life is perhaps the most common and the very first to separate into a separate genre.

Jan Davids de Heem (1606-1684). Still life with flower vase (circa 1645). National Gallery of Art (Washington)
Traditionally, many flowers were grown in the Netherlands, gardens were bred, so flower still lifes were a natural extension of society. The very first artists of this genre were Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder (1573-1621) and Balthasar van der Ast (1593-1657).

Ambrosius Bosschaert the Elder "Tulips, roses, white and pink carnations, forget-me-nots and other flowers in a vase" (circa 1619). Oil on copper

Scientist still life

The most intellectual kind of still life. In such still lifes, reflection on the depicted was supposed, and for this - knowledge of the Bible and other knowledge about the world. Vanitas can also be included in this category, but the scientific still life is broader in subject matter: it contains books, musical instruments, etc.

Maria van Oosterwijk. Still life

D. Annenkov "Reflections with Baudelaire"

Still life in Russian painting

In Russia, still life as an independent genre appeared at the beginning of the 18th century. But for some time (almost late XIX c.) still life was considered a lower genre and depicted only flowers and fruits.
A famous artist of this genre in the XIX century. was I. Khrutsky.

I. Khrutsky. Still life with vase (1832)

I. Khrutsky "Flowers and Fruits" (1838)
In the twentieth century Russian still life painting has become equal among other genres. Artists worked on the perfection of color, form, composition, the genre began to develop rapidly.
Famous Russian and Soviet artists who worked and still work in the still life genre: Konstantin Korovin (1861-1939), Igor Grabar (1871-1960), Pyotr Konchalovsky (1876-1956), Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin (1878-1939), Martiros Saryan ( 1880-1972), Ilya Mashkov (1881-1944), Elena Skuin (1909-1986), Peter Alberti (1913-1994), Sergei Osipov (1915-1985), Evgenia Antipova (1917-2009), Viktor Teterin (1922- 1991), Maya Kopyttseva (1924-2005), Yaroslav Krestovsky (1925-2003), Vladimir Stozharov (1926-1973), Boris Shamanov (1931-2008) and others.

E. Skuin "Peonies and Cherries" (1956)

V. Stozharov. Still life with rowan (1969)

Still life in various styles and directions of art

The turn of the XIX-XX centuries. known for experiments in the field artistic creativity. Still life also did not escape this fate. Paul Cezanne, Paul Gauguin, Henri Matisse and others were the first to experiment with still life.

P. Cezanne. Still life with drapery (1889). Hermitage (St. Petersburg)
Cubist P. Picasso boldly experimented.

P. Picasso "Jug, glass and book" (1908)
J. Braque also worked in the cubist style.

J. Marriage " Musical instruments» (1908)
Cubofuturists worked in search of a new space-time dimension.

K. Malevich "Cow and violin" (1913). State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg)
His "... intuitive feeling found in things the energy of dissonances obtained from the meeting of two opposite forms" (K. Malevich "From Cubism and Futurism to Suprematism").
In the metaphysical still lifes of Giorgio Morandi (1890-1964), objects are pressed against each other, forming dense groups, as if trying to keep warm, fearing external cold and aggression.

Giorgio Morandi. Natura Morta (1956)
The most famous representative of surrealism, Salvador Dali, in his famous work "The Persistence of Memory", which is essentially an allegorical still life, reflects on the relativity of time.

S. Dali "The Persistence of Memory" (1931)
Commercial advertising of the second half of the XX century. brought up in people a greedy attitude to things and insatiable consumption. There is a fetishization of the subject. Elements of the still life genre are beginning to transform from art into a source of consumption.

Andy Warhol Campbell's Soup Can (1968)
Dmitry Krasnopevtsev represents Russian "unofficial" art, although he has a completely official classical art education (he graduated from the Moscow art institute named after V. I. Surikov).

D. Krasnopevtsev. Still life
Krasnopevtsev's main genre is a "metaphysical still life" close to surrealism with simple, often beaten ceramics, dry plants and shells. These works, painted in ashy tones, develop the motif of the frailty and unreality of the world.
But the still life paintings by the contemporary artist Dmitry Annenkov are quite “animated”. They are different: joyful, sad, funny, but quite alive. They want to be touched. Looking at these still lifes, it is impossible to resist a kind smile.

D. Annenkov "Still life with a coffee grinder"

D. Annenkov "Spring Sun"

D. Annenkov "Memories of Summer"

Still life(fr. nature morte - "dead nature") - the image of inanimate objects in fine arts, in contrast to portrait, genre, historical and landscape subjects.

The starting point of the early still life can be found in XV-XVI centuries, when it was considered as part of a historical or genre composition. For a long time, the still life kept in touch with the religious picture, framing the figures of the Mother of God and Christ with flower garlands, and also often located on the reverse side of the altar image (as in Rogier van der Weyden's Triptych of the Marriage Family). Also in the 16th century, the tradition of creating portraits with the image of a skull was widespread, for example, the portrait of Jean Carondel by Jan Gossaert (see vanitas). Early still lifes often served a utilitarian function, such as decorating closet doors or masking a wall niche.

Still life finally takes shape as an independent genre of painting in the works of Dutch and Flemish artists of the 17th century. Objects in still life painting of this period often contain a hidden allegory - either the transience of everything earthly and the inevitability of death (Vanitas), or - in a broader sense, the Passion of Christ and the Resurrection. This meaning is conveyed through the use of objects - in most cases familiar and encountered in everyday life, which are endowed with additional symbolic meaning.

Dutch still life XVII century

The Dutch still life was a unique cultural phenomenon XVII century, which influenced the further development of all European painting. The “Little Dutchmen” reflected in their works the world of objects that live their own quiet, frozen life. The term "frozen life" (Dutch stilleven, German stilleben, English still-life) began to be used to refer to the genre in the middle of the 17th century, initially in the Netherlands. Prior to this, artists called such paintings, describing the plot: “Little Breakfast”, “Bouquet of Flowers”, “Hunting Trophy”, “Vanity of Vanities”. The main translation of the specified term, found in the literature - "quiet, motionless life."

Still life in Russian painting of the 18th-20th centuries

Still life as an independent genre of painting appeared in Russia at the beginning of the 18th century. The idea of ​​​​it was originally associated with the image of the gifts of the earth and the sea, diverse world things around the person. Until the end of the 19th century, the still life, in contrast to the portrait and historical painting, was considered as a "lower" genre. It existed mainly as educational setting and was allowed only in a limited sense as painting flowers and fruits.

The beginning of the 20th century was marked by the flourishing of Russian still life painting, which for the first time gained equality among other genres. The desire of artists to empower pictorial language accompanied active search in the field of color, form, composition. All this is especially evident in the still life. Enriched with new themes, images and artistic techniques, Russian still life developed unusually rapidly: in a decade and a half, it goes from impressionism to abstract form creation.

In the 1930s and 1940s, this development stopped, but since the mid-1950s, still life has experienced a new upsurge in Soviet painting, and from that time on it finally and firmly stands on a par with other genres.

Russian naturmorists

• Khrutsky Ivan Fomich (1810-1885)
• Grabar Igor Emmanuilovich (1871-1960)
• Petrov-Vodkin Kuzma Sergeevich (1878-1939)
• Konchalovsky Pyotr Petrovich (1876-1956)
• Alberti Petr Filippovich (1913-1994)
• Antipova Evgenia Petrovna (1917-2009)
• Zakharov Sergey Efimovich (1900-1993)
• Kopytseva Maya Kuzminichna (1924-2005)
• Kotyants Gevork Vartanovich (1906-1996)
• Krestovsky Yaroslav Igorevich (1925-2003)
• Osipov Sergey Ivanovich (1915-1985)
• Pozdneev Nikolai Matveevich (1930-1978)
• Rumyantseva Kapitolina Alekseevna (1925-2002)
• Skuin Elena Petrovna (1909-1986)
• Teterin Viktor Kuzmich (1922-1991)
• Shamanov Boris Ivanovich (1931-2008)

In Russian pictorial art, still life has almost always been a secondary genre. And only sophisticated art critics will be able to name a domestic still life painter. But, one way or another, still life as an independent genre began to develop in the 19th century. The first "swallows" were small watercolors and gouaches by F.P. Tolstoy and the work of I.T. Khrutsky. These were classic European still lifes with lush bouquets of garden flowers and fruit baskets. For all their artistic charm, these works had a very limited value for the development of Russian painting.

Interest in still life as an independent genre of painting appears in 80s of the 19th century. important place here belongs to the pictures I.I. Levitan (1860-1900) . They are usually simple in design and not large in size, and represent bouquets of familiar garden or wildflowers. In a still life Forest violets and forget-me-nots (1889) the artist sensitively betrayed the fragility of night violets and the airiness of blue forget-me-nots, their harmony with a simple rustic flask. Close in motive Dandelions" and "White Lilac". The first ones are designed in a warm range, which looks very organic with the clay of the milk pot and yellow flower heads. These still lifes by Levitan are quite traditional: the bouquets are depicted on a neutral background and isolated from the surrounding space. The meaning of these paintings is very simple - to convey the beauty of the chosen nature as accurately as possible. However, at the same time in creativity V. A. Serova and K.A. Korovin new trends began to appear that originated on the canvases of French impressionists. The Impressionists tried to associate the still life with environment, both plot and picturesque. To do this, the "dead nature" is taken out into the open air, associated with the landscape or connected to the interior of the room. With the help of still life, they try to create a reflection of a person’s attitude, his mood and way of life.

All these trends are visible in Korovin's painting "At the Tea Table" (1888). The canvas depicts a friendly society in the country V.D. Polenova. The painting was painted on the terrace of a country house. The artist is trying to convey the feeling summer day, the beauty of friendly conversation. The freshness emanating from the greenery and young faces is created to a certain extent by the still life - the contrast of red poured berries in a white plate, milk in tall transparent glasses, and the whiteness of a fresh tablecloth. The emotional unity of the picture is primarily achieved by the pictorial solution of the canvas. Everything depicted is written taking into account the surrounding light and air environment. In Serov's famous painting " girl with peaches» (1887) still life with peaches in the foreground at first glance does not play important role in the composition of the canvas. All the artist's attention is focused on V. Mamontova, and the fruits only complement the created image. But peaches help Serov solve an important artistic problem. The fruits, according to the artist, serve as a color key to the coloristic construction of the picture. Serov selects his own for peaches yellow and contrasts it with the whiteness of the tablecloth, the greenness of the maple leaves and the yellowness of the light pouring from the window into the garden. The artist distinguishes lemon-yellow, greenish and golden-yellow tones on the uneven sides of the fruit. The tangible light of a summer day, which seems to form peaches, determines the entire emotional and pictorial structure of the picture.

In these works, Serov and Korovin discover new stage in the development of Russian still life. The analytical nature of these paintings is fundamentally different from the concept of a salon still life that existed at that time. The main advantage of such works was considered the maximum similarity of the image with the subject. Etude ease of manner or careful finishing of the picturesque surface was also highly valued. Most accurately, all these principles are embodied in the big picture. K. E. Makovsky"In the artist's studio" (1881). The work impresses with a "still life" heap of details: exotic fruits, rich fabrics, antique rarities. big dog and a little boy do not seem to be living beings, but simple exhibits of this exhibition of luxury goods. The new concept of still life assumed a comprehensive expansion of the boundaries of the genre and its merger with portrait, landscape, interior and household painting. Still life ceases to be simple image"dead nature" and turns into a means of revealing the image.

New trends are visible in the famous painting V.D. Polenov "Sick" (1886). The interior and the figure of the heroine are immersed in a deep shadow - they are just a background, and the meaning of what is happening is revealed with the help of a compact group of objects, which is brightly lit by a lamp with a green shade. This still life is very informative. A half-burnt lampshade is snatched out of the darkness by crumpled pillows and sheets, a glass decanter, a glass of water, vials of medicines and doctor's prescriptions. On the left, shabby books in red and blue covers are visible, perhaps these are home remedies or albums that entertained the patient. Such a composition is a symbol of the fact that the whole life of this patient is centered around this table and the objects standing on it. At work, still life is given an active role in creating mood. Also quite characteristic is the still life, which is highlighted in the picture K. Makovsky "Alekseich". In the picture, the figure of a man is already depicted in the background, behind a still life. The image of a benevolent old man is revealed in the sincere joy with which he anticipates his lonely tea party. A crust of bread, a boiling samovar, jam in a glass jar, a box of sugar and tea carefully covered with a towel - all this creates a feeling of peace and warmth, which sincerely pleases an unpretentious person.