Exhibition of works by Peter Kozorezenko

The Russian Academy of Arts presents an exhibition of works by the academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of the Russian Federation, Doctor of Arts Peter Petrovich Kozorezenko, dedicated to the 45th anniversary of the artist’s creative activity. The exposition presents more than two hundred paintings and graphic works.

Petr Kozorezenko graduated from the art department of the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov. The artist leads an active creative, social and pedagogical activity. Since 1996, he is a professor at the Department of Graphic Arts at the Moscow State Art and Industry Academy named after S. G. Stroganova. On his initiative and direct management, the Stroganov Traditions Academy of Arts was established on the basis of the institute. Kozorezenko also holds charity workshops for students in schools on academic drawing, painting, composition, plastic anatomy and the history and theory of fine art.

According to researchers, the work of P. Kozorezenko inherits the traditions of Russian realistic art. He writes from nature, creates sketches and sketches for paintings, his works are distinguished by a desire for the psychological development of characters, skill in conveying the beauty of the real world. The artist’s works are recognized in the professional environment and are awarded with many awards and prizes. Kozorezenko’s works are in museums and art galleries in Russia, the CIS countries and in private collections in Russia and abroad (France, Great Britain, Japan, USA, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Australia, Austria, India, Spain, Luxembourg).

Experts note that easel painting occupies a central place in the work of Peter Kozorezenko. He is a master of plot-thematic paintings. Often his works form cycles or series on one or another important topic for the author. One of them is a Russian village. The series “Village of Kucherovka”, “Village of Bor” conveyed the artist’s deep love for his native land. The same is true for the author’s rural landscapes. In them, for example, from the series “Akademicheskaya Dacha” or “The Village of Ugra”, the line of the Russian classical landscape is clearly traced, and at the same time, the artist’s bright personality is visible.

The urban theme also attracts Kozorezenko; the author’s paintings and graphic works are devoted to her. Each of the cities, as if comprehensively explored by the artist, mentally settles in them, and therefore becomes his own, dear, beloved. P. Kozorezenko conveys antiquity and new buildings, various genre plots alternate with street panoramas and characteristic architectural sights. These are the series devoted to the cities of Kashin, Kostroma, Sevastopol, Lviv, Vladivostok, and, of course, Moscow.

P.P. Kozorezenko attaches great importance to his paintings on a historical theme. They expressed the desire of the artist to show the roots of the Russian national character, his patriotic beliefs and awareness of history as the foundation of modern life. They tell about the struggle for the Orthodox faith, about the development of new lands, about the fortitude of the people of that time. Such are the picturesque triptychs “For Faith”, “Confrontation”. Also, the author’s works on a historical theme, such as “The Session of the First Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation”, resemble group portraits. This makes it possible to especially carefully look at the faces of people, to focus on their psychological states and character traits.

In portraits of Kozorezenko, the audience faces courageous, many survivors, endowed with inner strength. They reflect the desire to comprehend the complex characters of people of different national cultures.

A significant place in the work of Kozorezenko takes a book illustration. Almost all of his work in this area was created at the turn of the 1970-1980s. In them, the artist conveys composition and emotional atmosphere with brilliant mastery: these are illustrations for V. Hugo’s novel “Notre Dame de Paris” and for P. Ershov’s fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, which art critics call the artist’s best works in this genre, novels I. A Bunina “The Village”, G. Belykh and L. Panteleeva “Republic of Shkid”, B. Vasiliev “Do not shoot white swans” and many others.

Petr Petrovich Kozorezenko occupies his own niche in Russian art at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries. A serious world outlook on the topics he chooses, his awareness of involvement in what was what gave rise to us, gives him the opportunity to convince the authenticity of the events recreated in the picture, to turn his thoughts to our origins.

The text is based on an article by Dr. V.V. Vanslov, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts