Exhibition of one painting by Karl (Kirill) Vikentievich Lemokh (1841-1910) "Parental Joy"

On March 11, an exhibition of one painting by Karl (Kirill) Vikentievich Lemokh (1841–1910) "Parental Joy" will start working at the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (104 Lenina st., Main exposition). II half of the 19th century On the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the artist’s birth.

K. V. Lemokh - Russian genre artist, participant in the "riot of fourteen", a member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions and the Imperial Academy of Arts.

The artist was born into the family of a Moscow music teacher.

In 1851-1856. studied at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture in the studio of E. Ya. Vasiliev. Two years later he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts in the class of historical painting by P.V. Basin and A.T. Markov. During his studies, he was repeatedly awarded silver and gold medals for creative achievements.

K. Lemokh was among those fourteen "rebels" who, led by I. Kramskoy in 1963, in protest left the Academy of Arts. In 1870, at the invitation of G. Myasoedov, he became the founder of TPHV, but a year later he was expelled for not providing work for the exhibition. In 1978, the artist re-entered the Association, and later became a member of the board and permanent treasurer.

In the 1960s. K. Lemokh accepted the invitation to give private drawing lessons to the children of the future Emperor Alexander III, including Nicholas II. The most talented student of the artist was the younger sister of Nicholas, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, who was fond of painting all her life. It was at the court that the artist received the Orthodox name - Cyril.

From 1897 to 1909 K. Lemokh was the curator of the art department of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III.

In his work, K. Lemokh was a "classic" genre painter, depicting scenes from peasant life in his paintings. Some of the artist’s favorite heroes were children, shown by the master with special warmth and spontaneity. At the Kaluga work "Parental Joy", the central character, to whom all attention is paid, is also a small child. He, dressed in a light shirt, is held on his lap by his father, a middle-aged peasant. Next to him, with a smiling face, is the mother holding the infant cradle with her hand.

The scene rendered by the artist, exactly corresponding to the title of the picture, shows those sincere feelings in the souls of ordinary people who, despite all the hardships and hardships, poverty and misery, have not forgotten how to enjoy the most important events of human life - the birth of a child.

The color of the picture is based on a combination of blue, olive and ocher tones, and a few light spots add a major touch to the work.

The artist’s work is unfinished; moreover, one can even trace the line of the master’s creative searches. So, above the child’s head, a sketch of another profile of the child’s head in a red cap has been preserved, representing one of the options for the position of the baby, lifted up by the father in the air.

The authorship of the painting is confirmed by an ink inscription on the back: “K. V. Lemokh. Testimonial V. Mendeleev ". Vladimir (son of the famous scientist D. Mendeleev) was the husband of the artist’s daughter Varvara.

The work was received by the Kaluga Museum in 1949 from T.F. Pokrovskaya.

The painting "Parental Joy" is on display for the 180th birthday of K. Lemokh. Being the only work of the master in the funds of the KMII, it gives the viewer the opportunity to touch, and, perhaps, for the first time to discover the creative heritage of this remarkable Russian artist of the 19th century.

The exhibition will run until March 23.