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Mikhail Vrubel
(1856-1910)
Mikhail Alexandrovich Vrubel (1865-1910) is a Russian artist of remarkable talent and an unusual outlook on life. His paintings were produced in alternately hostile and sympathetic atmosphere. In his lifetime, he knew both praise and disdain, the spectator¡¯s opinions ranging from ¡°wild ugliness¡± to ¡°fascinating symphonies of a genius¡±. Gradually, however, Vrubel¡¯s painting came to be viewed as an integral part of Russian culture. Some scholars were inclined to relate his painting directly to the Early Renaissance or Late Byzantine art and looked upon Vrubel as a proud artistic individual who held aloof from contemporary trends. On the other hand, many art historians of today tend to consider Vrubel as the founder of Russian Art Nouveau.
Born into the family of a military lawyer, Vrubel first finished the St. Petersburg University (in 1880) to become a lawyer, but the same year entered the Academy of Arts. In his autobiography, written in 1901, Vrubel referred to his Academy years as the happiest in his life as an artist. For that he was indebted to professor Pavel Tchistyakov, who was famous for his method of teaching painting and drawing. Among Tchistyakov¡¯s pupils were such outstanding painters as Vasily Surikov, Viktor Vasnetsov and Vasily Polenov who all thought very highly of their teacher. Vrubel owed much to the Academy and never shared the distaste felt by many advanced painters of the time. Vrubel¡¯s art, academic in a sense, was based on the cult of the model and drawing. His Academy drawings on classical subjects are striking for their elegant workmanship.
However, even during his training, Vrubel never was a devoted follower of the Academy style. Along with an expressiveness and rich imagination, his works, already at this period, reveal a taste for improvisation, fragmentary composition, his characteristic ¡°unfinished¡± manner peculiarly fused with classical style and monumentality. In 1884, the famous art historian Adrian Prakhov, who supervised the re-construction of the old and construction of the new cathedrals in Kiev, invited Vrubel to take part in the restoration of the Old Russian murals and mosaics in the 12th century Church of St. Cyril. The knowledge Vrubel acquired in the process of this work contributed to the perfection of his style as a painter. In St. Cyril¡¯s Church, Vrubel executed new murals in place of the lost ones, The Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles (Pentecost) and Three Angels over the Body of Christ. Later, he was commissioned to paint icons for the iconostasis of the church, which he did in Venice where he spent several months in the years 1884-85. In Venice, Vrubel was particularly impressed by the medieval mosaics in the Church of San Marco and the Early Rena.... |
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