What Shishkin wrote. Shishkin Ivan biography. Shishkin pays serious attention to the textural design of his works, skillfully combining underpainting with the use of glaze and body paints, and diversifying the strokes applied with various brushes. Shape modeling

“On Wednesday, January 13, 1832, a son was born. They called me Ivan", - Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin wrote in his diary on the day the future famous artist was born.

Was born Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin in Elabuga in simple times merchant family. The father used all his acquired property for archaeological research and insisted that his son continue this work. But Ivan Ivanovich dared to refuse such a career, explaining this with his reluctance, and his mother, Daria Romanovna, often said that her son was somewhat “idiotic” in matters of commerce.

The teachers of the gymnasium where Shishkin Jr. studied also agreed with his mother’s words. The young man received solid “twos” and even “ones,” completed only four classes, and then left the gymnasium “so as not to become an official.” He returned to his father’s house and devoted every free minute to drawing, so his parents called the young man “mauve.” But they shuddered in horror when Ivan announced his desire to study painting. Relatives considered the artists “drunkards and prisoners” and did not want their child to know such company. And only the father saw talent in twenty-year-old Van and sent his son to Moscow school painting and sculpture.

Already in 1856, Shishkin began classes at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he finally realized that his real vocation was landscape:

“Nature is always new... and always ready to give an inexhaustible supply of its gifts, which we call life. What could be better than nature..."

Shishkin often went for walks around St. Petersburg and painted sketches from life, which were awarded numerous awards. In 1858, the artist received a large silver medal for the painting “View on the Island of Valaam,” and two years later he was awarded a large gold medal and a five-year pension for traveling around Europe.

Ivan visited Germany and Switzerland, where he visited the workshop of the landscape painter Koller, but the paintings of Alexander Kalam made the greatest impression on Shishkin.

The young master by that time had become a fairly famous person:

“Wherever and everywhere you go, everyone asks if you are the Russian Shishkin who draws so magnificently?”

The artist was surrounded not only by fans, but also by loyal friends, with whom he was not averse to sharing a glass of strong drink. Even with a complete lack of money, Ivan did not deny himself this pleasure, and paid for alcohol with his own paintings. The young man sometimes could not utter a word, but with a pencil he still drew clear silhouettes on paper. At the same time, the artist assured that you can’t waste your skill.

His trips to the tavern often ended in fights. Once in Munich, Shishkin was feasting with friends and heard two Germans at the next table making jokes about Russia. The indignant artist rushed to the young people and demanded an apology. Without waiting for them, he knocked out the mockers, and at the same time a company of 10 people. Shishkin wielded an iron rod, which was later presented in court as evidence of the artist’s guilt. To this day, no one knows what Ivan threatened the crippled Germans with or whether he threatened them at all, but they admitted they were wrong, and the Russian patriot was acquitted. His friends carried him out of the courtroom in their arms and went to a nearby pub to celebrate his victory.

Fun is fun, but the artist never forgot about professional activity. In Geneva, Shishkin became acquainted with the works of Kalam and Dide, and in Dusseldorf he painted the painting “View in the vicinity of Dusseldorf,” which he sent to St. Petersburg and received the title of academician for it.

In 1866, Ivan Ivanovich became homesick and decided to return to Russia ahead of schedule. He traveled around the country and presented his paintings at the academy and at exhibitions of the Itinerants.

Soon Shishkin became the patron of the young master Fyodor Vasiliev, who introduced the teacher to his older sister. Evgeniya Vasilyeva was good and beautiful woman, which immediately charmed Ivan Ivanovich, and he soon went to Yelabuga for a blessing from his father. At the same time, the artist worked on the painting “Noon. In the vicinity of Moscow", which he completed in 1869. It was this work that secured him the title of the best Russian landscape painter, because no one could repeat such a subtle compositional organization.

The artist was admired in Russia and Europe, but he was deeply unhappy: his wife had serious health problems, and born sons died in infancy. This worsened Eugenia's condition, and she died of consumption at the age of 27. Only his little daughter Lidochka and his love for art helped Shishkin escape from his grief.

The artist painted the paintings “ Pinery. Mast forest in the Vyatka province" and "Forest wilderness", for which he received the title of professor. Five years after this, Ivan Shishkin finished work on the canvas “Rye,” which was first presented at a traveling exhibition. The master managed to convey the beauty of Russian nature, its spaciousness and expanse.

There was a rapid rise in the work of Ivan Shishkin, and his new muse. The young artist Olga Ladoga helped the master feel the taste of life again. The lovers got married and settled in a large estate, where the conversations of the guests did not stop for a second and the doors were not closed. The wife managed to give the artist a daughter, Ksenia, and after a month and a half left Shishkin forever. Olga’s sister, Victoria Ladoga, took care of him and the two babies.

Ivan Shishkin could not find family happiness. Art became his consolation again. He painted landscapes and began working in etching techniques, which significantly increased interest in this type of art. The artist later created his most famous painting. Not everyone knows that “Morning in pine forest“Shishkin did not write alone. The figures of the bear cubs belong to the brush of animal painter Konstantin Savitsky, a friend of the artist. But the memory of him was literally washed away from the canvas at the request of the collector Pavel Tretyakov, who commissioned the painting:

“I only bought Shishkin’s painting – I didn’t buy Savitsky!”

During his lifetime, Ivan Shishkin was nicknamed “the singer of the Russian forest” and people were amazed at his love for nature. The artist’s niece recalled how her uncle carefully prepared the place for painting, turning the forest into a real workshop:

“Having taken a fancy to the sketch, he usually cleared the bushes, cut off the branches so that nothing would interfere with seeing the picture he had chosen, then he made himself a seat from the branches, made a simple easel and settled down at home.”

IN last years the artist worked in the Shmetsky forest, where he made himself comfortable chairs from stumps, twigs and moss.

Shishkin increasingly refused to have fun with friends, preferring to spend time at work. He brought his skills to perfection and ended his life as befits a true creator. On the last day of his life, Ivan Shishkin came to his studio, where he was working on another painting. While making the stroke, the artist yawned, his head calmly dropped to his chest, and his hand with the coal fell to his knees. The master said no more words and quietly passed away into eternity, leaving behind an immortal legacy.

Shishkin Ivan Ivanovich is the founder of the Russian epic landscape, which gives a broad, generalized idea of ​​the majestic and free Russian nature. What is captivating in Shishkin’s paintings is the strict truthfulness of the image, the calm breadth and majesty of the images, their natural, unobtrusive simplicity. The poetry of Shishkin's landscapes is similar to a smooth melody folk song, with the flow of a wide, deep river.

Shishkin was born in 1832 in the city of Elabuga, among the untouched and majestic forests of the Kama region, which played a huge role in the formation of Shishkin as a landscape painter. From his youth he was possessed by a passion for painting, and in 1852 he left his native place and went to Moscow, to the School of Painting and Sculpture. He directed all his artistic thoughts towards depicting nature, for this he constantly went to Sokolniki Park to sketch and studied nature. Shishkin's biographer wrote that before him no one had painted nature so beautifully: "... just a field, a forest, a river - and he makes them as beautiful as the Swiss views." In 1860, Shishkin brilliantly graduated from the Academy of Arts with a Big Gold Medal.

Throughout the entire period of his work, the artist followed one of his rules, and did not change it all his life: “The imitation of nature alone can satisfy a landscape painter, and the main task of a landscape painter is the diligent study of nature... Nature must be sought in all its simplicity... "

Thus, all his life he followed the task of reproducing what existed as truthfully and accurately as possible and not embellishing it, not imposing his individual perception.

Shishkin's work can be called happy; he never knew painful doubts and contradictions. His entire creative life was devoted to improving the method he followed in his painting.

Shishkin’s pictures of nature were so truthful and accurate that he was often called “the photographer of Russian nature” - some with delight, others, innovators, with slight contempt, but in fact they still cause excitement and admiration among viewers. No one passes by his paintings indifferent.

The winter forest in this picture is frozen, as if numb. In the foreground are several hundred-year-old giant pines. Their powerful trunks darken against the background of bright white snow. Shishkin conveys the amazing beauty of the winter landscape, calm and majestic. To the right the impenetrable thicket of the forest darkens. Everything around is immersed in winter dream. Only a rare ray of cold sun penetrates the kingdom of snow and casts light golden spots on the branches of pine trees, on forest clearing in the distance. Nothing disturbs the silence of this amazingly beautiful winter day.

A rich palette of shades of white, brown and gold conveys the state winter nature, her beauty. Shown here collective image winter forest. The picture is full of epic sound.

Bewitched by the Enchantress Winter, the forest stands -
And under the snowy fringe, motionless, mute,
He shines with a wonderful life.
And he stands, bewitched... enchanted by a magical dream,
All wrapped, all bound in a light chain of down...

(F. Tyutchev)

The painting was painted in the year of the artist’s death; it was as if he had once again resurrected motifs close to his heart, associated with the forest and pine trees. The landscape was exhibited at the 26th Traveling Exhibition and met with a warm reception from the progressive public.

The artist depicted a pine mast forest illuminated by the sun. The trunks of pine trees, their needles, the bank of a forest stream with a rocky bottom are bathed in slightly pinkish rays, the state of peace is emphasized by a transparent stream sliding over clean stones.

The lyricism of evening lighting is combined in the picture with the epic characters of the giant pine forest. Huge tree trunks with several girths and their calm rhythm give the entire canvas a special monumentality.

"Ship Grove" is the artist's swan song. In it, he sang of his homeland with its mighty slender forests, clear waters, resinous air, blue sky, and gentle sun. In it, he conveyed that feeling of love and pride for the beauty of the mother earth, which did not leave him throughout creative life.

Noon summer day. It just rained. Puddles glisten on the country road. The moisture of warm rain is felt both on the gold of the grain field and on the emerald green grass with bright wildflowers. The purity of the rain-washed earth is made even more convincing by the sky brightening after the rain. Its blue is deep and pure. The last pearly-silver clouds run towards the horizon, giving way to the midday sun.

It is especially valuable that the artist was able to soulfully convey nature renewed after the rain, the breath of refreshed earth and grass, the trembling of running clouds.

Life's truthfulness and poetic spirituality make the painting "Midday" a work of great artistic value.

The canvas depicts a flat landscape of central Russia, the calm beauty of which is crowned by a mighty oak tree. The endless expanses of the valley. In the distance, the ribbon of the river glimmers slightly, a white church is barely visible, and further towards the horizon everything is drowned in a foggy blue. There are no boundaries to this majestic valley.

A country road winds through fields and disappears into the distance. Along the roadside there are flowers - daisies sparkle in the sun, unpretentious hawthorn blossoms, thin stalks of panicles bend low. Fragile and delicate, they emphasize the strength and grandeur of the mighty oak tree, proudly rising above the plain. A deep pre-storm silence reigns in nature. Gloomy shadows from the clouds ran across the plain in dark waves. A terrible thunderstorm is approaching. The curly greenery of the giant oak is motionless. He, like a proud hero, awaits a duel with the elements. Its powerful trunk will never bend under the blows of the wind.

This is Shishkin’s favorite theme - the theme of centuries-old coniferous forests, forest wilderness, majestic and solemn nature in its calm peace. The artist was well able to convey the character of the pine forest, majestic and calm, enveloped in silence. The sun softly illuminates the hillock near the stream, the tops of centuries-old trees, leaving the wilderness immersed in shadow. Snatching the trunks of individual pines from the forest darkness, the golden light of the sun reveals their slenderness and height, the wide span of their branches. The pines are not only depicted correctly, not only similar, but beautiful and expressive.

Notes of subtle folk humor are introduced by the amusing figures of bears gazing at a hollow with wild bees. The landscape is bright, clean, serenely joyful in mood.

The picture is painted in cold silver-green tones. Nature is full of damp air. Blackened oak tree trunks are literally shrouded in moisture, streams of water flow along the roads, raindrops bubble in puddles. But the cloudy sky is already starting to brighten. Penetrating a net of fine rain hanging over an oak grove, silvery light pours from the sky, it is reflected in steel-gray reflections on wet leaves, the surface of a black wet umbrella turns silver, wet stones, reflecting the light, acquire an ashy hue. The artist makes the viewer admire the subtle combination of dark silhouettes of trunks, a milky gray veil of rain and silvery muted gray shades of greenery.

In this painting, more than in any other painting by Shishkin, the nationality of his perception of nature was revealed. In it, the artist created an image of great epic power and truly monumental sound.

A wide plain stretching to the very horizon (the artist deliberately places the landscape along the elongated canvas). And everywhere you look, ripened grains are earing. The oncoming gusts of wind sway the rye in waves - this makes it even more acute to feel how tall, plump and thick it is. The waving field of ripe rye seems to be filled with gold, casting a dull shine. The road, turning, crashes into the thicket of grain, and they immediately hide it. But the movement continues with tall pines lined up along the road. It seems as if giants are walking across the steppe with heavy, measured steps. Mighty, full heroic forces nature, rich, free region.

A hot summer day foreshadows a thunderstorm. Due to the long-lasting heat, the sky became discolored and lost its ringing blue. The first thunderclouds are already creeping over the horizon. WITH great love and masterfully written foreground pictures: a road covered with light dust, with swallows flying over it, and fat ripe ears of corn, and the white heads of daisies, and cornflowers turning blue in the gold of rye.

The painting "Rye" is a generalized image of the homeland. It victoriously sounds a solemn hymn to the abundance, fertility, and majestic beauty of the Russian land. Great faith in the power and wealth of nature, with which it rewards human labor, is the main idea that guided the artist in creating this work.

The artist perfectly captured in the sketch the sunlight, the gaps of the bright blue sky in contrast with the greenery of the oak crown, the transparent and tremulous shadows on the trunks of old oak trees.

The painting is based on the poem of the same name by M. Yu Lermontov.

The film contains a theme of loneliness. On an inaccessible bare rock, in the midst of pitch darkness, snow and ice, stands a lone pine tree. The moon illuminates the gloomy gorge and the endless distance covered with snow. It seems that in this kingdom of cold there is nothing alive, everything around is frozen. numb. But on the very edge of the cliff, desperately clinging to life, a lonely pine tree stands proudly. Heavy flakes of sparkling snow fettered its branches and pulled them down to the ground. But the pine tree bears its loneliness with dignity, the power of the bitter cold is unable to break it.

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin born on January 13 (25), 1832 in Elabuga, a small provincial town located on the banks of the Kama. Here the future painter spent his childhood and teenage years.

The father figure was very significant for Ivan Shishkin. The father himself was a merchant, not at all rich, selling grain from a rented mill. In addition, he was interested in archeology and history. He wrote the book “History of the City of Yelabuga”, developed and implemented a local water supply system. Using his own funds, Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin restored an ancient tower located in the suburbs. It is also known about his participation in the excavations of the famous Ananyevsky burial ground. He taught all this knowledge to his son and developed his interest in nature. Ivan with early childhood He did not part with coal and chalk, diligently decorating walls and doors with intricate figures, and carved wood, like his father.

Shishkin studied at the Kazan gymnasium for several years, but failed to complete his studies, returned home, and began drawing and reading again. He was very attracted to the forest; Shishkin could walk for a long time through the forest, in its vicinity, studying its features. So about 4 years passed, Shishkin, having received his father’s permission, left for Moscow.

Since 1852, Shishkin became a student at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. Immediately he gets to the exhibition of Caucasian mountain views by L.F. Lagorio and the marine species of I.K. Aivazovsky, among which was the famous “The Ninth Wave”. This exhibition only strengthened Shishkin's interest in landscape.

At that time, teaching principles were widely used pedagogical system Venetsianov with a focus on careful study of nature. Shishkin, being quiet and shy, ended up in the professor's class portrait painting A.N. Mokritsky, a fan of K. Bryullov. Having identified Shishkin's great abilities, Mokritsky managed to guide him along the right path, encouraging his interest in nature and passion for landscapes.

Shishkin draws a lot from life in Moscow and the Moscow region, copying Western European masters.

After graduating from college in 1856, Shishkin entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Here he also entered the circle of democratically minded youth. Art was recognized not only as a means of understanding the world, but also serious factor in its reconstruction. Shishkin's worldview was formed under the influence of these ideas. Subsequently, the artist was able to clearly express them in his work.

Shishkin’s main teacher has always been nature. In his sketches (“Stones in the Forest. Valaam”), he lovingly and surprisingly skillfully for a novice artist conveys ancient boulders overgrown with moss and fern leaves.

Shishkin was a born draftsman, drawn to the line, to the open stroke. From the very beginning, drawing became for him the most important means of studying nature. Success in drawing brought Shishkin one of the first academic awards in 1857 - the Silver Medal. His works were performed with such professional skill that the academic council decided to make them a model for students.

Shishkin graduated from the Academy in 1860 with the highest award - the Great Gold Medal and the right to travel abroad for three years. But the artist is in no hurry to travel, but goes to his native Yelabuga, and only in April 1862 does he go abroad. Even there, Ivan Shishkin did not forget about his native country. Letters from friends reporting on the events that were taking place increased the desire to return; moreover, the works performed in Germany and Switzerland did not satisfy the author. His landscapes, marked by externally romantic features - figures of villagers, herds in pastures - bore clear traces of the academic school. It was possible to create a national landscape only in Russia, where Shishkin returned in 1865. He was already famous. Pen drawings, masterfully executed with the smallest, beaded strokes, with filigree finishing of details, amazed the audience. Two such drawings were acquired by the Düsseldorf Museum, and the painting “View in the vicinity of Düsseldorf” brought the artist the title of academician.

Upon his arrival to his homeland, Shishkin seemed to be infused with new strength. He became close to members of the Artel, around which representatives of the progressive creative intelligentsia were grouped, and participated in meetings about the role of art and the rights of the artist. Ivan Shishkin was always surrounded by the attention of his comrades. I.E. Repin spoke about him like this: " The voice of I.I. Shishkin was heard loudest of all: like a green mighty forest, he amazed everyone with his health, good appetite and truthful Russian speech... The public used to gasp behind his back when he used his mighty crowbar paws and gnarled calluses from work with his fingers he begins to distort and erase his brilliant drawing, and the drawing, as if by miracle or magic, from such rough treatment the author emerges more and more gracefully and brilliantly."

Shishkin's works, created in the late 60s, mark new stage in the master's work.

Achieving the utmost resemblance to nature, the artist carefully writes out every detail at first, and this interferes with the integrity of the image. An example of such works is the painting "Cutting Wood". In the 60s, Shishkin finally overcomes the abstraction of landscape characteristic of the academic school. The best work of these years is “Noon. In the vicinity of Moscow.” The advantage of this painting, light in color and filled with a joyful and peaceful mood, is not only in the skill of conveying space, but above all in the fact that the landscape created by Shishkin is truly Russian in character.

In 1870, Shishkin joined the founders of the largest association of craftsmen realistic direction- Mobile Associations art exhibitions. Until the end of his life, Shishkin remained one of the most active and loyal members of the Partnership.

For the second traveling exhibition, Shishkin presented the painting “Pine Forest” (1872), which was a new step in the creative development of the master. The artist managed to create the image of a mighty, majestic Russian forest.

The work of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was a step on the path of understanding and reflecting the world around us; as Kramskoy aptly put it, it was a “living school” of working with nature.

In the 70s, most of Shishkin’s works were devoted to coniferous forests: “Forest Wilderness”, “Black Forest”, “Spruce Forest”. Shishkin is attracted by vast forests. The best landscapes of that time are filled with majestic solemnity.

In the 70s the artist strives for greater generalization of forms and integrity of color solutions. At the same time, he becomes quite close to Kramskoy. Friendship with this man, the ideological leader of the partnership, theorist and subtle critic of art, played special role in the creative development of Shishkin. There was no other person who would so vigilantly notice his mistakes and help him overcome them. They often lived together at the dacha, where they worked fruitfully.

Ivan Shishkin attached great importance to sketches. For him, the creation of the sketch was authentic creative process based on long-term observation and reflection. He assigned a large role to drawing and almost never parted with his pencil. Admiring the keen observation and confidence with which Shishkin wrote sketches, Kramskoy said: “... When he is in front of nature, he is definitely in his element: here he is both brave and dexterous, without thinking."

The main form of expression of Shishkin’s plans always remained the painting; in it he revealed the ideas that inspired him most fully. An example of this is the work "Rye".

At this time, Shishkin was at the zenith of his fame, but new wonderful achievements awaited him. 80-90s - a period of heightened flowering of the landscape painter's talent. The canvases “Wilds”, “Pine Forest”, “Windfall” are close in character to the works of the previous decade, but are interpreted with greater pictorial freedom.

In the 80s Shishkin enthusiastically continues to work on landscapes that glorify the open spaces native land. “Among the Flat Valley” - one of his best paintings - is built on the opposition of a vast plain and a lonely mighty oak tree, as if hovering above it.

IN last decade In his life, the artist perceives nature more soulfully, subtly, and the role of light in his paintings increases. In the 90s Two exhibitions of the artist’s works were organized. The first in 1891 was retrospective in nature: over five hundred sketches revealed creative laboratory the artist, his search. Another exhibition in 1893 showed works completed during the last summer. They testified to the diversity of ideas, the exceptional vigilance of the eye and the high skill of the sixty-year-old landscape painter.

In 1895, Shishkin published his fourth album of etchings. This was a real event in the artistic life of the country. The album included 60 sheets - all the best works.

The brilliant result of the artist’s almost half-century journey in Russian art was the painting “Ship Grove” (1898). It can be considered classic in its completeness, completeness of artistic image, and monumental sound. The work is based on sketches made in Yelabuga. The role of Ivan Shishkin in Russian art remained just as significant in those years when landscape painting many appeared magnificent works I. Levitan, V. Serov, K. Korovin.

Death came unexpectedly to the artist. Ivan Ivanovich died at his easel on March 8 (20), 1898, while working on the painting “Forest Kingdom.” He left behind a huge artistic legacy.

Born on January 13 (January 25 - new style) 1832 in Yelabuga, Vyatka province (now the Republic of Tatarstan) in the family of a merchant of the second guild, Ivan Vasilyevich Shishkin. I. V. Shishkina was extraordinary personality. Thanks to his incorruptible honesty, he enjoyed the respect of his fellow countrymen and for eight years he was the mayor of Elabuga, having worked a lot for the good of the city. The wooden water supply system he built is still partially in use. The confines of the merchant environment were too small for him; he was interested in archeology, history, natural sciences, a mechanic, wrote the “History of the City of Yelabuga”, published in 1871 in Moscow, composed his own biography, participated in excavations of a monument of ancient Bulgarian culture, for which, on the threshold of his eightieth birthday, in 1872, he was awarded the title of corresponding member of the Moscow Archaeological Society.
It was the father who, noticing his son’s passion for art, began to write out special articles and biographies for him. famous artists. It was he who, having decided his fate, let him go young man in 1852 he went to Moscow to study at the School of Painting and Sculpture. This, however, was preceded by unsuccessful attempts to accustom the future painter to “positive” activities. The mother was especially zealous in this. Realizing that Ivan was almost “idiotic” in commerce, she came up with the nickname “arithmetician-grammer” and in every possible way annoyed him, preventing him from doing book “sitting”. But Ivan was firm. This firmness is evidenced by his independent departure in 1848 from the First Men's Gymnasium of Kazan, motivated by his reluctance to “become an official.” Shishkin thought about the artistic “field” early on. Four years spent in father's house after his “escape” from Kazan (1848-52), he kept notes in which he seemed to guess his future life. We quote: "The artist must be a supreme being living in ideal world art and striving only for improvement. Characteristics of an artist: sobriety, moderation in everything, love of art, modesty of character, conscientiousness and honesty."
From 1852 to 1856, Shishkin studied at the recently opened (in 1843) Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture. His mentor was A. Mokritsky, a thoughtful and attentive teacher who helped the aspiring painter find himself. In 1856, Shishkin entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. There he studied with S. Vorobyov, continuing, however, to consult on all emerging artistic issues with Mokritsky. Since then northern capital became his hometown.
At the Academy, Shishkin stood out noticeably for his talents; his successes were celebrated with medals; in 1860 he graduated from the Academy with a large gold medal, received for two paintings “View on the island of Valaam. The area of ​​​​Cucco” and giving the right to an internship abroad. But he was in no hurry to go abroad, instead going to Yelabuga in 1861. In his native places, Shishkin worked tirelessly. His father respectfully noted in his “Notes of Sights”: “Son Ivan Ivanovich arrived on May 21 as a classy artist of the first category. He left again for St. Petersburg on October 25. In the continuation of his life he wrote different paintings up to 50 pieces." By this time, the artist had already determined the area of ​​​​application of his powers - in the future he saw himself only as a landscape painter. While still studying in Moscow, he wrote in his diary: “A landscape painter is a true artist, he feels deeper, purer.”
From 1862 to 1865, Shishkin lived abroad - mainly in Germany and Switzerland, while visiting the Czech Republic, France, Belgium and Holland. In Düsseldorf he wrote a lot in the Teutoburg Forest and among local residents enjoyed enormous popularity. He himself ironically recalled: “Wherever and wherever you go, they show everywhere that this Russian has gone, even in stores they ask if you are the Russian Shishkin who draws so magnificently?” Upon returning to Russia in 1865, the artist received the title of academician for the painting “View in the Outskirts of Dusseldorf”.
Meanwhile in Russian fine arts happened at that time significant events. Back in 1863, a group of young realist painters led by I. Kramskoy with great noise (“the case of 14”), refusing to paint a picture on a given topic, left the Academy in protest against the dominance of dead academicism. "Rebels" founded the Artel of Artists. Shishkin became close to this Artel in the late 1860s. “The loudest of all,” recalled Repin, “was the voice of the hero Shishkin. The audience used to gasp behind him when he, with his powerful paws of a drayman and clumsy fingers from work, began to distort and erase his brilliant drawing, and the drawing seemed like magic from such a rough the appeals come out more and more gracefully and brilliantly.”
From the Artel in 1870 the Partnership of Traveling Art Exhibitions grew, which became a symbol of the new artistic era. Shishkin was one of its founders. He never betrayed the ideals of the Itinerant movement, participating in every traveling exhibition until his death in 1898. The artist developed a particularly close relationship with I. Kramskoy, one of the most active “advertisers” of Shishkin’s work. Shishkin always said that Kramskoy had the most beneficial influence on him. It was Kramskoy who said the most precise words about Shishkin: “When he is in front of nature, he is exactly in his element, here he is bold and does not think about how, what and why; this is the only person we have who knows nature scientifically". Kramskoy even provided Shishkin with his own workshop when he was preparing his work "Midday" for an academic exhibition. In the vicinity of Moscow" (1869), with which, in fact, the artist’s fame began. This was the first Shishkin painting acquired by P. Tretyakov. The author received 300 rubles for it.
Shishkin often visited his homeland, where he collected materials for his new works. For example, a trip to Yelabuga in 1871 prompted him to write famous painting"Pine forest. Mast forest in the Vyatka province."
The artist’s personal life was tragic. He was married for love twice: first, to the sister of the talented landscape painter F. Vasiliev, who died early, (whom he took care of and taught the basics of craftsmanship), Elena; then - on the artist Olga Lagoda. Both of them died young: Elena Alexandrovna - in 1874, and Olga Antonovna - in 1881. Shishkin lost two sons as well. Deaths especially thickened around him by the mid-1870s (his father also died in 1872); the artist, having fallen into despair, stopped painting for a while and became carried away by libations.
But his powerful nature and devotion to art took their toll. Shishkin was one of those who could not help but work. He returned to his creative life, which in his last two decades coincided almost seamlessly with his life in general. He lived only by painting, only native nature, which became his main theme. One of Shishkin’s contemporaries, who spent the summer next door to his dacha, said: “He worked every day. He returned to work at certain hours so that there was equal lighting. I knew that at 2 o’clock in the afternoon he would definitely be painting oak trees in the meadow, that under in the evening, when a gray fog already envelops the distance, he sits by the pond, writes willows, and that in the morning, before light or dawn, he can be found at the turn into the village, where waves of eared rye roll in, where dewdrops light up and go out on the roadside grass.”
He traveled a lot around Russia: he wrote sketches in the Crimea, in Belovezhskaya Pushcha, on the Volga, on the Baltic coast, in Finland and present-day Karelia. He constantly exhibited at personal, academic, traveling, trade and industrial exhibitions. In 1894-95 he headed the landscape workshop at the Academy, turning out to be a surprisingly “tolerant” teacher - Shishkin did not flaunt his rigid “partisanship”, putting talent, and not loyalty to one direction or another, in the first place in his assessment of the artist.
Shishkin died at work. On March 8 (March 20 - according to the new style), 1898, he painted in the studio in the morning. Then I visited my relatives. Then, complaining of feeling unwell, he returned to the workshop. At some point, the assistant saw the master fall from his chair. Running up to him, he saw that Shishkin was no longer breathing.

Biography and episodes of life Ivan Shishkin. When born and died Ivan Shishkin, memorable places and dates important events his life. Artist Quotes, Photo and video.

Years of life of Ivan Shishkin:

born January 13, 1832, died March 8, 1898

Epitaph

“In you lies the greatness of my people,
His souls are endless fields,
Pensive Russian nature,
My worthy beauty!

I look at your face- and all the past,
I see the whole future in reality,
You in an unexpected storm and in peace,
Like a mother's heart, I call.

And I know - in this spiky expanse,
In forest expanses and river floods -
The source of strength and everything in this world
My inspired life will yet come to an end!”
From the poem “Russian Nature” by Vsevolod Rozhdestvensky

Biography

The name of the great Russian artist Ivan Shishkin is known to many from one single painting - “Morning in a Pine Forest”. Meanwhile, not everyone knows that Shishkin co-wrote this picture. The artist Savitsky became the author central characters canvases - bears. But, be that as it may, Shishkin’s genius could be recognized even from just one corner of this significant work. After all, Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin was a magnificent landscape painter; perhaps one of the best in Russia.

Ivan Ivanovich, as a merchant’s son from an ancient family, could afford to go to an art school without finishing high school. That’s what he did: by the age of 16, his talent was no longer possible to deny. After graduating from college, he entered the Academy of Arts without any problems and already in his first year received two small silver medals for his landscapes. After 4 years, the artist’s “piggy bank” included, in addition to them, a large silver, small and large gold medals. Together with the latter, the artist was granted a pension to continue his education abroad.

Shishkin went to Germany and Switzerland, where he visited the workshops of famous painters, learned to paint animals from life, and draw with a pen; became acquainted with the “royal vodka” engraving technique, to which he later devoted a lot of time. But even before the end of the period that the artist could spend abroad on his pension, Shishkin returned to home country, which I missed very much. Since then, he has never left Russia, and all of his most famous works are distinguished by an infinitely recognizable, native Russian flavor.

Shishkin traveled a lot to nature, and his work is distinguished by an amazing knowledge of it. The trees and grasses, streams, hills and plains, rural roads and forest thickets he painted always look exactly like life. In the 1970s the artist became a member of the aquafortist circle and in this capacity established himself as the best of all. The artist enjoyed well-deserved fame during his lifetime; he worked constantly, and his works were regularly exhibited.

My last great work, “Ship Grove,” the artist managed to finish in the year of his death. Ivan Shishkin died suddenly while doing what he loved. He died quickly while working on the painting, and when Shishkin’s student ran up to the fallen master, he was no longer breathing. The painting, which Shishkin never completed, was called “Forest Kingdom” - it was another landscape of his beloved Russia.

Life line

January 13, 1832 Date of birth of Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin.
1852-1856 Study at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture.
1857 Admission to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts.
1858 First Big Silver Medal of the Academy for the landscape of Valaam.
1861 Trip to Munich.
1863 Moving to Zurich, then Dusseldorf.
1865 Receiving the title of academician for the painting “View in the vicinity of Dusseldorf”.
1866 Return to St. Petersburg.
1870 Start of work on engravings of “royal vodka”.
1873 Receiving the title of professor.
1889 Creation of the painting “Morning in a pine forest.”
1894-1895 Management of the landscape workshop of the Academy of Arts.
March 8, 1898 Date of death of Ivan Shishkin.

Memorable places

1. Memorial house-museum of I. Shishkin in Elabuga, where the artist was born.
2. Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, where I. Shishkin studied.
3. Munich, where the artist went to continue his education.
4. Dusseldorf, where I. Shishkin was in 1863
5. House No. 10 on the 5th line of the Military District in St. Petersburg, where Shishkin lived in 1880-1882.
6. House No. 30 on the 5th line of VO in St. Petersburg ( apartment building I. Schmidt), where Shishkin lived in 1882-1898.
7. Vyra, where Shishkin purchased an estate and where he lived with his second wife.
8. Smolensk Orthodox cemetery, where I. Shishkin was originally buried.
9. Tikhvin Cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, where the artist’s ashes were moved in 1950.

Episodes of life

While studying at the Academy, Shishkin never missed the opportunity to go out into nature and improve his skills. A real impetus for his work came from his visits to Valaam, for whose landscapes the artist received his first medals.

Initially, the famous “Morning in a Pine Forest” (“Bears”) was signed with the names of both authors, but the collector P. Tretyakov erased Savitsky’s surname from there.

On tombstone I. Shishkin was given the wrong date of birth: 1812. The monument was not altered, and this inscription remained on it until today.

Documentary film “Ivan Shishkin” from the series “Artist in the Tretyakov Gallery”

Testaments

"Russia is a country of landscapes."

"Find one true beauty V work of art and you will be richer than the one who found ten errors in him.”

“The landscape should be not only national, but also local.”

Condolences

“Like a mighty green forest, he infected everyone with his healthy fun, good appetite and truthful Russian speech... The audience gasped behind his back when he, with his powerful paws of a crowbar and clumsy fingers, calloused from work, began to warp and erase his brilliant drawing, and the drawing would definitely by some miracle or magic, from such rough treatment everything comes out more graceful and brilliant.”
Ilya Repin, artist

“I think that this is the only person we have who knows the landscape in a scientific way... All these Klodts, Bogolyubovs and others are boys and puppies before him... Shishkin is a milestone in the development of Russian landscape, he is a “school” man.”
Ivan Kramskoy, artist

“Little by little the whole school learned that Shishkin painted views that no one had ever painted before: just a field, a forest, a river, and he made them look as beautiful as Swiss views.”
A. Komarova, niece of I. Shishkin