An exhibition of one painting - On the 180th anniversary of the artist-wanderer A.A. Kiselev "Entry into the village"

On February 3, in the main exposition of the KIII (Lenin, 104, second floor), an exhibition of one painting will begin to work - On the 180th anniversary of the artist-wanderer A. A. Kiselev "Entry into the village."

In the collection of our museum there are many first-class works by leading masters of Russian realistic painting. This series includes a small, but undoubtedly compositional landscape “Entry into the Village” by A. A. Kiselev. It so happened that this work had not previously been the subject of scrutiny. Moreover, it is subscribed and dated. And by virtue of this does not contain any attribution problems.

It is quite obvious that this canvas was created by Alexander Alexandrovich Kiselev, and not his historical “double” Alexander Alekseevich Kiselev (1855-1927?). (a frequent confusion of the names and works of these artists sometimes leads to gross attribution errors).

The landscape was painted in 1891, after Kiselev moved from Kharkov to Moscow, at the time of the artist’s maturity.

It is possible that it was created on Kaluga land - during Kiselev’s stay in Bogimov, not far from Ferzikov. It is known that the artist, along with his son Alexander, lived there from July 10 to August 17. 1891 (by the way, in the immediate neighborhood and friendship with the great A.P. Chekhov).

It may seem that the artistic merits of the Kiselyov landscape are not too great. Painting here is quite traditional for landscape art of a realistic sense. She can not be called refined, brilliant, or acutely individualistic. But the landscape was created at the time of picturesque gourmet, when "brio" and the nervousness of the painting spot were more and more appreciated. Just when the "mood landscape" was being formed and gained more and more popularity.

It is noteworthy that Kiselyov himself extremely low appreciated his own art. In 1900, he wrote to K. A. Savitsky: “My dear, my painting is no good, and I am deeply convinced of this /… /. Here, at my leisure, far from the intoxicating influence of the comradely environment, face to face with this amazing local nature, my conviction of the unsuitability of my painting grows stronger and is confirmed in many notes of the World of Art and Art and Art Industry, which I read here at my leisure… Of course, there is a lot of nonsense in these articles, but often a very true assessment also comes across… "

Being himself not only an artist, but also a well-known art critic, Kiselev carefully read the articles of opponents of ideological realism, who asserted the idea of beauty as the essence of art - and could not oppose anything to their arguments, which in their own way is very logical. And recognizing their truth, he, a man of absolute honesty, drew a terrible line under the work of his whole life.

And he was completely wrong. Now, when more than a century has passed since his death, it becomes obvious that there were no winners in the dispute between the Wanderers and the Peacekeepers. Having acquired new artistic qualities, the innovative art of that time lost considerable artistic values. Nowadays, there is hardly a serious art critic who would consider A. N. Benois or K. A. Somov more significant masters of art than I. E. Repin or V. I. Surikov. And at the same time, it seems that an understanding is beginning to be established that the goals of painting are not limited to decorating everyday life and artistic “culinary”, that in its highest manifestations it is a special way of thinking and speech.

In this historical perspective, the Kiselev landscape also looks very solid. The very modesty of the pictorial structure of this work is now perceived as a manifestation of the powerful ethical principle inherent in classical Russian art. But, of course, the main thing here is the system of artistic narration.

You need to look very carefully at this work to understand how skillfully and interestingly this landscape is built. True, it is arranged quite simply, without any effects and artistic tricks. But how uncomplicated the pictorial composition is, the plot structure is so complicated. In this case, of course, it is necessary to make a reservation: we are talking about a specifically picturesque plot. That is, about the composition of meaningful features carried by all the elements and moments of the art form.

Creating his landscape, Kiselev avoided a detailed listing of certain details of the image. He does not retell nature. That which is not related to the plot is “obscured” by him. And at the same time, every detail appears in a certain development, in merging with its environment. And acquires the properties of a landscape, picturesque event.

The state of nature is unsteady: the onset of twilight is recreated. As if living creatures are "falling asleep" village houses, one of which smokes a smoke. Heaven is a little shining.

Moreover, none of this kind of landscape events is accented. And they all merge in the unity of the natural state and the author’s contemplation, in the unity of a continuously lasting being. Village life is also involved in this stream of existence, again fluid, not breaking up into separate episodes.

And at the same time, themes merging together broad semantic fields merge together: “road” and “well”, “Russian village” and “folk Orthodoxy”. Intersecting, logically multiplying, these semantic fields denote a vast circle of ideas connected with each other. The landscape is characterized by rural life - in conjunction with being, and the everyday way - in connection with the eternity and vastness of Russia. In a landscape deprived of any pretentiousness, a “picture of the world” shines through.

Shortly before the death of Kiselyov, one of the leaders of Russian symbolism, Vyacheslav Ivanov, put forward the slogan: "from the real to the real." But right, in this direction, long before that, the artistic thought of Russian ideological realism was developing, it was this way that its most important masters followed. Including - and A. A. Kiselev.

The landscape painter Kiselev, who so sincerely convinced himself and friends of the unsuitability of his “painting,” was in fact a good master of semantic composition, a picturesque plot. He was a smart painter and a keen thinker. That is - a true artist.