Exhibition of works by N.A. Ponomareva. To the 100th anniversary of the artist

On June 26, 2018, in the halls of the Russian Academy of Arts (Prechistenka 21), an exhibition of works by the famous Russian graphic artist, USSR people’s artist, Honored Artist of the RSFSR, USSR State Prize laureate, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, president of the Russian Academy of Arts (1991-1997), professor will open Nikolai Afanasevich Ponomarev (1918-1997), dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the artist.

The exposition will comprise more than 90 works of different years from the collection of the artist’s family. The viewer will see many of them for the first time.

Creativity N.A. Ponomareva became a classic of Russian art culture. The best traditions of Russian art found expression and peculiar continuation in it. The artist is best known as the author of many graphic series: “Miners of Donbas” (1949-50), “North Vietnam” (1957), “In India” (1960-1961), “In Japan” (1974-1976), “SAR. The Road to Aswan ”(1966-1967). “Bulgaria” (1976-1977), “Moscow Region”, “Sails of Moscow Region” (1969) and others. Made with masterly mastery in the technique of watercolor, gouache, pastel monotypes, mascaras, pencil drawings, they make up an interesting page in the history of Russian graphic art. Flexible, expressive line, easy shading, barely outlined color - these are the elements that recreate the poetry of the image and allow the artist to penetrate the essence of things and phenomena. A magnificent draftsman, he knew how to feel painting in drawing, and drawing in painting. And in graphic sheets, distinguished by subtle gradations of tone and color, he confirmed his gift of a pictorial perception of life and the world. According to one of his students, now academician O. Savostyuk, N. Ponomarev "was an artist of such instantaneous action that he can only be compared with a fighter who accurately shoots at the target."

The exhibition will feature sheets from the famous graphic series, works made during foreign trips, traveling around our country, as well as portraits, landscapes, still lifes in the technique of oil painting. This is a kind of artistic geography of the artist’s wanderings and at the same time an interesting testimony to the artistic search, imaginative interpretations of the author’s style.

ON. Ponomarev belongs to the generation of artists who came to art in the first post-war years. He was born in 1918 in the city of Alexander-Grushevsky (Mines). In 1946 he graduated from the Moscow State Art Institute. V.I. Surikova, in 1950 - graduate school of the same institute. After defending his dissertation, he remained a teacher in the graphic department. The student years were a time of familiarization with high pictorial and graphic culture. Among his teachers are major masters K.N. Istomin, A.A. Osmerkin, P.Y. Pavlinov, N.E. Radlov et al. For many years his teaching activities took place in close contact with such a brilliant draftsman as M. M. Cheremnykh. Since 1947, N. Ponomarev is a participant in many republican and all-Union art exhibitions.

Already the first graphic series about people near whom the artist’s childhood passed - Donbass Miners, Donbass Restores, shown at the 1947 All-Union Art Exhibition, brought the artist considerable success. In 1951, N. Ponomarev was awarded the USSR State Prize for a series of drawings by The Donbass Miners.

And in his earliest works, the creative personality of the artist, his lyrical gift, developed. In the series "Volgo-Don" (1951), "On the people of Soviet Russia. Fishermen ”(1964),“ Sails of the Moscow Region ”(1969) can be seen as an unprecedented plot that is filled with poetic depth. The work completed as a result of numerous trips is a heartfelt poem about countries, people, nature.

The “North Vietnam” series is distinguished by the perfection of the graphic language, the strict thoughtfulness of the compositions, the richness, variety and beauty of the color, the reliability and veracity of all the details. This was the undoubted and great success of the artist, indicating high professional skill. In the Indian cycle, in sketches from nature, one admires the ability to recreate scenes, portraits, and landscapes full of life with a few touches. A series of monotypes in Egypt - genre scenes, landscape sketches reflect Egypt ancient, millennial, and new, modern. These works are distinguished by penetration and subtlety of perception, depth of expression, poetry.

The group of drawings created by Ponomarev in Japan, Crimea, the Caucasus, Kyrgyzstan, the series "Moscow Region" is extremely indicative of his work. They are not just a deep understanding of nature, delight in its beauty. The works, restrained and concise, performed by purely graphic means, present him not as a painter, but as a master, able to find philosophical meaning in the simplest subjects.

Several times throughout his career, Ponomarev turned to book illustration. Among his works in the book are lithographs to N. Selected Stories. Leskova (1946), as well as ink and gouache drawings for F. Gladkov’s autobiographical novel “Volnitsa” (1956). Within the black and white palette, the artist achieves tonal richness, which allows to convey all the nuances of mood and meaning.

Grace, high graphic and pictorial culture are characteristic of the portrait images of N. Ponomarev. Among the early paintings, the most interesting portrait of the mother (1954-1955), which reflects the nature, fate, and meditation on life. In "Portrait of Natasha", the daughter of the artist, there is an obvious admiration for her model. This image, full of charm, is distinguished by subtle lyricism and emotionality. Ponomarev succeeded in “quick” portraits; he found in them both the severity of the external characteristic and the internal resemblance. Performed with its inherent freedom, they retain the feeling of a direct meeting with the model. Great achievements were portraits, paintings (tempera on hardboard), presented in the collections of the largest museums in our country. Among them is the well-known work “Patriarch’s Ponds” M. Bulgakov ”.

ON. Ponomarev is one of the significant figures of Russian art life in the second half of the 20th century. A prominent artist, public and statesman, a talented and sensitive teacher, a man of high culture, possessing versatile knowledge and the gift of an organizer, he played an important role in the development of Russian fine art. His creative individuality, human qualities united the masters devoted to genuine art, free from political conditions. This determined the development vector of those creative organizations that he managed to lead. For 20 years, he headed the Union of Artists of the USSR, and in the last years of his life, the Russian Academy of Arts. Supporting various trends in art searches, he sought to stimulate the creative life of the Academy. He managed to continue the development of changes in relations between the Academy and other art organizations. The basis of their creative interaction was a benevolent cooperation. And finally, under the guidance of N.A. Ponomarev developed a new charter of the Academy of Arts, in which the concept of socialist realism disappeared.

Many years N.A. Ponomarev taught at the Moscow State Art Institute named after IN AND. Surikova, was the head of the creative workshop of graphics and released several generations of talented graphic artists. In 1945, as part of a group of artists, restorers and art historians N.A. Ponomarev was sent to Dresden to participate in the search and rescue of paintings by the Dresden Gallery and accompanying art values to Moscow.

The artist was awarded honorary state and professional awards. His works are presented in the collections of major Russian museums: the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the Pushkin Museum im. A.S. Pushkin, State Historical Museum, State Literature Museum, museums in many Russian cities: Ryazan, Irkutsk, Petrozavodsk, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Volgograd, Simferopol, Odessa Art Gallery, museums in Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Belarus, etc..

Meeting with the work of N.A. Ponomarev, one of the pinnacles of the art of graphics, will bring joy to many admirers of the talent of this major master, will make you recall the vivid episodes of our life, reflected by the artist using the means of art, for someone to discover this subtle and deep author.

The exhibition runs until July 15, 2018.