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Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin
(1878-1939)
Born in Khvalynsk, provincial town near Saratov in Russia, into the family of a shoemaker, Petrov-Vodkin felt the desire for drawing very early, though there was not much opportunity to develop his talent. First the boy found himself an icon painter, who agreed to teach him his art. Only at the age of 15 he started to get the lessons in painting in classes of drawing and painting of F.E. Burov.
In 1895 sponsors sent him to Petersburg to study in the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stiglitz (1876-1922), but very soon his teachers understood that the young man was not a technician, and his vocation was fine arts. In 1897, Petrov-Vodkin was transferred to the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, where he studied in the class of Valentin Serov, and from which he graduated in 1904. Besides the Moscow School he stayed in Munich in 1901 and studied in the studio of A. Ashbee. The studies in the Moscow School were marked with his hard work in painting and creative writing. Petrov-Vodkin even hesitated for some time on which way to choose ¨C to become a writer or a painter. His choice in favor of painting was determined by a journey to Italy and a long stay in Paris, where he studied in many Parisian studios and art schools.
His trip to North Africa and the studies made there became the basis of his works exhibited in the Paris Salon in 1908.
In 1910 Petrov-Vodkin became a member of the artistic union ¡®World of Art¡¯ and remained in it until its dissolution in 1924, though he ultimately did not become identified with any particular school.
Already Petrov-Vodkin¡¯s early works are symbolic (e.g. Elegy, 1906; Bank, 1908; Dream 1910), all of them are influenced by Mikhail Vrubel, Victor Borisov-Musatov, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and by the Belgian writer Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949). The canvas ¡®Dream¡¯ stirred heated discussion and brought fame to the young artist; the negatively minded critics were headed by the famous Ilya Repin and their opponents were headed by Alexander Benois. The first group saw in Petrov-Vodkin the newest decadent, unable to develop the art, the second - the expressionist of neo-classical tendencies. The painter himself could not characterize his works so definitely, he said that he was ¡®a difficult painter¡¯. His evolution proved that he did not show off. Playing Boys, 1911, Bathing of Red Horse, 1912 are a new stage in his work, his attempt to synthesize Eastern and Western painting traditions.
In the 1910s the creative search of Petrov-Vodkin was very wide. Beside the monumental-decorative works, such as ¡®Girls on Volga¡¯, 1915, there are works devoted to the First World War, e.g. ¡®On the Line of Fire¡¯ 1916 and works devoted to motherhood, Mother 1913, Mother 1915; Morning. Bathers 1917.
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