Semirad biography briefly
Art critic Evgeny Naumov reflects on the role of classicism in European culture. Today it may seem strange that one of the most expensive Russian artists, Henry Semiradsky was almost forgotten for almost a whole century. The Soviet school of art history had significant arguments for the seizure of the work of his own and other “salon” artists from the main exurations of the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum: then it was customary to look for progressive and decline elements in art.
The embodiment of all the new and living became the Wanderers and their informal leader Ilya Repin, Henry Semiradsky was at the opposite pole. Only at the beginning of the XXI century, after the exhibition “Beauty Plenitors”, among researchers and collectors, interest in Russian neoclassic again awakened. In the 19th century, Russian academic art was guided by the French Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture with its respectful attitude to the historical genre, including, however, both mythological and biblical plots.
And the point here was not only in a special dramatic talent necessary for building multi -figure scenes, a deep understanding of human nature, which allows you to accurately convey the interaction of heroes and psychological affects, the masterful possession of the painter, required for a naturalistic image of draperies and a naked body, fur and marble, metal and vegetation.
All of the above was, of course, necessary for any academic painter, but the high status of historical painting was ensured by direct connection with the ruling circles. In the plots of the Iliad and Aeneids, in the stories about the conquests of Alexander the Great and the biographies of Caesars, European kings and emperors found the prototypes of modern historical events.
Such was the Russian Imperial Academy of Arts, where Henry Semiradsky entered the year, already in adulthood, having received a candidate degree in the field of biology before. The viewer sees in the picture of a very young commander, chained to the box with a serious illness, he brings a cup of medicine to his lips, observing the doctor reading the denunciation to himself.
The elderly adviser leaned towards Alexander’s left ear, his right hand frantically squeezes the edge of the pillow. What is hidden behind this excitement, fear for the life of a young comrade or horror before the retribution, subsequent behind the disclosure of the conspiracy? In the shadow near the left edge, two other characters are talking, obviously, the hostiles of the ruler. Is it possible that the great reforms carried out by Alexander II in the years have influenced the plot of this picture?
No matter how bitter the medicine of democratization, no matter how the elderly courtesy tried to find poison in it, but it is necessary to accept it in order to ensure the very existence of the empire in the future. Luxury and magnificent works of art enjoying the idle life are surrounded, young slaves are ready to satisfy their sexual lust, and silent servants are a thirst for blood.
What did the high -ranking customers of Henry Semiradsky feel, looking at these paintings: a prick of conscience or confirmation of their moral right to command? Henry Semiradsky "Difficult choice for a woman or a vase? The artist, perhaps even brighter than contemporaries, gave an assessment of the cruelty of these customs: a noble Roman chooses between a girl and a rare Chinese vase.
A person is literally compared with the thing.
The powerless slave is still trying to resist, but her fate is a foregone conclusion: not this one, so the next master will add a young woman to her collection. What a storm of vague urges was raised in the soul of the viewer this picture, if today you can hear next to her: "In the place of this old man, I would choose a girl." The unfortunate heroine of the “unequal marriage” of Vasily Pukirev causes sympathy, a naked slave is a vague desire, and also shame.
Like this young man who is fascinated by looking at a beautiful female body. At the end of the 19th century, when a woman was still perceived as a sexual object, prey, investment, when her emancipation was just beginning, the picture of Semiradsky sounded a bold moral message. And contemporaries appreciated this work, because she brought the artist a large gold medal of the World Exhibition and the Order of the Legion of Honor.
According to the picture of the talented Frenchman, the Athenian Geter appears in the position of a weak defending woman, and members of the venerable meeting of the policy must pronounce the verdict whether her beauty is worthy to be a symbol of Aphrodite. Semiradsky turns the situation: Frina is aware of and fully owns her own sexuality, she relieves her clothes without hesitation in order to take on the role of the goddess of love in the Eleusinian mysteries.
The ordinary residents of Athens froze, affected by their perfection, at the usual time hidden from extraneous eyes, since the heterona did not even visit public baths. Some of those present demonstrates embarrassment or even indignation, but most people are still reading admiration, and no one can be convicted of low carnal lust.The true aesthetic feeling does not strive for possession.
As Nikolai Gumilev wrote: “What to do with immortal verses? Neither eat, nor drink, nor kiss. For a moment he runs uncontrollably, and we break our hands, but again we are condemned to follow everything, by. ” If earlier artists created pathetic paintings that awaken the feeling of exalted in the viewer, then in the second half of the 19th century, household plots began to appear in the works of academicians in historical scenery, pastorals, and courtship scenes.
The request for a more diverse paintings was also dictated by the market expansion. The new aristocracy and the bourgeoisie entered in full force experienced an art that reflects and creatively transforms their daily life or embodies a dream of lost simplicity and naturalness. Such is the picture “following the example of the gods”, which gave the name the entire exhibition. The young couple of the Romans arrived at the secluded island to worship Venus - its statue is placed in a darkened grotto in the right corner of the picture.
A sculptural group “Amur and Psyche”, frozen in a kiss, meets at the pier of lovers, and, following the example of the gods, the young man hugs and kisses the companion. One can imagine how contemporaries of the artist froze in front of this picture, caught by surprise suddenly surging feelings, stifled by the rules of decency. Having secluded in the grove, four girls have fun, throwing the bones - perhaps they play, perhaps guessing love.
Nearby there are empty jugs: a hike for water was only an occasion to escape from the supervision of parents. The artist masterfully conveys the emotions of the girlfriends: two of them joyfully make up the third, but she is puzzled by the lot that has fallen to her, the fourth looks at them from above, immersed in his own thoughts. Still warm autumn sun heats marble, on the basis of the obelisk, groups of naked women traveling on tops are carved - a hint of a person’s submission to primitive emotions.
Through the clearance in the trees, the sea shore and distant mountains are visible. The next picture immerses the viewer into the atmosphere of the gay of the clock of the patronage. Famous mainly as the patron saint of artists and poets, this talented friend and assistant to Emperor Octavian Augustus was engaged in state affairs in the absence of the latter in Rome.
Surrounded by antiquity monuments, next to the home altar and images of the ancestors, Patricia is waiting for the reception by discussing pressing affairs or studying works of art. This little work was acquired at one time by Pavel Tretyakov - did the great philanthropist feel spiritual kinship with a historical person whose name became a household name?
Be that as it may, the picture found a worthy owner in his face. Valery Koshlyakov “Rome. The first, led by a craving for the beauty of the heritage of classical styles, depicted ancient monuments on detailed boxes from household appliances - the only basis available to him. Multivostal “canvases” from glued with tape, in some places of damaged corrugated cardon, turn into a type of Roman Capitol.
This technique, which the artist still remains faithful, becomes a metaphor for the fragility and illusoryness of the eternal values that humanity seeing in the past and which, no matter how tries, cannot achieve. The artist wanted to show that at any time representatives of the establishment are experiencing a craving for antiquity and striving to surround themselves, if not by the originals, then at least likes of the artifacts of antiquity.
Even the Soviet theorists of art, which denied the legacy of the "salon" artists, continued to sing classic canons. With nostalgia for Hellas and Rome, representatives of romanticism and avant -garde polemicized. And in our time, the legacy of the cradle of European civilization remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration or the subject of strict criticism. The curators of the exhibition of Henry Semiradsky in the Tretyakov Gallery are not trying to impose the only true attitude to the art of late academism, allowing the viewer to make their own impression of what they saw.