"Ivan Shishkin. The Russian Forest"
Annotation
Among the founders and renowned masters of Russian Realist landscape painting, Ivan Shishkin (1832−1898) holds a place of the highest honour. Ivan Kramskoi rightfully considered him a "milestone" of Russian landscape painting. No one captured the majestic beauty of the pine forest, the might of centuries-old oaks, or the cool half-light of the forest depths better than Shishkin. And when viewers at exhibitions would remark that they could smell the pine in the master’s paintings and breathe the air of our native forests, they were expressing that feeling of immediate closeness to nature that gives rise to a certain poetic state of mind.
Shishkin’s life-affirming canvases manifest the spirit of the age and the unique character of the Russian national perception of nature. Among the Russian landscape painters who began their careers in the early 1850s, he was the only one whose active creative participation in the progressive development of the landscape genre continued to the very end of the century. To the end of his days, Shishkin retained a keen eye and a steady hand. A remark he made on a study for a painting is particularly telling:
Shishkin’s life-affirming canvases manifest the spirit of the age and the unique character of the Russian national perception of nature. Among the Russian landscape painters who began their careers in the early 1850s, he was the only one whose active creative participation in the progressive development of the landscape genre continued to the very end of the century. To the end of his days, Shishkin retained a keen eye and a steady hand. A remark he made on a study for a painting is particularly telling:
"Boundless expanse, open spaces, fertile land. Rye. God’s grace. Russian wealth."
In his lifetime, the landscape painter attracted a great deal of critical attention, and it was most often admiring. Isolated, plainly unobjective critical remarks were lost amid the chorus of unquestioning praise. Shishkin was an artist devoted to his native land, it awakened in him an inspired ardour that found expression in outstanding paintings created with consummate skill and genuine artistry.
Shishkin’s contemporaries called him the "forest bogatyr". This apt description corresponded to the artist’s very appearance: he was sturdily and well built, with a vivid, principled character and a calm assurance in his demeanour. For insight into Shishkin’s disposition and views, the answers he gave to a questionnaire from The St Petersburg Newspaper are of undeniable interest. Here are some of them:
Shishkin’s contemporaries called him the "forest bogatyr". This apt description corresponded to the artist’s very appearance: he was sturdily and well built, with a vivid, principled character and a calm assurance in his demeanour. For insight into Shishkin’s disposition and views, the answers he gave to a questionnaire from The St Petersburg Newspaper are of undeniable interest. Here are some of them:
"The main trait of my character? — Directness, simplicity.
My chief virtue? — Frankness.
My ideal of happiness? — Peace of mind.
What would be a great misfortune for me? — Loneliness.
What would I like to be? — A truly great artist.
The country in which I would always like to live? — My Fatherland."
My chief virtue? — Frankness.
My ideal of happiness? — Peace of mind.
What would be a great misfortune for me? — Loneliness.
What would I like to be? — A truly great artist.
The country in which I would always like to live? — My Fatherland."
The monographic exhibition brings together the most significant works by Shishkin from the State Russian Museum, the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, and other collections. The exhibition includes about 100 paintings and 40 etchings from 8 museums, creating a comprehensive picture of Shishkin’s artistic evolution.
In the first room, visitors can explore the stages in the development of the artist’s painterly style from the 1850s to the 1880s. Featured here are such renowned works as his first academic painting View in the Environs of St Petersburg (1856), the early large-scale canvas Tree Felling (1867), his programme works for the title of Academician (View in the Environs of Düsseldorf, 1865) and Professor (Forest Wilderness, 1872), as well as the air-filled, iconic paintings of his mature period Rye (1878) and Woodland Expanses (1884).
The second room of the exhibition is arranged around realistic and emotive depictions of pine forest, including Shishkin’s remarkable and universally beloved painting Morning in a Pine Forest (1889).
The next room presents what is perhaps the most compelling and monumental depiction of a winter forest — the majestic canvas Winter (1890), which strikes a distinctive tone within the context of the artist’s characteristic summer and autumn landscapes.
The final room displays etchings from the retrospective album 60 Etchings by Ivan Shishkin. 1870−1892, along with late works from the 1890s, featuring superb large-format paintings: Rain in an Oak Forest (1891), Road in the Forest (The Kama River) (1895), and his last solemn, epic work Pine Grove, created in the year of the celebrated landscapist’s death.
In the first room, visitors can explore the stages in the development of the artist’s painterly style from the 1850s to the 1880s. Featured here are such renowned works as his first academic painting View in the Environs of St Petersburg (1856), the early large-scale canvas Tree Felling (1867), his programme works for the title of Academician (View in the Environs of Düsseldorf, 1865) and Professor (Forest Wilderness, 1872), as well as the air-filled, iconic paintings of his mature period Rye (1878) and Woodland Expanses (1884).
The second room of the exhibition is arranged around realistic and emotive depictions of pine forest, including Shishkin’s remarkable and universally beloved painting Morning in a Pine Forest (1889).
The next room presents what is perhaps the most compelling and monumental depiction of a winter forest — the majestic canvas Winter (1890), which strikes a distinctive tone within the context of the artist’s characteristic summer and autumn landscapes.
The final room displays etchings from the retrospective album 60 Etchings by Ivan Shishkin. 1870−1892, along with late works from the 1890s, featuring superb large-format paintings: Rain in an Oak Forest (1891), Road in the Forest (The Kama River) (1895), and his last solemn, epic work Pine Grove, created in the year of the celebrated landscapist’s death.