All paintings by Yuon. Artist Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich - Biography. Red sled. Trinity-Sergiev Posad

Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon is a representative of the older generation of Soviet painters. His creative activity began in the pre-revolutionary years. And then the name of Yuon the artist became famous.

He belongs to the circle of those masters whose activities were the connecting link between the Soviet artistic culture and Russian advanced pre-revolutionary art. Having absorbed the best traditions of full-blooded Russian realism XIX century, Yuon entered soviet art as an artist with a wide creative range, giving to the people his talent as a painter, theater decorator and teacher, and inexhaustible energy public figure, my knowledge as a historian and art theorist.

Yuon’s life and creative path is closely connected with Moscow. Here he was born on October 24, 1875. In the large and friendly Yuon family, they were fond of music; Konstantin Fedorovich’s brothers and sisters studied at the Moscow Conservatory. Music played a big role in the upbringing of the future artist, taught him to understand beauty, poetry, and developed a sense of rhythm. There were a lot of young people in the house, live paintings were often staged and children's performances were staged. The melodies and lyrics for them were composed by his older brother, Yuon was entrusted with writing the scenery under the guidance of a family friend, the artist of the Maly Theater K. V. Kandaurov.

The love for theater was also fostered in the young man by his mother, Emilia Alekseevna, who made theatrical costumes for masquerades at the Moscow Hunting Club, where artistic youth gathered in those years.

The Yuon family lived in one of the ancient corners of Moscow - Lefortovo. This area, associated with the era of Peter I, could not help but interest an impressionable boy who read the novels of I. I. Lazhechnikov, M. N. Zagoskin, A. K. Tolstoy. Yuon early began to be fascinated by the monuments of old Russian architecture, primarily Moscow and the Moscow region: the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod, the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, Kolomenskoye. Over time, his interest in the history of his native country, its original way of life, the traditions of folk life became more serious and deeper.

After his first visit to the Tretyakov Gallery in the 1880s, the talented young man discovered new world beauty in the works of great Russian artists: I. E. Repin, V. D. Polenov, V. M. Vasnetsov, I. I. Levitan and others.

The art of V.I. Surikov made a particularly great impression on him. Yuon understood and was close to the plots of Surikov’s paintings and their unique, powerful heroes. Surikov taught me a lot young artist. On this occasion, Yuon wrote in his Autobiography: “My own love for history and antiquities, for the decorative and eloquent colors of the forms of bygone centuries, combined with living life and in living light, attracted me to him (Surikov. - Ed.). More than any other Russian painter, he knew how to connect history with modernity, reflect general world ideas in the tragedies and struggles of a living person, and connect art with life.”

While still a student at a real school, Yuon began to seriously study Russian architecture. Therefore, it was quite natural for him to enter the Moscow school painting, sculpture and architecture at the architectural department. Soon, however, he realized that his main calling was painting and moved to the painting department. Nevertheless, studies in ancient architecture played a role significant role in the development of his artistic taste and determined mainly the range of themes of his paintings.

The time of Yuon’s entry into the path of a painter coincided with a period of complex ideological and artistic struggle in Russian art late XIX- beginning of the 20th century. This struggle was the result of a deep crisis of bourgeois culture that occurred both in the West and in Russia. Representatives of reactionary art began an open campaign against realism, advocating for art freed from all ideological ideas and tendencies, for art understandable only to certain “exceptional individuals.”

The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where Yuon studied in those years, was a stronghold of ideological realism. It was taught by N. A. Kasatkin, K. A. Savitsky, A. E. Arkhipov - artists who continued the traditions of the art of the Wanderers. With their own creativity, they proved to their students the great importance of a painting with a serious and deep social content. Studying with these masters certainly determined the progressive views on art of future artists - students of the school, in particular the views of Yuon.

What was closest to Yuon was the bright, sunny art of A. E. Arkhipov, the beauty folk motifs in his paintings, masterly skill in conveying the light-air environment. But the most important thing for Yuon was his studies in the workshop of V. A. Serov, where he completed his art education at school. With Serov, young people always found a solution to any creative issue. Serov was wonderful artist and a sensitive teacher. He knew how to reveal creative individuality each student, to guide him along the path of a careful study of reality, valued simplicity in the expression of the artistic image, fidelity to traditions national culture. Serov taught young artists to look for three truths: human truth, social truth and pictorial truth. Yuon called Serov his artistic conscience, “without which it is difficult to work and difficult to comprehend new things.”

“The Tretyakov Gallery and my teacher Serov were the two main springs where I drew that saving beginning that allowed me to carry through my entire life healthy attitude to art and did not allow us to stray from the realistic path, from the path of respect for Russian classics.”

Start creative path Yuon was contradictory. Impressionable and little experienced in matters of art, he was influenced by many of the then existing artistic movements. At first he was fascinated by the aesthetics of the “Mir Iskussniki” with their cult of refined art for “selected individuals”, with their search for a new style. Then Yuon was captured by the pictorial principles of impressionism, although the desire of the impressionists to elevate the concept of instantaneousness and fleetingness of impressions to the fundamental law of creativity, their loss of compositional architectonics and plasticity of form always alarmed and stopped him.

Having not yet found his creative self, but full of desire to find himself in art, Yuon undertakes a trip abroad. He travels to Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France, gets acquainted with classical and contemporary art these countries. In Paris, Yuon works in private workshops and is interested in Gauguin. Impressed by Gauguin's art, he goes on a long journey through the South Caucasus. And here it finally became clear to Yuon that he had to look for his “artistic happiness” only in his homeland. He understood and realized his attachment to central and northern Russia with its open spaces and freedom, with the whiteness of its snows and the radiance of morning and evening dawns.

“I was drawn back, as if to a new promised land, but this time consciously and with conviction. The alien south and alien influence in a negative way had a sobering effect, and it clearly seemed to me that the range of my interests and activities had been decisively found,” he wrote in an autobiographical essay.

The year 1900 was significant in the life of the artist. First of all, this year he completed his studies in Serov’s workshop and set out on the path of independent creativity. This year he married K. A. Nikitina, a peasant woman from the village of Ligacheva, Moscow province. And finally, in the same year, 1900, Yuon began his pedagogical activity, opening in Moscow, together with the artist I. O. Dudin, a private art school called “Yuon Studio”, which existed until 1917. Such major masters of Soviet art as V. I. Mukhina, A. V. Kuprin, V. A. Vatagin, V. A. Favorsky and others studied there.

Pedagogical work required Yuon to do a lot: he had to give accurate and clear answers to all the students’ questions. To do this, he himself first had to gain clarity in artistic views. Yuon recalled that teaching work had a “disciplining value” for him in those years: it saved him from his youthful hobbies for fashionable artistic directions, helped develop firmness of conviction.

If during his years at the school Yuon painted mainly lyrical landscapes of intimate corners of the Moscow region, then after finishing his studies he was irresistibly drawn to the wide expanses of the Volga. In the early 1900s, he made a long trip to the ancient cities of the Volga. Uglich, Rostov, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod captivated the young artist with the colorful richness of ancient architecture, Kremlin walls, monasteries, churches, white stone arcades retail space and rows, multi-colored carved patterns of wooden houses, variegated signs and the vast blue expanse of the Volga expanse.

A new world of amazing beauty opened up for Yuon.

“I wanted to paint pictures, the way songs are written about life, about the history of the Russian people, about nature, about ancient Russian cities”...

The vivid impressions he received from his acquaintance with the Volga cities were further enhanced by the influence of M. Gorky’s work. Yuon was reading Gorky's books. The novel “Foma Gordeev” was especially close to him. The artist was attracted by the wonderful descriptions of pictures of the Volga nature and how deeply the author understood the spiritual wealth of the people. These qualities in the work of the great writer were akin to Yuon.

Yuon, like Gorky, worked for a long time in Nizhny Novgorod; he was amazed by the extraordinary picturesqueness and beauty historical city, in which modern life, imbued with the spirit of the people, was in full swing. Here Yuon wrote many sketches from life and created a large painting “Over the Volga” (1900), where the main actors Philistines, artisans and tramps became like Gorky's heroes.

An interesting sketch-type landscape “Winter on Barges” (1902), depicting a corner of the Volga Bay near Nizhny Novgorod on a gray winter day. The barge, thickly covered with snow, froze in the ice, as if plunging into a long winter sleep. The figures of guards in huge red sheepskin coats stand silently. White flakes of snow contrast with the bright color of the blue house on the barge; A thin web of ropes and slender masts whimsically intertwine against the background of the gray winter sky. Designed in a harmonious silver color scheme, the sketch speaks of the artist’s keen observation and taste, the richness and sophistication of his palette.

Yuon dedicated many paintings, sketches and drawings to the monument to the ancient Russian architecture XVII century - Trinity-Sergius Lavra near Moscow. The artist called this wonderful architectural ensemble a people's pearl, inexhaustible in its picturesque and decorative riches.

One of the first works devoted to this topic was the painting “To Trinity” (1903). In a small-sized canvas, the artist reproduces a bright and at the same time ordinary scene from the life of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Against the background of pink, red, white towers and buildings of the Lavra and small houses and posada shops picturesquely scattered at their foot, famous Muscovites ride in a train in sleighs to “bow” to the Trinity. Horses walk with measured, calm steps along the red-brown dirty spring road. Long figures of charioteers in black monastic robes rise majestically on the sleigh handles.

Painted from life, the picture is full of spontaneity. Yuon masterfully conveys the airy haze of a gray winter day, through which multi-colored towers with gold and blue bulbous domes loom. The wide impasto stroke used to paint the picture contributes to the feeling of movement, enhances its colorfulness and decorativeness.

The fine observation of the young artist was evidenced by the painting “Red Goods” (1905), depicting a corner of the market square in Rostov the Great. Characteristics of Yuon tags: here is a merchant, intently counting money; a wealthy bourgeois woman busily pays for her purchase; a woman and a girl choose new clothes, rummaging through a pile of colorful goods. Yuon perfectly felt the color of the winter Russian bazaar with colorful fabrics hung and laid out on the ground, benches and two-story outbuildings dusted with dry snow. Only an artist in love with Russia could see so much beauty and poetry in an ordinary scene.

In the late 1900s, Yuon enthusiastically worked on a series of paintings in which he set himself the task of conveying the effect of night lighting. These are the paintings “Night. Tverskoy Boulevard" (1909), "Troika near the old Yar. Winter" (1909) and others. In the first of them, against the backdrop of a brightly lit night cafe, bizarre, slightly grotesque silhouettes of its visitors emerge - men in high top hats and ladies in huge fashionable hats. This painting is, to some extent, the artist’s tribute to impressionism. However, in contrast to late impressionism, which legitimized the sketch, Yuon continues the classical traditions of Russian realism, which always considered the highest result creative work finished picture. Yuon fundamentally remained faithful to realistic traditions. Recalling his fascination with the Impressionists, the artist wrote: “I was unable even to weaken in my mind the greatness of the previously perceived art of the Itinerants and the masterpieces collected in Tretyakov Gallery... Gravitation towards Russians national forms, to images of the native past and present, to ideas folk art... was a sober regulator in my mind. It dictated to me the need not to turn the system of impressionism into an end in itself.”

In 1908, Yuon settled in Ligachev. Here he lived for a long time in all seasons. “...I had the opportunity to get even closer to the people and people’s life, in particular, to the life of the village, which fed and feeds my art a lot.”

In 1910, Yuon painted one of his best works dedicated to the Trinity Lavra - the painting “Spring Sunny Day”. This is a very joyful work, depicting a corner of Sergiev Posad on a sunny day in early spring. The artist placed the figures of people very freely, naturally and vividly: two girls stood basking in the sun, a hunched little old woman passing by and admired them, children were having fun near the snowdrifts. The rooks are making noise near their nests. For an artist, everything is important and significant; he notices both the big and the small.

The coloring of the picture is unusually festive. Yuon lovingly reproduced blue and green soul warmers, white and red scarves of girls, colored short fur coats of children, yellow houses, pink and white trunks of birches and the lace of their branches against the blue sky, solemn white stone houses, towers, bell towers of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. This is perhaps the most emotionally intense work of the entire cycle dedicated to the Trinity Lavra. In it, Yuon acted as a true poet, as a subtle master of realistic plein air painting. In this work, the artist’s pictorial language was already clearly defined, characterized by decorative coloring, bright sonority of color spots, built on pure local colors. Moreover, in Yuon this bright decorativeness is combined with strict compositional structure, thoughtful placement of objects in space, and clear graphic drawing of plans and forms.

Yuon has always been characterized by a love for epic landscapes, wide, solemn, depicting old Russian architecture and the new life boiling around it. Such landscapes include the large canvas “Trinity Lavra in Winter” (1910).

“The blue distances, the all-consuming expanse of vast spaces, the rhythmically evenly working anthill of scurrying homogeneous people, homogeneous horses, flocks of homogeneous birds, thousands of homogeneous houses, chimneys, smoke, merged in the imagination in solemn unison, into a single element,” - this is how he perceived the winter Lavra is an artist himself.

All his life Yuon was a patriot, singer, writer of everyday life of old and new Moscow. Even in his student years, he wrote everyday scenes from the life of the Moscow outskirts. In paintings with night lighting effects, the action also took place in Moscow. IN mature years squares and streets of old Moscow, wonderful monuments of its architecture inspired the artist to create beautiful paintings. “I’ve been writing Moscow all my life - and I still can’t get enough. Moscow played a big role in my artistic life. My painting began in Moscow. Moscow nurtured my main interests and hobbies,” said Yuon.

Among the Moscow works of the pre-revolutionary period, the large watercolor “Moskvoretsky Bridge” (1911) is significant. This is a typical Yuon composition: the action takes place against the backdrop of the architecture of the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod. The wide Moskvoretsky Bridge blocked the flow of pedestrians. As always with Yuon, separate genre groups are easily distinguishable in the crowd: men with huge bags, confused from the bustle of the capital, business clerks, important merchants, dashing cab drivers and slowly weaving draymen. All this is depicted very vividly, directly, aptly.

The transparent clarity and softness of the tones of watercolor paints, a light airy haze soften the contours of the panoramic landscape and the diversity of color. In this work, as in a number of others of that time, Yuon proved himself to be a talented watercolorist.

During all periods of his artistic activity, Yuon enthusiastically painted the modest and beautiful Central Russian nature. The artist's favorite theme was early spring. A joyful moment of nature awakening from its winter sleep, when the air is very clean, the azure of the sky is bright, when everything is permeated with the sun’s rays, and the blue-white snow crunches underfoot in a special way, that very moment that M. M. Prishvin aptly called “spring of light” "was the theme of his landscape "March Sun. Ligachevo" (1915). This landscape is strict and lyrical at the same time. The strict architectonics of the composition is emphasized by the slender trunks of poplars and delicate birch trees turning pink against the blue sky in spring. There is some special freshness and purity in this picture. Looking at her, one involuntarily recalls the artist’s constant desire “in Pushkin’s style” to glorify the landscapes of the Moscow region and central Russia.

By the time of the Great October Socialist Revolution, K. F. Yuon was already an established master. In the very first years of Soviet power, he began to engage in social activities. He worked in the Moscow Department of Public Education as an instructor-organizer in fine arts, patronized art schools, studios, folk art houses.

In Yuon, young, aspiring artists and talented self-taught people have always seen an experienced mentor, sensitive, attentive, sincere person, always ready to help and give correct, kind advice.

The range of topics that the artist worked on in the early years after 1917 was not new. He wrote winter and summer landscapes, created pencil portraits of Russian cultural figures, views of Russian cities. At times he varied some of the old themes. During these same years, Yuon began to engage in autolithography and made two albums: “Sergiev Posad” and “Russian Province”. Individual sheets of albums were graphic repetitions of previously completed paintings.

Of the works of the first years of the revolution, the most significant painting is “Domes and Swallows” (1921). In it, the artist again turned to the theme of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra. He wrote it on a fresh, sunny, windy May day. The compositional solution of the painting is also interesting and new. The Assumption Cathedral is depicted from the height of the domes, rising high into the blue sky. A wide, boundless expanse of earth unfolds below. You can see the smoke of a steam locomotive from a train rushing through the trees, and the bright Zagorsk houses are scattered on the ground like a mosaic. Flocks of swallows soar in the blue sky, and leaving clouds are visible on the horizon.

This work has the same wide panoramic view of the landscape that Yuon had before. But at the same time there is something new in it. This is new - a unique, lighter and more sublime worldview of the artist, a bolder and broader view of the world. This is the similarity of Yuon’s landscape to Rylov’s wonderful landscape “In the Blue Expanse”.

Yuon's first works on revolutionary themes were symbolic and allegorical in nature. “I wrote and lived at that time, as if in two eras, capturing the past and the present,” the artist recalled... “Under the influence of war and revolution, the desire to find artistic language, artistic formulas capable of expressing and expressing the stirred up flow of ideas and images, has become very strong in me and occupies me very much - and here you can’t do without fantasies.”

In the film “New Planet” (1921), Yuon presented the birth of the revolutionary era in an abstract, fantastic image: above the globe The red-hot red planet rises into outer space. Crowds of people - the inhabitants of the earth - rush to her, holding out their hands, as if praying for happiness. Many, exhausted, fall and die. Those who are more resilient carry the weak. Their silhouettes against the backdrop of enchanting rays are dramatic. The artist thought a lot and seriously about the revolutionary events that took place in his homeland, trying to understand the essence of the beauty that the revolution brought to the people. This was typical of many representatives of the old Russian artistic intelligentsia of that time - B. M. Kustodiev, S. T. Konenkov, A. A. Blok, V. Ya. Bryusov...

Close proximity to the people, understanding of their interests and commitment to realistic traditions enabled Yuon to correctly identify the tasks facing Soviet artists.

“Reflecting on the ways and goals of the revolution,” he wrote, “I need to follow the people, portray them as I portrayed them before, but show their activities already illuminated and saturated with the ideas of the revolution. The transition to the theme of revolution was natural and organic for me; I continued to live with the people, as before, trying to express the new things that the people's revolution brought into life, its new culture, new goals and new people."

People Soviet country and new events become the themes of Yuon’s paintings. The ancient architecture of Moscow is intertwined with images of revolutionary deeds.

In 1923, at the exhibition of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR), a small-sized work, “Parade on Red Square,” appeared. The author conveyed the main thing - the beat of new life, the appearance Soviet man, having gone through the years of the civil war and celebrating the first five years of the great victory. The strict rows of marching soldiers, the shine of the orchestra's pipes, the scarlet color of banners and posters, the motley festive crowd admiring the parade of troops, the majestic beauty of the architecture of the Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral - all this gives the picture a festive, upbeat character.

The theme of several Yuon watercolors of the late 1920s was the events that took place in Moscow in November 1917, when workers and soldiers stormed the Kremlin, captured by cadets.

The watercolor “Entering the Kremlin through the Nikolsky Gate” (1926) depicts a tense moment of the struggle for the Kremlin: the revolutionary people are attacking the Kremlin gates. And although the figures of people are given almost in silhouette, they are very expressive. The artist managed in this work to convey the revolutionary, fighting spirit of the times. Subsequently, Yuon repeated this same theme in the film “Storm of the Kremlin in 1917” (1947).

In 1925, Yuon became a member of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia (AHRR), a progressive association that fought for the revival of Russian traditions in Soviet art. classical painting. The tasks and requirements set by the artists of the AHRR played a big role in the formation of the artist’s new views on art and its role in the life of the country.

Yuon's creativity has become more purposeful. Characteristic, typical images of Soviet people appear in his works. These are the paintings “Young. Laughter" (1930) and "Moscow Youth" (1926). The last one is one of best works Yuon 1920s. This is a group portrait of girls - residents of Ligachev. They are very different, and at the same time they have something in common. This is common - their youth, sincerity, cheerfulness. The composition, original in its fragmentation, gives the portrait a special vitality, as if snatching this group of young people from the mass of people immediately surrounding us.

A special place in Soviet painting 1920-1930s occupy household paintings Yuona. They again showed very clearly the characteristic Yuonian features: a keen outlook on life, noticing and recording new forms of rural and urban life, decorative coloring and, of course, the ability to organically combine architecture, landscape and genre scenes.

The painting “Holiday of Cooperation” (1928) depicts a meeting of members of the Ligachev agricultural cooperative. Yuon draws the viewer's attention to the red banners, shine copper pipes orchestra members, homemade posters, festive white shirts, sweaters, bright scarves - these skillfully noticed details and accents create a unique image of a modern village.

Recalling his work, Yuon said that after the revolution it developed towards more complex content. Awareness of the need for a new approach to solving the great problems of our time dictated the desire to look for new forms of art - art of a grand style, capable of expressing the beauty, significance and essence of the new Soviet reality.

In 1940, Yuon turned to working on works of monumental art. He makes sketches of mosaics for the Constitution Hall of the Palace of Soviets. This work was not carried out; only pencil sketches survived. They speak of the artist’s deep and varied coverage of contemporary themes. You can be convinced of this by at least listing their names: “Cities and Transport”, “Industry”, “Aviation”, “Boss of the Earth”, “State Farms and Collective Farms”, “Guarding the Sea Borders”.

During the harsh years of the Great Patriotic War, Yuon worked hard and hard, living all the time in Moscow.

His beloved city appeared before him in a new and formidable appearance. The events of the first years of the war required serious creative thinking. Gradually the idea arose new painting, dedicated to Moscow. The painting “Parade on Red Square in Moscow on November 7, 1941” became one of the most significant in the artist’s work. She paints Red Square, the Kremlin, Soviet people on the historic parade day of November 7, 1941, when the war was declared “sacred, patriotic.” On this gray, gloomy day, the first snow fell, the sky was covered with heavy, leaden clouds, the Kremlin, Red Square, and St. Basil's Cathedral looked especially stern and majestic. Moscow seemed to freeze, frozen in threatening silence before a decisive crushing blow to the enemy.

The troops are marching along Red Square with measured, measured steps in orderly rows. In their firm step there is strength, confidence in victory over the enemy. This painting, very significant in content and in its pictorial design, reflected the artist’s deep thoughts about the fate of the Motherland in times of difficult trials. Although small in size, the painting is truly monumental and significant.

During the war, Yuon created a number of works dedicated to military events and war heroes: “Sundress at the Front” (1942), “After the Battle of Moscow” (1942) and others. During the war years, Yuon wrote scenery sketches for M. I. Glinka’s opera “Ivan Susanin” for the Novosibirsk and Kuibyshev opera and ballet theaters.

In the post-war years, Yuon's paintings became more complex in composition and more generalized in themes. "IN Lately“,” the artist wrote, “I began to work not only analytically, as before, but more synthetically.” An example is his landscapes of the 1940s. The artist, as before, lives for a long time in Ligachevo and works hard. In “Russian Winter” (1947) Yuon appears as a true poet of Russian nature. With remarkable skill he creates a clear, complete composition. Looking at this large canvas, you involuntarily admire the soft, fluffy snow, the thick cover that covers the ground, the fabulous decoration of frost that decorates the branches of mighty trees, the frosty haze that shrouds all objects. Everything is observed in life. This is a real Russian “Mother Winter”.

In the painting “Morning of Industrial Moscow” (1949), the artist gives an image of a huge industrial city. The city is awakening to a new working day. People are going to work, a freight train is rushing by, factory chimneys are smoking.

The seriousness of the theme, great skill in conveying the life of the city in the morning, the desire to show the poetry of the everyday and the beauty of work - all this makes Yuon’s work an interesting industrial landscape painting.

Yuon's artistic activity was closely connected with the work of Gorky. This has already been said in relation to his early works. In his mature years, Yuon became interested in Gorky's plays and wrote scenery sketches for them.

In 1918, he created the design of the play “The Old Man” for the State Academic Maly Theater; in 1933, at the Moscow Art Academic Theater, he staged the scenery based on his sketches for “Yegor Bulychev and Others”; in 1952, at the Vl. Mayakovsky, the artist designs the play “The Zykovs”. Great success came to pass last work Yuon - sketches of scenery and costumes for the staging of Gorky's novel "Foma Gordeev" at the Evg. Vakhtangov, on which he worked together with People's Artist of the USSR R. N. Simonov.

Yuon created many paintings and graphic portraits of Gorky. He sought to show the great writer at different periods of his life. In addition to portraits, he created several paintings dedicated to Gorky. In 1949, Yuon completed a painting depicting Gorky’s visit to the “Giant” state farm in 1929. Last big picture the artist was “A. M. Gorky and F.I. Chaliapin in 1901 in Nizhny Novgorod" (1955).

Working in the theater has always fascinated Yuon. He designed about twenty-five plays and operas. The diversity of the repertoire is amazing theatrical productions with the participation of Yuon: plays by V. Shakespeare and Lope de Vega, A. N. Ostrovsky and A. M. Gorky, N. F. Pogodin, A. N. Tolstoy and S. Ya. Marshak, operas by M. I. Glinka, M. P. Mussorgsky, P. I. Tchaikovsky.

Yuon's earliest work in the theater was sketches of the scenery for Mussorgsky's opera "Boris Godunov", staged in Paris in 1913 during the "Russian Season", organized by S. Ya. Diaghilev. Chaliapin sang the role of Boris. Simultaneously working with Chaliapin on the play inspired and captivated the young artist. In the scenery for the opera, Yuon showed himself not only to be a deeply national artist, but also a serious researcher of the history of Russia, its life and architecture. The freshness and richness of Yuon’s sketches delighted Chaliapin. He immediately purchased them from the author.

“Every day I admire them and can’t stop looking at them—excellent things...” Chaliapin wrote to Gorky in 1913. “What a delight, by God, a talented guy...”

Yuon wrote especially a lot for the theater after the Great October revolution. Along with work in the Bolshoi, Maly, Art theaters Moscow, he created scenery for theaters in Kazan, Novosibirsk, Kuibyshev.

The artist's work in this area is characterized by a deep penetration into the essence of dramatic or piece of music. When creating sketches of the scenery for a particular performance, Yuon usually made many preliminary versions, achieving the most expressive solution. He worked painstakingly on the sketch of each costume, taking into account individual characteristics performing actors.

The sets for Ostrovsky’s plays “The Heart is Not a Stone” (1920-1921), “Mad Money” (1934), “Enough Simplicity for Every Wise Man” (1940), “Guilty Without Guilt” (1940), “Poverty is not a Vice” were successful. (1945) staged by the State Academic Maly Theater. Yuon, an old Muscovite, was very familiar with the life and types in Ostrovsky's plays. His sets and costume designs were very convincing.

Yuon's major achievement as a theater artist was his sketches of the scenery for Mussorgsky's opera Khovanshchina, staged at the State Academic Bolshoi Theater USSR in 1940. They found a deep internal correspondence between the visual language of decoration and musical speech operas.

Characteristic creative personality Yuon’s work would not be complete without recalling his numerous literary and research works on art. Yuon the theorist raised serious issues in his articles and oral presentations. philosophical questions: about the synthesis of arts, about the concept of art, about the problems of innovation in Soviet art, etc.

He was also concerned about issues of artistic pedagogy. In his articles, Yuon set very serious and responsible tasks for artists. He believed that Soviet art should not be limited to simply illustrating events. It must be art of great style, affirming in perfect artistic forms high moral ideas.

Yuon was a doctor of art history, a full member of the Academy of Arts. In 1956, he was unanimously elected first secretary of the Union of Soviet Artists of the USSR.

Yuon was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR, State Prize and awarded with orders Lenin and the Red Banner of Labor.

Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon died in April 1958. The entire life of a talented Soviet artist is an example of selfless service to his native art, his country, whose life and nature he glorified.

Based on the book: I.T. Rostovtsev "Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon"

Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich, painter

Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich(1875-1958), Soviet painter. People's Artist of the USSR (1950), full member of the USSR Academy of Arts (1947). He studied at the MUZHVZ (1892-98) with K. A. Savitsky, A. E. Arkhipov, N. A. Kasatkin (after graduation he worked there in the workshop of V. A. Serov in 1898-1900). He taught in his own studio in Moscow (together with I. O. Dudin; 1900-17), Moscow Art Institute (professor in 1952-55) and others educational institutions. Member of the "World of Art" association, one of the organizers of the Union of Russian Artists, member of the Academy of Artists and Artists of Russia (since 1925). Director of the Research Institute of Theory and History of Fine Arts of the USSR Academy of Arts (1948-50), first secretary of the board of the USSR Union of Artists (since 1957). Yuon turned to the motives of the Russian province, revealing the historical and national uniqueness of its life and landscape in a lush, bright pictorial manner that developed under the influence of impressionism (“To Trinity. March”, 1903, “March Sun”, 1915). In Soviet times, he began by embodying revolutionary themes in symbolic and allegorical compositions (“New Planet”, 1921); later he acted as a guardian of the realistic traditions of Russian art (“Domes and Swallows”, 1921: “End of Winter. Afternoon”), captured the events of revolutionary history (“Storm of the Kremlin in 1917”, 1947), images of people Soviet era(“Parade on Red Square on November 7, 1941”, 1949; “Morning of Industrial Moscow”, 1949; all mentioned works are in the Tretyakov Gallery). Yuon's works of this period are characterized by colorful decorativeness, freshness of perception, and lyrical insight. Also known as a theater artist, he worked in the field

Russian artist, representative of symbolism and modernism, master of landscape. Born in Moscow on October 12 (24), 1875 in the family of a bank employee. In 1892 he entered the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where his mentors were K.A. Savitsky, A.E. Arkhipov and K.A. Korovin. After graduating from college (1898), he studied in the workshop of V.A. Serov (until 1900). He was a member of the World of Art, the Union of Russian Artists (one of the founders of the latter) and the Academy of Artists. Lived in Moscow.

Yuon’s symbolist poetics were most acutely manifested in the cycle of drawings The Creation of the World (1908–1909) - with nature and luminaries emerging from primordial chaos. Developing this theme, he later captured the revolution in the form of a formidable cosmic cataclysm (New Planet, 1921). But more typical for him are rural and architectural landscapes, clear in composition and dense in color, giving not a fleeting impression, but a stable image of an inhabited land or historical “soil”, famous or completely ordinary (To the Trinity, 1903; Spring Sunny Day, 1910; March Sun, 1915; Domes and Swallows, 1921; all works in the Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow). A special place in his painting and graphics was occupied by motifs of the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius (in 1922 he published an album of lithographs of Sergiev Posad).

In the strict system of socialist realist exhibitions, Yuon’s landscapes, sometimes “thematic” (Storm of the Kremlin in 1917, 1947; ibid.), invariably attracted attention for their heartfelt historicism or simply sincere lyricism. He worked fruitfully as a theater artist (he was, in particular, the chief artist of the Maly Theater in 1945–1947) and teacher (since 1900 he taught in his own studio, and later at the Leningrad Academy of Arts and the Moscow Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov). He held the positions of director of the Research Institute of the USSR Academy of Arts (1948–1950) and first secretary of the board of the Union of Artists of the USSR (1956–1958).

Artist Yuon Konstantin Fedorovich was born in 1875 on October 12 in Moscow. His father was the director of a property insurance company, his mother was a musician.

In his youth, Yuon distinguished himself in his passion for drawing and at the age of 17, his parents sent him to an art school in Moscow. His first mentors in this institution at that time were well-established artists in society: Konstantin Apollonovich Savitsky, Nikolai Alekseevich Kasatkin, Abram Efimovich Arkhipov, Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov.

Yuon's paintings began to attract the attention of viewers, even at student exhibitions, and quickly sold out. With money from the sale of his works, the young man could visit many places in Russia, and even some European countries. The artist’s canvases were exhibited at all major Russian exhibitions.

Numerous articles about the talent of the young painter appeared in art magazines, written by famous critics and art historians. Yuon also often acted as an art critic.

After receiving his diploma, Yuon became a teacher, and he devoted his whole life to this activity. His students, future famous Russian sculptors Vera Mukhina, Vasily Alekseevich Vatagin and many artists always spoke warmly of their teacher.

Konstantin Fedorovich created works in the most various fields art. I wrote for a while thematic paintings and portraits famous people of his time, but always returned to his calling - the Russian landscape. Like many Russian painters Yuon applied the principles of famous French impressionists in his works, however, without breaking his connection with the traditions of realism.

K. Yuon is often compared to A. Ryabushkin and B. Kustodiev; his paintings also show a piercing sense of love for Russian antiquity. Once upon a time in his youth, restorers began to clean the icons under him, and suddenly extraordinary colors began to shine. This moment remained forever in Yuon’s memory and will greatly influence his writing style.

The artist immensely loved the manifestation of everything beautiful both in nature and in life. Perhaps his feeling and understanding contributed to the fact that his paintings were impeccable, showing the mood, here the sun is shining brightly, the snow that has just fallen on the ground sparkles, the bright outfits of women, Russian ancient architectural monuments.

Fate favored Yuon. Success came to him in his youth and stuck with him throughout his life. He was revered, awarded, and held leadership positions. Sadness was brought by a quarrel for several years with his father due to his marriage to a simple village girl, with whom the artist, as we know, lived for many years; another setback in life was the tragic death of his son.

One of Yuon’s most popular paintings in society is “Domes and Swallows.” The panorama was painted by the artist from the bell tower. Before us is a quiet summer evening, the sun is already completing its daily journey, moving closer and closer to sunset. You can feel the grace spilled around from the radiance of many domes with gilded patterned crosses sparkling in the last rays of the sun. The painting is not only remarkable for the beauty of the landscape, but it is especially worth noting that its motive was quite bold for that time when the fight against religion was serious.

K. F. Yuon, having a special gift, was able to take a special look at ancient Russian architecture and the unique nature of Russia. Yuon is attracted by architecture and architectural ensembles; they revealed endless possibilities for him to create colorful compositions.

Since 1925, Yuon has given preference to working with “pure” landscapes, gradually introducing into the compositions some of his innovations that were fashionable at that time. The characters in his works can be skiers or modern peasant girls.

In these paintings, Yuon emphasizes his worldview of reality from the idle side. He flawlessly reflects the dazzling whiteness of snow, a unique sunset, and young spring greenery in his paintings. Yuon easily transforms a modest landscape into a unique plot, easily perceived by the viewer, rich in its poetry and lyricism.

In the film entitled “End of Winter. Noon” before us is an ordinary corner of the Moscow region. The entire composition is illuminated by the bright rays of spring. Russian birches and loose snow sung in verse. Near the house from the slope, teenagers are skiing, chickens are fussing about something, all this gives the impression of a certain “lived-in” and warmth. This motif is very poetic and literally infects with its realistic spontaneity. It seems that the author, guided by some unknown force, created this composition, how real it is, he created everything on April 11 that he saw. This plot here is full of vitality, and a perception that is familiar to all of us since childhood.

Until the end of his days, Yuon worked with the landscape theme, sometimes paying attention, especially recently, to industrialization (“Moscow outskirts”).

Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon died in 1958 on April 11, when he was 82 years old and was buried in Moscow.

Annunciation Day, 1922

Artist Konstantin Yuon is a Russian and Soviet painter, one of the brightest representatives of Russian modernism and symbolism, an art theorist and theater artist, People's Artist of the USSR.

To my great regret, today it is difficult to find high-quality reproductions of paintings by this artist, and therefore I have collected the best of what I was able to find in my gallery. Works that would allow one to create a true impression of the skill of truly one of the brightest painters of the twentieth century. And it’s difficult to say for what reason this artist fell into oblivion today.

Biography of the artist Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon

Self-portrait, 1953

Artist Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon was born in 1875 into the family of an insurance employee in Moscow. The future artist’s mother was fond of music and tried to pass on her love for music to her son, but the boy became interested in painting.

In 1892, Konstantin Yuon entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. His teachers were K.A. Savitsky, N.A. Kasatkin, A.E. Arkhipov. After graduating from college, in 1898, Yuon entered the studio of the artist V.A. Serov and worked for two years with famous master painting, and then opened his own studio, where he taught painting to everyone.

Over seventeen years of work, the studio trained several artists who subsequently glorified the national school of painting: the Vesnin brothers, V.A. Vatagin, V.I. Mukhina, A.V. Kuprin, V.A. Favorsky, N.D. Colley, M.G. Reuther and many others.

In 1903, Konstantin Fedorovich took an active part in the creation of the Union of Russian Artists, subsequently joined the World of Art team, and since 1907 he worked a lot as a theater artist.

After the October Revolution, he organized the Prechistensky working courses, at which, together with I.O. Dudin, taught painting to everyone. In 1925 he joined the AHRR.

The Soviet period in the artist’s work is described very sparingly. It is known that from 1948 to 1950 Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon was the director of the Research Institute of Theory and History fine arts Academy of Arts of the USSR", in 1950 Yuon was awarded the title People's Artist USSR, from 1952 to 1955 - professor at the Moscow Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov.

Paintings by artist Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon

Procession on the slope, 1899 Birches. Petrovskoye, 1899 At the Novodevichy Convent in the spring, 1900. Holiday, 1903 Moscow, apartment of the artist’s parents, 1905. Landscape near Moscow, 1908
Spring sunny day, 1910
Matchmaker dance. Ligachevo, 1912
Trinity-Sergius Lavra. Winter, 1920
Domes and swallows. Assumption Cathedral of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, 1921
New Planet, 1921
July. Bathing. 1925
Winter day, 1910
Trinity Lavra in winter, 1910
Landscape of the Novgorod province, 1910
Moskvoretsky Bridge. Old Moscow, 1911
Village of Novgorod province, 1912
Troika in Uglich, 1913
Winter. Bridge, 1914
Privolye. Watering hole (Lichagevo), 1017 Bathing, 1920
View of the Trinity Lavra, 1916
March sun, 1915
blue bush