Illustrations by Yuri Vasnetsov for fairy tales. Good illustrations by Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov

Vasnetsov Yuri Alekseevich (1900-1973)- graphic artist, painter, People's Artist of the RSFSR (1966). Studied at the Academy of Arts (1921-26) under A.E. Kareva, K.S. Petrova-Vodkina, N.A. Tyrsy.

Vasnetsov's work is inspired by the poetics of Russian folklore. The most famous were illustrations for Russian fairy tales, songs, riddles ("Three Bears" by L. N. Tolstoy, 1930; collection "The Miracle Ring", 1947; "Fables in the Faces", 1948; "Ladushki", 1964; arc", 1969, State Project of the USSR, 1971). He created separate color lithographs ("Teremok", 1943; "Zaikin's hut", 1948).

After the death of Vasnetsov, his exquisite pictorial stylizations in the spirit of the primitive became known ("Lady with a Mouse", "Still Life with a Hat and a Bottle", 1932-1934)

Word to the artist Vasnetsov Yu.A.

• “I am so grateful to Vyatka - my homeland, childhood - I saw beauty!” (Vasnetsov Yu.A.)
• “I remember spring in Vyatka. Streams flow, as stormy as waterfalls, and we, guys, let the boats go ... In the spring, a fun fair opened - Whistleblower. At the fair, elegant, fun. And what is there! Clay dishes, pots, krinki, jugs. Homespun tablecloths with all sorts of patterns ... I was very fond of Vyatka toys made of clay, wood, plaster horses, cockerels - everything is interesting in color. Carousels at the fair are all in beads, all in sparkles - geese, horses, carriages, and the accordion is sure to play ”(Yu.A. Vasnetsov)
• “Draw, write what you like. Look around more ... You can’t say everything terribly, draw it. When a lot of something is done, drawn, then naturalism arises. Let's say a flower. Take it, but recycle it - let it be a flower, but different. Chamomile is not a chamomile. I like forget-me-nots for their blueness, a yellow spot in the middle. Lilies of the valley ... When I smell them, it seems to me that I am a king ... ”(Vasnetsov Yu.V. From advice to young artists)
• (Vasnetsov Yu.A.)
• “In my drawings, I try to show a corner of the beautiful world of my native Russian fairy tale, which brings up in children a deep love for the people, for our Motherland and its generous nature” (Yu.A. Vasnetsov)
• When asked what was the most expensive gift he received, the artist replied: “Life. Life given to me"

Yuri Vasnetsov was born on April 4, 1900 in the ancient city of Vyatka, in the family of a priest. Both his grandfather and his father's brothers belonged to the clergy. Yu.A. Vasnetsov was distantly related to and. The large family of Father Alexy Vasnetsov lived in a two-story house at the cathedral, where the priest served. Yura was very fond of this temple - the cast-iron tiles of its floor, rough so that the foot would not slip, a huge bell, an oak staircase that led to the top of the bell tower ...

The artist absorbed his love for the flowery folk culture in his native old Vyatka: “I still live by what I saw and remembered in childhood.”

The entire Vyatka province was famous for handicrafts: furniture, chest, lace, toys. Yes, and mother Maria Nikolaevna herself was a noble lace embroiderer, well-known in the city. In the memory of little Yura, towels embroidered with roosters, and painted boxes, multi-colored clay and wooden horses, lambs in bright pants, lady dolls - "painted from the heart, from the soul" will remain in the memory of little Yura for the rest of his life.

As a boy, he himself painted the walls of his room, shutters and stoves in the houses of his neighbors with bright patterns, flowers, horses and fantastic animals and birds. He knew and loved Russian folk art, and this later helped him to draw his amazing illustrations for fairy tales. And the costumes that were worn in his native northern regions, and the festive attire of horses, and the wooden carvings on the windows and porches of the huts, and the painted spinning wheels and embroideries - everything that he saw from an early age was useful to him for fabulous drawings. As a child, he liked all kinds of manual labor. He sewed boots and bound books, loved to skate and fly a kite. Vasnetsov's favorite word was "interesting."

After the revolution, all the families of priests, including the Vasnetsov family (mother, father and six children), were literally evicted to the streets. “... Father no longer served in the cathedral, which was closed ... and he didn’t serve anywhere at all ... He would have to cheat, lay down his dignity, but then a meek firmness of spirit was revealed: he continued to walk in a cassock , with a pectoral cross and with long hair, ”Yuri Alekseevich recalled. The Vasnetsovs wandered around strange corners, and soon bought a small house. Then I had to sell it, they lived in a former bathhouse ...

Yuri went to seek his fortune in Petrograd in 1921. He dreamed of becoming an artist. Miraculously, he entered the painting department of the State Art Museum (later Vkhutemas); successfully completed his studies in 1926.

His teachers were the noisy metropolitan Petrograd itself with its European palaces and the Hermitage full of world treasures. They were followed by a long line of many and varied teachers who opened the world of painting to the young provincial. Among them were the academically well-trained Osip Braz, Alexander Savinov, the leaders of the Russian avant-garde - the “flower painter” Mikhail Matyushin, the suprematist Kazimir Malevich. And in the "formalist" works of the 1920s, the individual characteristics of Vasnetsov's pictorial language testified to the extraordinary talent of the novice artist.

In search of a job, the young artist began to collaborate with the department of children's and youth literature of the State Publishing House, where, under the artistic direction of V.V. Lebedev happily found himself in the interpretation of the themes and images of Russian folklore - fairy tales, in which his natural craving for humor, grotesque and good irony was best satisfied.

In the 1930s he was famous for illustrations for the books "Swamp", "Humpbacked Horse", "Fifty Pigs" by K.I. Chukovsky, "Three Bears" L.I. Tolstoy. At the same time, he made excellent - smart and exciting - lithographic prints for children, based on the same plot motifs.

The artist made amazing illustrations for Leo Tolstoy's fairy tale "Three Bears". A big, scary, like an enchanted forest, and a bear's hut are too big for a little lost girl. And the shadows in the house are also dark, creepy. But then the girl ran away from the bears, and the forest immediately brightened in the picture. So the artist conveyed the major mood with paints. It is interesting to watch how Vasnetsov dresses his heroes. Elegant and festive - the nurse mother-Goat, mother-Cat. He will definitely give them colored skirts in frills and lace. And he will regret the offended Fox Bunny, put on a warm jacket. Wolves, bears, foxes, which prevent good animals from living, the artist tried not to dress up: they did not deserve beautiful clothes.

So, continuing the search for his path, the artist entered the world of children's books. Purely formal searches gradually gave way to folk culture. The artist increasingly looked back at his "Vyatka" world.

A trip to the North in 1931 finally convinced him of the correctness of the chosen path. He turned to folk sources, already experienced in the intricacies of the modern pictorial language, which gave rise to the phenomenon that we can now call the phenomenon of painting by Yuri Vasnetsov. The still life with a large fish fully testifies to the new bright trends in the works of Vasnetsov.

On a small red tray, crossing it diagonally, lies a large fish sparkling with silver scales. The peculiar composition of the picture is akin to a heraldic sign and at the same time a folk rug on the wall of a peasant hut. With a dense viscous colorful mass, the artist achieves an amazing credibility and authenticity of the image. The external oppositions of the planes of red, ocher, black and silver-gray are tonally balanced and give the work a feeling of monumental painting.

So, book illustrations were only one side of his work. The main goal of Vasnetsov's life has always been painting, and he went to this goal with fanatical persistence: he worked independently, studied under the guidance of K.S. Malevich in Ginkhuk, studied in graduate school at the All-Russian Academy of Arts.

In 1932-34 he finally created several works ("Lady with a Mouse", "Still Life with a Hat and a Bottle", etc.), in which he proved himself to be a very great master who successfully combined the refined pictorial culture of his time with the tradition of folk "bazaar" art, which he appreciated and loved. But this later self-confidence coincided with the campaign against formalism that had begun at that time. Fearing ideological persecution (which had already touched his book graphics), Vasnetsov made painting a secret occupation and showed it only to close people. In his landscapes and still lifes, emphatically unpretentious in their motives and extremely sophisticated in terms of pictorial form, he achieved impressive results, reviving the traditions of Russian primitivism in a peculiar way. But these works were practically unknown to anyone.

During the war years, spent first in Molotov (Perm), then in Zagorsk (Sergiev Posad), where he was the chief artist of the Toy Institute, Vasnetsov performed poetic illustrations for S.Ya. Marshak (1943), and then to his own book "Cat's House" (1947). A new success brought him illustrations for the folklore collections "The Miraculous Ring" (1947) and "Fables in the Faces" (1948). Vasnetsov worked extraordinarily intensively, many times varying the themes and images dear to him. The well-known collections "Ladushki" (1964) and "Rainbow-arc" (1969) became a kind of result of his many years of activity.

Vasnetsov's bright, entertaining and witty drawings have found perhaps the most organic embodiment of Russian folklore, more than one generation of young readers have grown up on them, and he himself was recognized as a classic in the field of children's books during his lifetime. In a Russian folk tale, everything is unexpected, unknown, unbelievable. If it's scary, then it's trembling, if joy is a feast for the whole world. So the artist makes his drawings for the book "Rainbow-Arc" bright, festive - now the page is blue with a bright rooster, then red, and on it is a brown bear with a birch staff.

The difficult life of the artist left an indelible mark on his relationship with people. Usually gullible and gentle in character, already being married, he became unsociable. He did not exhibit anywhere as an artist, he did not perform anywhere, referring to the upbringing of two daughters, one of whom, the eldest, Elizaveta Yuryevna, would later become a famous artist.

Leaving home, relatives, even for a short time, was a tragedy for him. Any parting with the family was unbearable, and the day when they had to set off was a ruined day.

Before leaving the house, Yuri Alekseevich even let out a tear from chagrin and anguish, but he did not forget to put some gift or a cute trinket under the pillow for everyone. Even friends waved their hand at this homebody - a man for great art is gone!

Fairy tales remained a favorite reading of Yuri Alekseevich until old age. And my favorite pastimes are painting still lifes, landscapes with oil paints, illustrating fairy tales, and in the summer fishing on the river, always with a bait.

Only a few years after the death of the artist, his paintings were shown to the audience at an exhibition in the State Russian Museum (1979), and it became clear that Vasnetsov was not only an excellent book graphic artist, but also one of the outstanding Russian painters of the 20th century.

Vasnetsov Yury Alekseevich

Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov(1900-1973) - Russian Soviet artist; painter, graphic artist, theater artist, illustrator. Laureate of the State Prize of the USSR (1971).

Biography

Born March 22 (April 4), 1900 in the family of a priest in Vyatka (now the Kirov region). His father served in the cathedral in Vyatka. A distant relative of the artists A. M. Vasnetsov and V. M. Vasnetsov and the folklorist A. M. Vasnetsov. From his youth and throughout his life he was friendly with the artist Yevgeny Charushin, who was born in Vyatka and later lived in St. Petersburg.

In 1919 he graduated from the Unified School of the second stage (the former Vyatka First Men's Gymnasium).

In 1921 he moved to Petrograd. Entered the faculty of painting VKhUTEIN, then - PGSHUM, where he studied for five years, with teachers A. E. Karev, A. I. Savinov. Vasnetsov wanted to be a painter and sought to acquire all the skills necessary to work in painting. From the experience of his teachers, Vasnetsov did not adopt anything that would have influenced him as a painter, with the exception of the influence of M. V. Matyushin, from whom he did not directly study, but was familiar with him through his friends, artists N. I. Kostrov, V. I Kurdov, O. P. Vaulin. Through them, he got an idea of ​​Matyushin's theory, and got acquainted with the "organic" trend in Russian art, the closest to his natural talent.

In 1926, the VKHUTEIN course, where the artist studied, was released without a diploma. In 1926-1927. Vasnetsov taught fine arts for some time at the Leningrad School No. 33.

In 1926-1927. together with the artist V. I. Kurdov, he continued his studies in painting at GINHUK under K. S. Malevich. He was admitted to the Department of Painting Culture, led by Malevich. He studied the plasticity of cubism, the properties of various pictorial textures, created "material selections" - "counter-reliefs". The artist spoke about the time of his work in GINHUK as follows: “All the time the development of the eye, form, construction. I liked to achieve materiality, the texture of objects, colors. See color! The work and training of Vasnetsov with K. S. Malevich at GINKhUK lasted about two years; during this time, the artist studied the significance of pictorial textures, the role of contrast in the construction of form, the laws of plastic space.

Paintings made by Vasnetsov during this period: counter-relief "Still Life with a Chess Board" (1926-1927), "Cubist Composition" (1926-1928), "Composition with a Trumpet" (1926-1928), "Still Life. In the workshop of Malevich" (1927-1928), "Composition with violin" (1929), etc.

In 1928, the art editor of the Detgiz publishing house, V. V. Lebedev, attracted Vasnetsov to work on a children's book. The first books illustrated by Vasnetsov were "Karabash" (1929) and "Swamp" by V. V. Bianchi (1930).

Many books for children in the design of Vasnetsov were repeatedly published in mass editions: "Confusion" (1934) and "The Stolen Sun" (1958) by K. I. Chukovsky, "Three Bears" by L. N. Tolstoy (1935), "Teremok" (1941 ) and “Cat’s House” (1947) by S. Ya. Marshak, “English Folk Songs” translated by S. Ya. Marshak (1945), “Cat, Rooster and Fox. Russian Fairy Tale (1947) and many others. He illustrated The Little Humpbacked Horse by P. P. Ershov, books for children by D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, A. A. Prokofiev and other publications. Vasnetsov's children's books have become classics of Soviet book art.

In the summer of 1931, together with his Vyatka relative, the artist N. I. Kostrov, he made a creative trip to the White Sea to the village of Soroka. Created a cycle of paintings and graphic works "Karelia".

In 1932 he became a member of the Leningrad branch of the Union of Soviet Artists.

In 1934 he married the artist Galina Mikhailovna Pinaeva, and in 1937 and 1939 his two daughters Elizaveta and Natalya were born.

In 1932 he entered graduate school at the painting department of the All-Russian Academy of Arts, where he studied for three years. In the thirties, Vasnetsov's painting reaches a high level of skill, acquires an original, unique character, not similar to the work of artists close to him. His painting of this time is compared with the works of V. M. Ermolaeva and P. I. Sokolov in terms of the strength and quality of painting, in terms of the organic element of color: “Vasnetsov preserved and increased the achievements of the original national pictorial culture.”

In my opinion, there is no better illustrator of fairy tales than V. M. Vasnetsov, well, except perhaps I. Bilibin. About him on the next page.

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926) is one of the first Russian artists who pushed the boundaries of the usual genres and showed the fairy-tale world, illuminated by the poetic imagination of the people. Vasnetsov, one of the first Russian artists, turned to recreating the images of folk tales and epics in painting. His fate turned out as if he was destined in advance to be a singer of a Russian fairy tale. His childhood passed in the harsh picturesque Vyatka region. The talkative cook, who tells fairy tales to children, the stories of wandering people who have seen a lot in their lifetime, according to the artist himself, "made me love the past and present of my people for life, largely determined my path." Already at the beginning of his work, he created a number of illustrations for The Little Humpbacked Horse and The Firebird. In addition to fairy tales, he has works dedicated to the heroic images of epics. "The Knight at the Crossroads", "Three Heroes". The famous canvas "Ivan Tsarevich on a gray wolf" is written on the plot of one of the most famous and widespread fairy tales reproduced in popular prints of the 18th century.

"Princess-Nesmeyana"

In the royal chambers, in the prince's palaces, in a high tower, Nesmeyana the princess flaunted. What a life she had, what freedom, what luxury! There is a lot of everything, everything is what the soul wants; but she never smiled, never laughed, as if her heart did not rejoice at anything.

Here are merchants, and boyars, and foreign guests, storytellers, musicians, dancers, jesters and buffoons. They sing, clown, laugh, strum on the harp, whoever is in what much. And at the foot of the high tower - ordinary people, also crowding, laughing, shouting. And all this buffoonery is for the princess, the only royal daughter. She sits sadly on a carved white throne by the window. “There is a lot of everything, there is everything that the soul wants; but she never smiled, never laughed, as if her heart did not rejoice at anything. And what is there, to tell the truth, to rejoice if no one ever talks heart to heart with her, no one comes up with a pure heart?! Everyone around is just making noise, they are aiming for suitors, they are trying to present themselves in the best light, and no one cares about the princess herself. That is why she is Nesmeyana, until the only, long-awaited one comes, who will give her a smile instead of buffoonery, warmth instead of indifference. And he will come, of course, because that's what the fairy tale affects.

"Koschei the Immortal and Beloved Beauty"

As soon as he managed to leave the yard, and Koschey into the yard: “Ah! - speaks. - Russian scythe smells; know you had Ivan Tsarevich. - “What are you, Koschey the Immortal! Where can I see Ivan Tsarevich? He remained in the dense forests, in the viscous mud, until now the animals have eaten! They began to have supper; at dinner, Beloved Beauty asks: “Tell me, Koschey the Immortal: where is your death?” - “What do you want, stupid woman? My death is tied in a broom."

Early in the morning Koschei leaves for the war. Ivan Tsarevich came to the Beloved Beauty, took that broom and brightly gilded it with pure gold. The prince had just managed to leave, and Koschei went into the yard: “Ah! - speaks. - Russian scythe smells; know you had Ivan Tsarevich. - “What are you, Koschey the Immortal! He himself flew around Rus', picked up the Russian spirit - you smell of the Russian spirit. And where can I see Ivan Tsarevich? He remained in the dense forests, in the viscous mud, until now the animals have eaten! It's supper time; Beloved Beauty herself sat down on a chair, and she put him on a bench; he looked under the threshold - there was a gilded broom. "What's this?" - “Ah, Koschey the Immortal! You yourself see how I honor you; if you are dear to me, so is your death.” - "Stupid woman! Then I joked, my death is sealed up in an oak tynu.

"Princess Frog"

Consider a reproduction of the painting by V. Vasnetsov "Feast" (p. 19 of the textbook).
If possible, it would be interesting to compare this picture with the illustration made for this episode of the fairy tale by I. Bilibin.
Bilibin's illustrations framed by floral ornaments very accurately reflect the content of the tale. We can see the details of the costumes of the heroes, the expression on the faces of the surprised boyars, and even the pattern on the kokoshniks of the daughters-in-law. Vasnetsov in his picture does not linger on the details, but perfectly conveys the movement of Vasilisa, the enthusiasm of the musicians, who, as it were, stamp their feet to the beat of a dance song. We can guess that the music Vasilisa dances to is cheerful, mischievous. When you look at this picture, you feel the nature of a fairy tale.
- Why do people call Vasilisa the Wise? What qualities does the people glorify in the image of Vasilisa?

The painting by V. Vasnetsov creates a generalized image of a beautiful princess: next to her are harpists, people. The illustration by I. Bilibin specifically depicts an episode of the feast: in the center is Vasilisa the Wise, at the wave of her hand miracles happen; around people amazed by what is happening. There are different types of work available here:

1. Describe verbally what you see in each of the pictures (characters, setting, appearance of the people around, their mood, prevailing colors).

2. Compare the image of Vasilisa the Wise by Vasnetsov and Bilibin. Is this how you imagine the main character of the fairy tale?

"Carpet plane"

The fantasy of the people has created a fairy tale about a flying carpet. You see two paintings by Vasnetsov with this name - early and late. On the first of them, a proud young man from a flying carpet looks at the expanses of Russian land spreading below. The discreet northern nature served as a backdrop for the painting by the artist. Rivers and lakes sparkle, a forest stands like a dark wall, huge birds accompany the carpet. The Firebird caught by the hero burns with bright fire in the cage. This canvas tells about the wisdom, strength, dexterity of the people. The second picture is lighter, more colorful. The bright rays of the sunset, cutting through the veil of clouds, have become a successful background for the picture. Nature through the clouds is seen bright, juicy greenery, perhaps because the heroes descended closer to it. And a girl with a young man in sparkling clothes embroidered with gold do not seem to be outsiders on the canvas. Their young faces are beautiful, they gently bowed to each other, personifying fidelity and love.

Alyonushka, Snegurochka, Elena the Beautiful - these fictitious images and portraits of women close to Vasnetsov "in spirit" - Elena Prakhova, Vera and Elizaveta Grigorievna Mamontovs, portraits of his wife, daughter, niece from different sides highlight what is called the Russian female soul, which becomes for Vasnetsov personification of the Motherland, Russia.

Alkonost. In Byzantine and Russian medieval legends, a wonderful bird, a resident of Iria, a Slavic paradise. Her face is feminine, her body is birdlike, her voice is sweet, like love itself. Hearing the singing of Alkonost, with delight, he can forget everything in the world, but there is no evil from her, unlike Sirin.

Alkonost carries eggs on the edge of the sea, but does not incubate them, but plunges them into the depths of the sea. At this time, the weather is calm for seven days. According to the ancient Greek myth, Alcyone, the wife of Keik, having learned about the death of her husband, threw herself into the sea and was turned into a bird, named after her Alcyone (kingfisher).

It is depicted in popular prints as a half-woman, half-bird with large multi-colored feathers and a girl's head, overshadowed by a crown and a halo, in which a brief inscription is sometimes placed. In addition to wings, Alkonos has hands in which she holds heavenly flowers or a bundle with an explanatory inscription. She lives on a tree of paradise, on the island of Buyan, together with the bird Sirin, has a sweet voice, like love itself. When she sings, she does not feel herself. Whoever heard her wonderful singing will forget everything in the world. With her songs she consoles and uplifts future joy. This is a bird of joy.

But Sirin, a dark bird, a dark force, a messenger of the ruler of the underworld. From the head to the waist, Sirin is a woman of incomparable beauty, from the waist - a bird. Whoever listens to her voice forgets about everything in the world and dies, and there is no strength to force him not to listen to Sirin's voice, and death for him at this moment is true bliss. Dahl in the famous dictionary explained as follows: "... mythical and church birds of an owl, or an eagle owl, a scarecrow; there are popular prints depicting birds of paradise with female faces and breasts”(V. Dal "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language"). In Russian spiritual verses, the Sirin, descending from paradise to earth, enchants people with her singing. In Western European legends, Sirin is the embodiment of an unfortunate soul. This is the bird of sorrow.

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"Traditions of ancient times" came to life thanks to the brush of Viktor Vasnetsov. Bogatyrs and princesses went beyond book lines and illustrations. The artist grew up in the wilderness of the Ural forests on Russian fairy tales that sounded to the crackle of a torch. And already being in St. Petersburg, he did not forget his childhood memories and transferred those magical stories to the canvas. We examine fabulous canvases with Natalia Letnikova.

Alyonushka

A barefoot, simple-haired girl on the banks of a forest river. With inexpressible sadness, he looks into a deep pool. The sad picture was inspired by a fairy tale about sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka, and he painted an orphan from a peasant girl from the Akhtyrka estate, adding, as he himself admitted, the features of Verusha Mamontova, the daughter of a famous Moscow philanthropist. Nature echoes girlish sadness, intertwining with the poetry of folk tales.

Ivan Tsarevich on the Gray Wolf

Gloomy dark forest. And a gray wolf, quite expected for such a thicket. Only instead of an evil grin, the predator has human eyes, and on it are two riders. Cautious Ivanushka carefully holds Elena the Beautiful, submissive to fate. We recognize not only the plot of the Russian fairy tale, but also the image of the girl. The artist endowed the fairy-tale heroine with real features - Savva Mamontov's niece, Natalia.

V.M. Vasnetsov. Alyonushka. 1881

V.M. Vasnetsov. Ivan Tsarevich on a gray wolf. 1889

Bogatyrs

Viktor Vasnetsov. Bogatyrs. 1898

Vasnetsov devoted 20 years of his life to one of the most famous paintings in Russian painting. "Bogatyrs" became the artist's largest painting. The size of the canvas is almost 3 by 4.5 meters. Bogatyrs are a collective image. Ilya, for example, is a peasant Ivan Petrov, and a blacksmith from Abramtsevo, and a cab driver from the Crimean bridge. At the heart of the picture are the childish feelings of the author. “So it was before my eyes: hills, space, heroes. Wonderful dream of childhood.

Song of Joy and Sorrow

Viktor Vasnetsov. Sirin and Alkonost. A song of joy and sorrow. 1896

Alkonost and Sirin. Two half-birds with ghostly promises of a cloudless paradise in the future and with regrets about the lost paradise. Vasnetsov embellished sexless birds, giving mythical creatures beautiful female faces and rich crowns. Sirin's singing is so sad that the leaves of a century-old tree turned black, the delight of an alkonost can make you forget about everything ... if you linger on the picture.

Carpet plane

Viktor Vasnetsov. Carpet plane. 1880

Painting for the Railroad Administration. Not a train, not even a postal troika. Carpet plane. This is how Victor Vasnetsov responded to the request of Savva Mamontov to paint a picture for the industrialist's new project. The fabulous flying machine, a symbol of victory over space, puzzled the members of the board and inspired the artist himself. Mamontov bought the painting, and Vasnetsov discovered a new world for himself. In which there is no place for the ordinary.

Three princesses of the underworld

Viktor Vasnetsov. Three princesses of the underworld. 1884

Gold, copper and coal. Three riches that are hidden in the bowels of the earth. Three fabulous princesses are the embodiment of earthly blessings. Proud and haughty gold, curious copper and timid coal. Princesses are mistresses of mountain mines, accustomed to command people. There are two pictures with such a plot at once. On one of them in the corner - as petitioners, the figures of two men obsequiously looking into beautiful cold faces.

Koschei the Deathless

Viktor Vasnetsov. Koschei the Deathless. 1917–1926

Rich mansions with chocolate, red and gold hues. The luxury of brocade and rare woods is a worthy frame for heavy chests with treasures, and the main treasure that Koshchei is not given in his hands is a young beauty. The girl is interested in the sword, which, however, cannot defeat Koshchei. The image of the main fairy-tale villain Viktor Vasnetsov wrote for nine years. Chronologically, the picture was the last for the artist.

This artist proved his skills both in the creation of paintings, and in the design of performances in theaters, and as a graphic artist. But nevertheless, it was the illustrations for the fairy tales of Yuri Vasnetsov that won special love and recognition from young readers. It became the main business of his life. We, former children, readers of books, in which it was no less exciting to look at the illustrations created by this artist, than to sort out our first texts then, still in warehouses, remember this now.

What do we know about the biography of Yuri Vasnetsov?

Youth of the artist

The future artist was born in 1900 in the Russian town of Vyatka, in the family of a priest who served in the local cathedral. Distant family ties connected this family with other Vasnetsovs - the artists Victor and Apollinaris, as well as Alexander Vasnetsov, a famous folklorist, collector of folk songs. Of course, such a family heritage could not but affect the future work of the artist.

Yuri Vasnetsov spent all his childhood in Vyatka. A large number of handicraft workshops and artels worked in this provincial town. The crafts were very different - furniture, chest, toys. Yes, and Yuri's mother herself was known in the district as an excellent embroiderer and lacemaker. Childhood impressions are the most vivid and it is they that influence the formation of our ideas about the world, the memories that remain with us until the end of days. Towels with embroidered roosters, boxes and chests painted in the Russian folk spirit, bright wooden and clay toys - rams, bears, horses, dolls ... All these images ended up on the pages of books with famous Vasnetsov's "fabulous" illustrations for a reason.

Young Yuri really wanted to become an artist - so in 1921 he entered the Petrograd State Free Art Workshops (abbreviated GSHM) in the painting department. Among Vasnetsov's teachers are Osip Braz, Alexander Savinov and even Russian avant-garde artists Kazimir Malevich and Mikhail Matyushin.

Work in a publishing house

After training, the artist began to collaborate with the famous Detgiz, where, under the guidance of the painter and, by all accounts, the outstanding master of the poster, Vladimir Lebedev, he created his first masterpieces. Illustrations for children's books "Swamp" and "Humpbacked Horse", as they say now, "made him a name." Following them were published designed by Yuri Vasnetsov "Three Bears" by Leo Tolstoy, "Fables in the Faces", "Ladushki", "Rainbow-Arc". At the same time, he also created a series of paintings created by the so-called "flat printing technique" - children's lithographic prints on traditional folklore themes.

After a trip to the North in 1931, the artist Yuri Vasnetsov finally strengthened his chosen path. Already possessing all the skills of a master painter, he approached the study of folk origins even more carefully.

The phenomenon of painting by Yuri Vasnetsov

Having made a trip to the Russian northern regions, the artist began to master new subtleties of craftsmanship. Then they started talking about the "phenomenon of Vasnetsov's painting." Here, for example, is one of the still lifes, with a large fish depicted on it: on an oblong, red tray lies a large fish with silver scales. The picture is stylistically executed in such a way that it is not clear whether it is a heraldic sign, or just a rug from the wall of a peasant hut. Red, black and silver-gray tones are opposed, but at the same time they balance each other in the overall artistic plane of the still life.

Highly appreciating both the folk "bazaar" art and the canons of refined painting, by 1934 Yuri Vasnetsov created such canvases as "Lady with a Mouse", "Still Life with a Hat and a Bottle", etc. However, fearing the persecution that affected artists of that time in connection with the campaign against formalism that began, Vasnetsov painted what is called "on the table", making this part of his painting a secret and showing pictures only to close people.

Only after his death at the exhibitions of the work of Yuri Alekseevich Vasnetsov did they fully find their fans. Then it became clear how great the gift of this man was - being an outstanding "children's" artist, he was also a wonderful master of painting of the 20th century.

Illustration images

It is no coincidence that the artist later wrote that he always lived by what he remembered from childhood.

And now, almost the same as Vyatka toys, smartly and festively, the artist "dresses" his heroes. Cats and goats, mothers of numerous families, wear skirts decorated with frills and lace in his illustrations. That's how they run it. But the Bunny, offended by the Fox - the artist must have put on a warm blouse on him, out of compassion. Bears and wolves, according to the logic that is quite understandable to all children, were most often not supposed to wear clothes, because they were dangerous and predatory enemies to all other animals.

And here is an unusually kind cat:

I bought a cat pie

The cat went to the street

I bought a bun for a cat.

Do you have yourself

Or demolish Borenka?

I'll bite myself

Yes, I'll take Borenka too.

In winter, the cat wears solid painted felt boots, a pink bow is tied around his neck, and the woman on the side of the walking cat rejoices noisily at his appearance, and the dog is in no hurry to bark. And even further away are houses with snow-covered roofs, with burning windows, and smoke from the chimneys in a column straight into the sky - which means that the weather is calm, windless, clear.

And how stupid it is to live in enmity! Here are two crows sitting, turned away from each other, ruffled, looking in different directions:

On the edge, on the shed

Two crows are sitting

Both look apart

Because of a dead beetle

Quarreled.

And the landscape surrounding these stingy crows is not at all the same as in other pictures. He is much more stingy with colors and joy is clearly lacking in him.

In the illustrations of Yuri Vasnetsov, a special world comes to life - cozy, kind, calm. And incredibly colorful. In such a world, any child, and maybe sometimes even an adult, will want to stay longer, peering into his characters, charging with their spiritual generosity, living with them their albeit “gingerbread”, but such touching stories. At the same time, the animals painted by Vasnetsov are not cloying, but mysterious. Some critics even believed that the artist paints "scary" pictures, scaring children.

And it’s also very Russian: if it’s scary, then it’s trembling, sad, it’s so tearful, and if it’s joy, then it’s certainly a feast for the whole world.

Style and color

The emotionality of Vasnetsov's drawings is dictated primarily by color, which plays a decisive role in the perception of images. It is both decorative, which is generally characteristic of folk art, and poetic, which, in turn, distinguishes all the artist's work.

Vasnetsov's illustrations - color alphabet for a child. Everything is simple, like in a fairy tale: the wolf is gray, the bunny is white, the fox is red, etc. The artist actively uses the principle, as art critics call this technique, of the "magic lantern". The action takes place on a certain, necessarily festive, bright background color (red, yellow, blue, etc.). This environment in which the characters communicate is compositional in itself, and at the same time it is that new bright spot that is so necessary for children who turn the next page in anticipation of new experiences.

Finally

A book, especially in children's hands, is a cheap, perishable commodity. Which of us in childhood did not have "The boat floats and floats", illustrated by Konashevich? Or the famous "Baggage" with Lebedev's drawings? And "Rainbow-Arc" with Vasnetsov's wonderful animals is completely impossible to forget. But who "survived" these books to this day? Probably only very few. But these were soundly made, beautifully designed, executed in a convenient large format children's books. And those who still have them know perfectly well how today's children perceive them. Yes, just like adults did many years ago - with joy and admiration.

Several generations of young readers have already grown up on Vasnetsov's bright, witty and entertaining illustrations, and the artist himself was called a classic of children's book illustrations during his lifetime.