Victor Fedorov. Painting, graphics - on the occasion of the 80th birthday

February 27, 2020 at 16.00 in the National Art Gallery of the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan (Kazan, the Kremlin, the Khazine Museum Complex, 3rd entrance) will open an exhibition of works by TASSR People’s Artist, Honored Artist of TASSR Viktor Fedorov.

Viktor Kronidovich Fedorov (1940-2001) is known in Tatarstan, first of all, for his monumental and decorative creativity. After graduating from the Kazan Art College (1959), then the workshop of monumental painting by A. A. Mylnikov at the Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture named after I.E. Repin (1966), he became one of the most prominent and interesting authors of the monumental art of the republic. His first work was a composition on the wall of a suburban railway station, co-authored with S. M. Bubennov (sgraffito, 1967). The image of a young Tatar girl has become a kind of symbol of the capital of the republic. Then the artist created mosaic panels on the park facade of the Palace of Chemistry of Culture of Chemists (together with S. M. Bubennov, 1969), on the facade of the building of the fire station No. 4 of the Kirov District (1970), in the interiors of the restaurant of the Tatarstan Hotel (1970), the factory’s swimming pool "Orgsintez" (1973), painting in the interiors of the bus station (1971), the youth center. A. Gaidar (1976), classic, brazed stained-glass windows in the interior of Kazan University (1977), on the facade of the Palace of Culture of Builders (1981), in the lobby of the Museum of A.M. Gorky (1989) and others.

Easel painting is the second calling of the artist who created historical canvases and portraits significant for the art of Tatarstan. The heroes of his works live in a great historical time and space - from the 16th to the 20th centuries, to the present, from Russia, Tatarstan to Europe and Africa. Based on the traditions of Russian realistic art, the artist combined the breadth of the epic narrative and the depth of psychological characteristics of the main characters of his works. One of the most famous historical canvases of V.K. Fedorov is the triptych "Russia is a lullaby" (1970). Portraits of contemporaries became, as it were, a continuation of the author’s historical thinking, artistic evidence of the time in which he lived.

A strong drawing with deep academic traditions distinguishes the artist’s graphic sheets made in pencil, ink, watercolor, pastel. The exhibition exhibits easel graphic portraits, landscapes, as well as sketches, sketches, sketches of paintings and monumental works. For the first time at the exhibition, a book illustration of V.K. Fedorov is presented. In collaboration with the Tatar Book Publishing House, the artist designed more than twenty books, including children’s ones. One of them - of his own composition - the book "Mishin Spikelet" (1986).

Artist Viktor Fedorov wrote poetry, sometimes publishing them in periodicals. In 1997, a collection of poems "Mig" was published. Later, the author prepared a series of illustrations for his poems for publication (1999), but did not manage to publish it. This was done by his relatives, wife and daughters, having published the collections “Birds of Remembrance” and “Autumn Bonfires” (2002, 2010).

The works of Viktor Fedorov are stored in art, historical, literary museums in Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Mari El, in the theater named after G. Kamala, in the Vladimir-Suzdal Historical, Architectural and Art Museum-Reserve, in private collections in Russia, USA, Germany, Israel. The exhibition presents paintings and drawings from the collection of the Pushkin Museum of the Republic of Tatarstan, the Museum of Fire Protection (Center for Fire Propaganda and Public Relations EMERCOM of Russia in the Republic of Tatarstan), the collection of the artist’s family and private collections.

The exhibition runs through April 26, 2020.

F.M. Minnigulova, Ph.D., curator of the exhibition.