Vs. Dmitriev. Artists
Artists, Apollo No. 8 – 9, 1917
"Apollo" - October - December 1917 No. 8 - 10
Artists
I'm in the middle. D and so forth in
Awareness of the peculiarities and strength of one's talent is a gift as rare as genius; usually this realization comes only with years, at the cost of life's damage and fatigue, when the virgin will is finally expended on vain thoughts, wrong searches and unnecessary daring.
Why do you need to be so audacious to someone who was born without wings? We will observe only amusing jumps and worthless torment, and happy is he who gave up vain attempts in time, who had the strength and pride to say firmly to himself in time: I have no wings, so I will be worthy. Oh, and so on!
Women’s creative pursuits follow somewhat different paths than men’s; what the artist gains by years of painful struggle and humiliating defeats, the same is given to the artist in most cases. Like a gift, still in the cradle. Nature herself, clearly protecting woman more, invested in her a great measure of sobriety, calm prudence and humble submission. Perhaps, however, it is necessary to crucify the artists endlessly, their blind ups and absurd downs, so that at least one of them will taste genuine inspiration; and if the artist is a woman’s life wisdom. and n They allow you to happily avoid unnecessary torments, then name me at least one artist who would really know a lot about the sublime nectar of creativity!
In world history we know examples when artists seemed to forget about the modest purpose of their art and sought the honor of forging the fate of painting. I don't know.
Angelique Kaufman and Vigee-Lebrun were so famous that they could have powerfully influenced the entire course of artistic history; but in the end they only influenced fashion. It was not the fault of the beautiful Angelica that Winkelmann and Goethe, in gratitude for her excellent dinners and false portraits, wished to see in her an embodied genius.Similarly, it was not Vigee-Lebrun's fault if her conscientious pictures of hairstyles and costumes were perceived by European courts as the new Raphael.Let us recall the Venetian Rosalba Carrier: her pastels, which gave her world fame, amaze with the serene equanimity of execution, the constant, one and the same measure of charm and perfection; but whether they are because Rosalba in his youth was a lacemaker, or the glorious Venetian because she was a beautiful lacemaker, that all her life only And the same thing. "weaving lace and pastels"? The disturbing soul of Maria Bashkirtseva, it seemed, should have taken her out of the too humble circle of women's daring, but no, and here the eternal too sober appreciation of art by a woman, the eternal substitution of inspiration with admiration, affected her. n and c m - "weaving"; and when you look at the excellent women's and children's heads of Bashkirtseva, you want to imagine the same artist less ambitious, excited and young. Well, it would have come out then a glorious like-minded and companion of at least Elizabeth Böhm, equally valuable and inimitable master, but just as closed in a serene circle of hardworking people. "weaves." Their whole army, even if we take only Russian art, these valuable and tireless workers, day after day, year after year weaving the same favorite lace, choosing some modest work. I don't know. part of the artistic craft and its cultivators with inexhaustible love, with enviable constancy, without any falls and despairs, but as lace is weaved – smoothly, leisurely and endlessly. Polenova, Lagoda-Shishkina, Shpak-Benua, Yakunchikova, Lindeman, Kruglikova, Somov-Mikhaylova, Boguslavskaya, Ostroumov-Lebedeva. All of them are marked by a sensitive culture, often – let’s look at at at least the workshops of Ostroumova – amaze with deep soulfulness, sophistication of artistic art. But the main thing - what are the main charms of female creativity and what is its eternal weakness - eh Art is neither passion nor blood. Here we have “Palace Embankment” or “Street in Baku”, then “Grand Canal in Venice”, even more. "Taho at Toledo" - everywhere you see the same fine craftsmanship, the same high taste and the same Just like the artist’s hand does not write, but cleverly and lovingly weaves – all lace, lace and lace...
In the era of courageous and pathos-filled female creativity, squeezed by decrees that are quite severe and rigid – for the benefit of artistic destinies and for their own happiness – fits into the proper framework and does not enter the arena of pure creativity, while in the wingless times of decline, ideological relaxation, artists suddenly receive fatal power and rise to the role of arbiters of artistic destinies; so it was in the era of Lebrun and Kaufman, and so it was until recently, even there are...Now in Russian art. However, we will beware of asserting emphatically: now the era is sentimental and insignificant, therefore, female creativity can significantly influence artistic fate; on the contrary, we will say this: in our time, Russian artists often amaze with the height and scope of their talents, but not with their talents. I don't think so. Is that altitude? Is not the prominent role of the artist in contemporary Russian painting largely due to the ideological insignificance of our era?
Indeed, let us look closely at Serebryakova and Khodasevich, both of whom are quite typical. as a representative of two major trends of Russian painting. Recently, every new work of Serebryakova caused an enthusiastic hum. Moreover, for example, “Peasants in the field” played a positive role. The “nail” of the exhibition, where an abundant number of rooms were exhibited: Yakovlev, Lancera, Petrov-Vodkin, Kustodiev and other glorious names of the Russian school. The clue was in and This is the story of Serebryakova, but this is women’s art. c f d d d a. Nothing too tortured and tense-difficult as the work of Somov or Petrov-Vodkin, nothing too easy and fantastic as the work of Yakovlev or Sudeikin, on the contrary – everything here is sober, smooth and diligent. Not too difficult and abstract, but also without the audacity and ridicule of genius - such is the eternal essence of female creativity. Let's take a closer look. and Serebryakova: they are flat and lovingly cautious; and the face, and hands, and sky, and grass is written by a skilful hand with the same steady rise, with the same serene faith in the rightness of their art understanding, all the same diligent and loving stroke. That's how you make lace, is that how you make pictures?
Valentina Khodasevich in his own p and c at p and x Art is no different from Serebryakova, just as it does not differ from them, let us suppose, Della-Vos-Kardovskaya, Goncharova or Kiselyov, the difference is only in the flexibility of talents and in teachers. Serebryakova "believes" Venetianov Somov and Khodasevich in Cezanne and Konchalovsky, that's all. The difference between artists comes only from the difference between the teachers in whom they I don't know. They believe. It is the same, the same, the same, and the same. Hence eternal I don't think so. Female creativity. And now, when Russian art is in the highest degree broken, drained of blood. And now women's creativity is joyfully striking: yes, here she is. Harmony and integrity, here it is. - I don't care. Aah!
But this is a deception; there is no precious faith, of which we artists now wonder in vain, there is no unyielding passion for the incomprehensible and unearthly life, which we call art; there is no simple and understandable love for our life and for art as a matter. I don't know. this life. And if so, then why not realize calmly and clearly: yes, nature itself, clearly protecting them more - artists, invested in them a great deal. A measure of life sobriety, calm prudence and humble submission. So we envy them, their paradise-clear, childish-ingenious craft – we, to whom the inexorable craving for creativity brings passion, blood, and death.