A Whole Lotta Reconstruction Goin’ On Here…

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I’m in the process of replacing many images of fine art paintings on this site with much larger and better images. If you wish an example, go to the posts White Russia in Exile or The Zaporozhean Cossacks Write a Mocking Letter to the Turkish Sultan, click on the image, then, click again on the resulting image. NOW these works are in a format to do them justice! If the image is a fine art painting, do click on it, chances are, there is a MUCH larger image awaiting you. I have a caveat, though. Some of the contemporary Russian pieces (although not all of them) aren’t as gloriously large. That’s because I couldn’t download larger images of them. Sorry. So, this weekend, if you click on an older post and find the picture missing, just wait a few minutes, and return. You’ll see a much larger image as a reward. Thanks for your patience, people. YOU are why I do this!

BMD

Firs Zhuravlyov. Before the Wedding. 1874

Before the Wedding (Firs Zhuravlyov, 1874)

Meet the Artist: Firs Zhuravlov

Before the Wedding (Firs Zhuravlyov, no date (1870s?)). Here is another version of the work above. I don’t know which one was the first one done.

ZHURAVLYOV Firs Sergeyevich

Born: 1836

Died: 1901

Before the Wedding by the genre painter and portraitist Firs Zhuravlyov reminds most viewers of a better-known canvass by Vasili Pukirev, The Unequal Marriage. The theme is transparent to all; it is easy to compose a story based on its content. This was typical of the majority of the paintings by Peredvizhniki artists with their subjects attuned to social protest and activism, a protest that awakened the moral conscience of Russian society.

In 1855, Firs Sergeyevich entered the Academy of Fine Arts as a scholarship student. Although he participated in the exhibits of the “Bunte 14”, and was one of the organisers of the artistic artel headed by Ivan Kramskoi, he did not actively become a part of the exhibitions of the Peredvizhniki. This is unusual, as the themes of the majority of his works are in consonance with the stated aims of that artistic movement.

Firs Sergeyevich created many paintings depicting the Russian way of life and the public life of Russia, as well as being a skilled portraitist, especially of writers and other intellectuals. A major part of the creative energy of F. S. Zhuravlyov was spent in painting many of the frescoes of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow (1870-1883), a work that gave honour to all Russian artists.

Мы – русские. Какой восторг!

http://lj.rossia.org/users/john_petrov/1071406.html#cutid1

Igor Mashkov. The Accordionist (A Portrait of D. Omelchenko). 1999

The Accordionist (Igor Mashkov, 1999)

The theme today is “musicians”. We have a boy with a pipe, a girl at the grand piano, and a man with a bayan (Russian accordion). The bayan has a different reed configuration than a Western accordion, so, if you thought that Russian accordions sounded different, well, it’s because their sound is distinct because of their construction.

Note that Mr Omelchenko is wearing a tsarist-era uniform of the old Don Cossack voiska (host). That means that he is a member of one of the many Cossack musical ensembles found throughout the RF. In fact, the ataman (leader) of the Don Cossack host has been elected as a deputy to the RF Gosduma (State Duma). So, if you hear extremist nationalists trying to claim that all Cossacks are Ukrainian, remember this painting and remember about the Cossack ataman who is also a Duma deputy. Facts DO speak louder than words.