Pavel Korin and his works. Great Victories of the Russian Spirit

Pavel Dmitrievich Korin is a famous Russian artist and icon painter, author of the heroic triptych "Alexander Nevsky", expressive portraits of his contemporaries: commander Georgy Zhukov, sculptor S.T. Konenkov, cartoonists M.V. Kupreyanov, P.N. Krylova, N.A. Sokolov (Kukryniksov), pianist K.N. Igumnov, Italian artist Renato Guttuso and others. By the power of painting and the energy of creation, Korin's portraits will remain unsurpassed masterpieces of world art. “Your heroes have posture,” high-ranking guests of his workshop told the artist. In terms of artistic style, the portraits of Pavel Korin are comparable to the portraits of his mentor, M.V. Nesterov. A special place in the artist's heritage is occupied by amazing images of the people of the Church, made in the process of preparation for, perhaps, the most important work of P.D. Korina - painting "Requiem".

Pavel Korin was born on July 8, 1892 into a family of hereditary Russian icon painters, in the village of Palekh, Vladimir province. When Pavel was five years old, his father, Dmitry Nikolaevich Korin, died. In 1903, Pavel was admitted to the icon-painting school of Palekh, from which he graduated in 1907. The family lived very poorly, and at the age of 16, Pavel left to work in Moscow. He gets a job in the icon-painting workshop of K.P. Stepanov at the Donskoy Monastery, here he gets the opportunity to improve his art.

An important stage in the development of Korin as an artist was the work on the murals for the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent in Moscow in 1908–1917. The monastery was created at the expense of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. In 1908–1912, according to the project of the architect A.V. Shchusev in the monastery on Ordynka, the main temple was erected - in honor of the Intercession of the Most Holy Theotokos. On April 8, 1912, it was consecrated. The celebration was attended by Elizaveta Fedorovna, the authorities of Moscow, the architect A.V. Shchusev, artists Viktor Vasnetsov, Vasily Polenov, Mikhail Nesterov, Ilya Ostroukhov; Korina's brothers, Pavel and Alexander, were also here. To improve the skill of the icon painter, “in the summer of 1913, Pavel Korin, architect A.V. Shchusev was sent to the Pskov-Caves Monastery to copy two shrouds of the 16th century. Then Korin visited ancient Novgorod. Images similar to the faces of the saints of Novgorod will adorn the tomb in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent.

In 1913, Elizaveta Fyodorovna asked the artist M.V. Nesterov. The temple-tomb in the name of the Forces of Heaven and All Saints was under the cathedral church of the Intercession of the Virgin. Korin was Nesterov's best assistant. Young icon painter M.V. Nesterova was personally introduced by the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna (this happened back in 1908).

In 1914, in the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, work continued on the decoration of the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin. The artist Nesterov and his assistant Korin jointly painted the main dome of the cathedral with the fresco "Father Savoaf with the Infant Jesus Christ" (a sketch in the State Tretyakov Gallery), and then Pavel Korin alone decorated the dome space of the temple, the vaults of windows and doors. The faces of archangels and seraphim in floral ornaments decorated the temple. The samples of painting were accepted by the Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, as if participating in their embodiment. After finishing the finishing work, Korin, on the recommendation of the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, went on a trip to the ancient ancient Russian cities to improve his art education. He will visit Yaroslavl, Rostov the Great, Vladimir.

On August 26, 1917, the complete consecration of the built and painted church of the Most Holy Theotokos took place.

Pavel Korin received other professional skills at the Art School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in Moscow (MUZHVZ), where he entered, having earned the necessary funds, in 1912. Here his painting teachers were Konstantin Korovin, Sergey Malyutin, Leonid Pasternak.

In the summer, Korin made a trip to Kyiv, got acquainted with the painting of the Vladimir Cathedral, its ancient frescoes, mosaics created by V. Vasnetsov, M. Nesterov, V. Zamirailo. The young artist also visited the Hermitage in Petrograd.

After graduating from MUZHVZ in 1917, Korin was invited to teach drawing at the 2nd State Art Workshops (as MUZHVZ was now called), where the artist worked through the bitter and hungry years of 1918-1919. In order to physically survive in this time of devastation and war, Pavel Korin in 1919-1922 had to get a job in the anatomist of the 1st Moscow University; this work turned out to be useful for him as an artist: he got the opportunity to improve his knowledge in human anatomy.

In 1922, in Petrograd, in the Museum of Anti-Religious Propaganda (Kazan Cathedral), the artist makes sketches of the holy relics of St. Joasaph of Belgorod. In 1931, he copied the famous painting by A. Ivanov "The Appearance of Christ to the People", when it was transferred from the Rumyantsev Museum to the Tretyakov Gallery.

In Italy in 1932, he studied the best images of the Italian classics of the Renaissance. A trip to Italy was arranged for Korin by Maxim Gorky. The artist will paint his portrait at the same time, and later, already in the 1940s, and a portrait of Gorky's wife N.A. Peshkova.

The destruction of the foundations of the Orthodox state in Russia in the 1920s was an irreparable mistake of history. In Russian and Soviet painting of the 20th century, Pavel Korin will forever remain a religious painter, a pupil of Palekh. His work developed despite the February Revolution of 1917, which was treacherous for Russia, and the policy of the Soviet state. There were no jobs for icon painters during the years of persecution of the Russian Orthodox Church. The population of the USSR, under the leadership of the Communists, apostatized from the faith of their grandfathers and fathers, Orthodox churches were closed and destroyed everywhere, only monks and hermits in monasteries preserved faith in Orthodox Russia with holy prayers. During this period, the artist's grandiose idea was born to perpetuate the "leaving Russia" on the canvas - his "Requiem".

The plot action of the picture takes place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where church hierarchs, monastics and Russian Orthodox people pray for Orthodox Russia. The picture was technically difficult to execute, because a huge canvas measuring more than 5 x 9 meters was conceived.

The creative concept of "Requiem", of course, was influenced by the painting of M.V. Nesterov. In 1901-1905, Nesterov painted the painting "Holy Russia" (kept in the State Russian Museum) - about the meeting of pilgrims with the Lord Jesus Christ. In 1911, he created the painting “The Way to Christ” for the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent: “A fifteen-yard landscape, and good people wander through it - touching and no less impressive for the mind and heart,” wrote M.V. Nesterov in a letter on March 23, 1911. - I work furiously, I hope to finish on the Passion. The painting “The Way to Christ” was located in the refectory of the monastery’s church, on its eastern wall, right in the center, and, of course, was well known to Korin, who worked here together with Nesterov in those years, as well as to many Muscovites who came to the monastery. Pavel Dmitrievich's love for this place will remain with him for life, and when the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent is closed in 1926, he, together with his brother Alexander, will save its iconostasis and murals from destruction.

Russian believers became more and more convinced of the God-fighting essence of Soviet power. In the picture P.D. Korina "Requiem" Orthodox people in black sorrow and terrible grief stand in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin and pray - for Holy Russia, for the Orthodox Church. For a long time the artist could not start working on the actual canvas “Requiem”, and then he still could not finally complete the picture, so strong were the sensations of the tragic power of grief and universal sorrow that fell upon everyone. The artist worked on the epic canvas for thirty years and three years - until 1959. 29 large portraits were made for him (they are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery). These portraits of hierarchs, hermits, monks, priests, nuns and hermits shock the audience with their harsh realism. Tragic and dramatic images of believers in Orthodox Russia today can be seen at an exhibition in the State Tretyakov Gallery (on Krymsky Val). Exhibition “Requiem”. Toward the History of the “Outgoing Russia”, which opened in November 2013, will continue until March 30 of the current year. Maxim Gorky recommended to Pavel Korin that the name of the painting "Departing Russia" after visiting the artist's studio on the Arbat in 1931. Gorky patronized Korin, and this gave the artist the opportunity to work in peace.

Simultaneously with the work on the "Requiem", Korin painted portraits of his contemporaries: mourning for the "outgoing Russia", the artist did not lose a live connection with the present, with his time, striving forward. Korin makes portraits of strong and talented people: the writer A.N. Tolstoy, scientist N.F. Gamaleya, actors V.I. Kachalova and L.M. Leonidov; visiting the island of Valaam, paints a portrait of M.V. Nesterov; later, in the 1940s, he created portraits of the sculptor S.T. Konenkov, pianist K.N. Igumnova; the 1950s include portraits by artists M.S. Saryan and Kukryniksov. These are monumental works with a perfect composition and an integral psychological image of those portrayed.

In 1942, Pavel Korin created the central part of his famous triptych "Alexander Nevsky" (kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery). The image of the heroic and majestic defender of the Fatherland was necessary for the Motherland in these mournful years for her. In the severe to the ascetic image of Prince Alexander Nevsky, heroism and unshakable steadfastness are expressed, embodying the Russian principle, consciously necessary for Soviet people in a difficult wartime. Later, the artist wrote variants of sketches for the triptych "Dmitry Donskoy" and part of the triptych "Alexander Nevsky" - "Old Tale" and "Northern Ballad". The heroic image of the warrior-commander of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky, created by P.D. Korin, has no equal in terms of its impact on the viewer.

In the autumn-winter of 1945, after the end of the Great Patriotic War, Korin painted a no less famous portrait of the commander Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery). Four times Hero of the Soviet Union, holder of two Orders of Victory, G.K. Zhukov is depicted in a marshal's uniform, with numerous orders and awards.

On June 24, 1945, Marshal Zhukov hosted the Victory Parade on Red Square in Moscow. And on September 7, 1945, the Victory Parade of the Allied Forces took place in Berlin at the Brandenburg Gate. From the Soviet Union, it was Marshal Zhukov who received the parade of units of the allied armies: the USSR, France, Great Britain and the USA. When the legendary commander returned from Berlin, Pavel Korin was invited to visit him: work began on the portrait. From the canvas, a man calmly looks at us, who for many has become a symbol of the power of the Russian army. Zhukov is stately, majestic and handsome.

In 1931-1958, Korin headed the restoration workshop of the State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow (GMII), where since the second half of the 1940s there were trophy masterpieces from the Dresden Art Gallery, for the safety of which the artist was responsible.

Korin remained an unsurpassed specialist in ancient Russian painting, subtly feeling its style, the image of the worldview conveyed by it. The artist was involved in the creation of ancient Russian images in artistic mosaic panels for the assembly hall of the Moscow State University, mosaics and stained glass windows for the Arbatskaya, Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya, Smolenskaya and Novoslobodskaya stations of the Moscow Metro. For these works in 1954 he received the State Prize of the USSR.

In 1958, Pavel Dmitrievich Korin was awarded the title of People's Artist of the RSFSR, he was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts.

In 1963, on the 45th anniversary of the artist's creative activity, his personal exhibition was opened in the halls of the Academy of Arts, he was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR.

World fame came to Korin, he visits Italy, France, the USA; in 1965 in New York, on the initiative of Armand Hammer, a large personal exhibition of the artist was organized.

From 1933 until the end of his life, Pavel Korin lived in Moscow on Malaya Pirogovskaya Street, where his working workshop was also located. In 1967, after the death of the artist, the house-museum of the artist (a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery) was created in the house at Pirogovskaya, 16.

Life in art, the creative potential of the individual is one of the main topics that worried P.D. Korina, it is no coincidence that he created so many portraits of people of art. He himself, a brilliant painter, a deep connoisseur of ancient Russian art, subtly felt both literature and music, understanding the deep connections between different types of art. A note made by Korin after Rachmaninov's concert at the Moscow Conservatory is characteristic: “Last night I was at a Rachmaninov concert at the Conservatory. “Cliff” – fantasy for orchestra and Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra were performed. What strength, what breadth and what seriousness... Genius! You need such strength and such breadth in painting.

Pavel Dmitrievich Korin was an artist not only by vocation, but also by the very place of his birth - one of the largest, most complex and tragic masters of Russian art of the 20th century was born on June 25 (July 7), 1892 in the famous Palekh, in a family of hereditary icon painters.

House of the Korins in Palekh. From the side of the garden. 1929. Paper. Gouache 12.5x23. Collection of P.T.Korina

Korin knew his roots, loved and kept memories associated with childhood: a hotly heated village hut, he and his brother watched on the stove as his father concentrated with the thinnest brush, draws a web of golden ornament over densely laid paints. In the dusk, the mysterious eyes of the saints on the icons darkened with time - they were painted by Pavel's grandfather and great-grandfather; they knew the faces of the saints as well as the faces of their loved ones. Korin was related to this world by blood. He himself graduated from an icon-painting school, worked in icon-painting workshops, helped Nesterov to paint the church of the Martha and Mary Convent. Later, having become a secular painter, he painfully overcame the traditions of icon painting in his works - "skinning my skin, I got out of the icon painter."

But, having formed at first precisely as a master icon painter, Pavel Korin forever retained an interest in the inner world of a person and subsequently became one of the outstanding portrait painters of our time. Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov, one of the outstanding masters of our art, had a huge influence on the formation of the creative style and, above all, the worldview of the young artist.

Korina had a real, great friendship with Nesterov. On the recommendation of this well-known by that time master, in 1912 Pavel entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in the studio of K. A. Korovin and S. V. Malyutin. In communication with him, in joint work, conversations, Pavel Korin found his themes, the monumentality and passion of his artistic method.

The influence of Mikhail Nesterov, who understood art as a spiritual feat, admiration for the work of Alexander Ivanov, served as sources of the artist's asceticism throughout his life. For 12 years, Pavel Dmitrievich worked on the epic Requiem. Russia is leaving” - a series of sketches gigantic in form and inner spirit for an unrealized picture, which in the final version became evidence of the triumph of spirit and faith in the days of disasters and the destruction of minds.

Among the most famous works of Pavel Korin are the triptychs "Alexander Nevsky", "Dmitry Donskoy", "Flashlights", magnificent portraits and landscapes, grandiose mosaic panels for the Moscow Metro. Korin is also known as a talented restorer who brought back to life many beautiful masterpieces, including paintings from the Dresden Gallery.

During the Great Patriotic War, Korin turned to the images of the heroic past of Russia. In his Moscow workshop, he created mosaic panels for the Palace of Soviets, depicting on them the great Russian commanders and defenders of their native land Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov - the images of the Great Ancestors, which Stalin mentioned in his address to the people at a military parade 1941.

Then in the early morning November 7, 1941 it was snowing heavily in Moscow. Soldiers, cavalry, armored vehicles, and a combined orchestra were moving up to Red Square. The day before, the disguise was removed from the Mausoleum and the Kremlin stars. Commentators were preparing to talk about the upcoming event on the radio. In a few minutes, a military parade will begin that will shake the world and go down in the history of wars as an unparalleled military operation.

The day before, the Nazis came close to the capital, bombed planes daily, the city went into a state of siege, and on October 15 a decision was made on a general evacuation. It seemed to many that this was the end, that we had lost, that from day to day the enemy would take Moscow. Disturbing rumors spread, panic began. It was necessary to support people, instill faith in them, strengthen their spirit in this difficult time. And one more thing - to show the enemies that the Soviet soldier is strong and it’s too early to celebrate the victory: after all, the plans of the German leadership were to hold their own march of the winners on November 7, and marble for the monument to the German army was already being transported in railway cars, intending to install it on Red Square.

On that memorable day, from the walls of the Mausoleum, the country heard words by I.V. Stalin:

It was a parade of the invincible Russian spirit. Indeed, in any struggle, the one in whom the spirit is strong, who does not give up to the last, wins, no matter how difficult it is. The event was of tremendous importance, people again believed that Victory would be ours, and with renewed vigor they began to smash the Nazis. And despite the fact that in mid-November the Nazi offensive against Moscow continued with renewed vigor, a turning point had already occurred in the public consciousness. On December 5, 1941, the counteroffensive of the Soviet troops began, as a result of which the Germans retreated from the capital, and the plan for the lightning capture of the Soviet Union was finally failed.

Pavel Korin was among those who listened to Stalin's speech. When, after the war, in the early 1950s, the architect A.V. Shchusev, with a proposal to do the decoration of a new metro station dedicated to the Victory in the Great Patriotic War, Korin remembered that very speech of the leader.

The "images of the great ancestors" mentioned by Stalin became the subjects of eight mosaic panels made according to P. Korin's sketches. On the central vault of the platform hall of the metro station "Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya" these huge sparkling paintings of colored stones and smalt - opaque colored glass - for many years immortalized the victories of Russian weapons and victories of the Russian spirit. Work on sketches and mosaics was carried out in 1951-1952, the station itself opened on January 30, 1952.

8 mosaic panels Art. m. "Komsomolskaya-ring"

Alexander Nevskiy

Mosaic "Alexander Nevsky". Komsomolskaya ring station of the Moscow metro

Alexander Nevsky is almost a household name, and yet this is a real person who was only 19 years old when he led the battle for which he received his nickname "Nevsky". The Swedish ruler Birger, approaching our borders, sent a letter to Novgorod with the following content: “Prince Alexander, if you want to resist me, then I am already here and already trampling on your land. Better come and bow, and ask for my mercy, and I will give it if I want. If you resist me, then I will enslave and destroy all your land, and you and your children will become my slaves. After the defeat on the Neva, the Swedes forgot the road to Russia for almost 400 years.

Dmitry Donskoy

Mosaic "Dmitry Donskoy. Morning of the Kulikovo field»

Prince of Moscow Dmitry Donskoy - on a white horse and with a banner, which depicts the Savior Not Made by Hands (as in the first panel). And this was in Soviet times, which in itself is an interesting fact. The figure of the prince, as it were, merges with the background, acts together with the army as a single whole. This is a reflection of the historical significance of the main merit of Prince Dmitry: in the face of the enemy, he managed to unite the previously disparate Russian regions into one force. His ancestors - the Moscow princes - did it politically, he completed their work, proving with a victory over Mamai that Russia is united and therefore strong. After 150 years of dependence on another state, we did not give up and won. And although there was still a hundred years left before complete liberation, the significance of the Battle of Kulikovo is enormous. She did the main thing: she strengthened the spirit of the people and their faith in complete victory.

Here they are, the warriors of the spirit - Peresvet and Oslyabya, Korin depicted them in the foreground of the picture. Monks and heroes, in the form of which spiritual strength is combined with physical.

Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky

Mosaic "Minin and Pozharsky"

We have been celebrating National Unity Day on November 4 for several years. Leaders of the people's militia, winners of the Polish interventions of 1612. Here they are - with a golden sacred banner on Red Square. Dmitry Pozharsky - in the center in rich chain mail and a princely cloak, behind him - militia forces; to the left on a black horse - Kuzma Minin, with his hand raised, behind him - people from young to old. In the foreground is a Russian family: father, mother and son.
The main ideological inspirer and practical organizer of the movement was Minin. Before him, several liberation campaigns against Moscow were undertaken under the leadership of various leaders, but they were all unsuccessful. What is the mystery of this simple city dweller-merchant who managed to do what was beyond the power of military leaders? It's simple: he, unlike others, did not share power, completely transferring control of the people's army to the commander of the princely family Pozharsky, and did not steal people's money, being an honest man and sincerely fighting for freedom and truth. He acted according to his conscience, and therefore they believed him and were ready to fight to the end.

Alexander Suvorov

Mosaic "Suvorov"

The allied army of Austria betrayed two Russian armies: Suvorov and Rimsky-Korsakov. The three forces were supposed to meet at a certain time in a designated place, having previously completed their part of the mission. After the unification of forces in Switzerland, it was planned to defeat the troops of the enemy - the French. The Russian commanders exactly followed the agreements, the Austrian ones first supplied Suvorov with an unreliable map of the Alps, and then completely left the theater of operations, in fact leaving both armies of the Russian Empire to die separately, which had previously liberated Italy from the power of Napoleon.

When the field marshal saw sheer cliffs on the way and it became clear that the road that the allies were talking about simply did not exist, he decided to move on: after all, General Rimsky-Korsakov was waiting ahead with his soldiers. If Suvorov does not come, Rimsky-Korsakov's army will be outnumbered and defeated. Neither snow, nor bare stones, nor slippery clay stopped the "miracle heroes" (as Suvorov called his soldiers) when crossing the wild Rosshtok mountain range.
After that, it turned out that the army of Rimsky-Korsakov, abandoned by the Austrians, had already been defeated. And Suvorov's troops were destined for death, because where the allies should have been, there were fresh, well-trained French regiments. Under the leadership of Suvorov, tired and exhausted Russian soldiers and Cossacks (they can also be seen on the mosaic) were not only able to get out of the encirclement, but also repulsed all attacks of the enemy, which was much superior in number. It was simply impossible to do so. The only option was to either die or surrender. In the most difficult moments of crossing the Alps, when the soldiers stopped in front of danger in indecision, the 69-year-old Field Marshal sang cheerful songs and rode forward on horseback.

Suvorov's biography, published in 1900, began with the following words: "The fame of him will not end ... as long as moral principles play at least some role in the activities of mankind and as long as spiritual forces are put above physical ones."

Mikhail Kutuzov

Mosaic "Kutuzov"

It is illogical, but true: it was after the capture of Moscow by Napoleon that a series of defeats of the French army began. Kutuzov generally acted incomprehensibly to many: he retreated, evaded big battles, as a result of the Battle of Borodino he did not win anything from the enemy. True, later, all of his "incomprehensible" decisions were called brilliant and "models of strategic maneuver" in the history of military art.

As a result of the retreat, Kutuzov preserved and well prepared the Russian troops, near Borodino he disabled almost half of the Napoleonic army, which was considered invincible, near Borodino, and as a result of the surrender of Moscow and a number of well-planned actions, he first weakened the French, then forced them to start a retreat and, as a result, almost completely destroyed. The Patriotic War of 1812 could be considered over due to the absence of an enemy army as such. And all this - with moderate losses of our army.
Kutuzov took care of the lives of soldiers and did not strive for triumphant victories in big battles. He acted outside the box, because he was a talented commander and, first of all, he thought about the salvation of Russia, and not about his own glory. His famous saying still sounds philosophical and applies to many situations in life: "Everything comes in time for those who know how to wait."

Banner of the great Lenin

Mosaic “Speech by V.I. Lenin in front of the Red Guards going to the front"

Lenin can be treated differently, but one way or another, his image for the Soviet people was inspiring. Historically, all moral ideals were concentrated in this created image of the leader. The Soviet state, threatened by Hitler, was formed in 1922 by Lenin, therefore, speaking about the defense of the Motherland, they also talked about him. The banner of the great Lenin is what was sacred, expensive and could lead to battle.
If you take a closer look at the panel, you can see the unevenness of some areas of the mosaic - interspersed with tesserae, as if not quite the right color. There is an explanation for this. Previously, the image looked very different, and the original plot was later redone. From the point of view of artistic integrity, it was the first mosaic canvas that ideally fit into the concept of the entire design of the station. He wore both the victorious banner of the great Lenin and the triumph of the invincible Russian spirit.

This plot is the same memorable military parade. Comrade I.V. Stalin, together with the banner, seems to be handing the very fate of the country into the hands of the soldier. On the right - battalions of cadets in winter uniforms, on the left - members of the Soviet leadership who participated in the parade: V.M. Molotov, G.M. Malenkov, M.I. Kalinin, K.E. Voroshilov and A.S. Shcherbakov. On the day of the opening of the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya metro station in early 1952, this particular picture was on the vault. It is clear that after the "debunking of the personality cult" a full-length panel with the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was extremely undesirable, despite the fact that it fully corresponded to historical truth. From above, a decision was made to remake it, which was completed by 1963.

Triumph of Victory

Mosaic "The Capture of the Reichstag"

Here is another symbolic "banner of the great Lenin." But this is already the Banner of Victory. The joyful, bright faces of the victorious soldiers against the backdrop of Soviet banners and the walls of the Reichstag - as a triumph of Victory not only over a hostile state, but also over fascism itself. Under the feet of the heroes, you can see the defeated fascist swastikas. The end of the war, the end of the ideas of Nazism, the end of Hitler's terrible plans, the world is saved. Perhaps this is the most life-affirming of all panels.
They say that every soldier who participated in the storming of the Reichstag had a piece of scarlet fabric made from anything - from tablecloths, curtains, sewn from pieces in haste. Occupying the interior, flights of stairs, floors, the soldiers attached here and there their small Banners of Victory.

Mosaic "Triumph of Victory"

Initially, Stalin was also on this panel. called mosaic "Victory Parade (defeated fascist banners)". Fascist banners can be seen even now - the allegorical figure of the Motherland walks along them towards the viewer. In her right hand are symbols of the Soviet state, a hammer and sickle, in her left hand is an olive branch, a symbol of peace. There is no one else. Until the early 1960s, they were. After the well-known XXII Congress of the CPSU, the mosaic was “corrected”, removing the Stalin Mausoleum and members of the Politburo from the podium.

That is why a woman suddenly appeared among the 8 mosaic panels of the station - this symbolic image somewhat got out of the general concrete historical style, but in an unexpected way illustrated the words from Stalin's speech on November 7, 1941. The image of the Motherland appears before us in its collective meaning: Moscow, Red Square, Spasskaya Tower, Mausoleum, hammer and sickle, Peace, Victory over Nazi Germany, Victory Parade of 1945, Woman-Russia - the same as on Mamaev Kurgan - serious , strong and invincible.

The area of ​​each mosaic panel - 30 sq. m, the weight - 3 tons, the number of typesetting elements - 300 thousand pieces. Majestic in terms of the strength of the emotional impact on the viewer, these are also grandiose in terms of technique and quality of execution, works of Soviet monumental art. The sketches were made in full size, and according to them, teams of craftsmen laid out paintings from pieces. colored stones and colored glass (smalt). Then they were transferred to a base covered with cement mortar. The finished slab was installed on the vault of the station, at a height 9 meters.

While working on a mosaic panel for the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya station. 1951

Assembling a mosaic panel in the workshop. From the archive of the Moscow Metrostroy

Mosaic maker at work on the panel "Dmitry Donskoy" for the metro station "Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya"

Artist Pavel Korin at the Minin and Pozharsky panel for the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya metro station

Installation of a mosaic panel for the Komsomolskaya-Koltsevaya metro station

According to the tradition of mosaic painting, the backgrounds of the panels were made of gilded. The golden background on icons and mosaics is an ancient Christian symbol of Divine glory. The artist Pavel Korin, who knew the traditions of Russian and Byzantine art well, applied this technique, well known since ancient times, in his work. That is why the mosaics give the impression of timelessness, special grandeur and solemnity, and those that depict princes and banners with the Savior are completely similar to icons.

The layout of the station "Komsomolskaya-ring" in 1958 received the Grand Prix at the World Exhibition in Brussels. In addition to evaluating the architectural project, the closest attention was also paid to the "illustrative" part, represented by Korin's mosaics.

When the artist was ordered to change the mosaics, he decided to leave those parts of the image that were not in doubt with the new management and could be used in the composition. Alterations were made right on the spot - at night, at a time when the metro was not working. Gradually, from 1961 to 1963, the panels acquired their present form.

Hall of Victory

The chief architect of the "Komsomolskaya-ring" Aleksey Viktorovich Shchusev called his brainchild "Victory Hall". It's amazing, but the ideological and artistic content of the station is not limited to the glorification of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War - despite the fact that the station was designed immediately in the post-war years, in the wake of universal triumph and rejoicing. The main hall presents the theme of Russian victories in a voluminous, retrospective way, leading the viewer into the very depths of centuries.

The heroes-leaders and the whole people overcame the enemies in such gloomy times, in which it was impossible not only to win, but also to survive. We've been through everything.

Art. m. Komsomolskaya-ring. Perspective. 2013

P.S. At the entrance to the platform hall, where a sign with information about the station now hangs, a marble plaque was nailed earlier. On it are carved the words of Stalin from a speech of 1941: “Let the courageous image of our great ancestors - Alexander Nevsky, Dimitri Donskoy, Kuzma Minin, Dimitri Pozharsky, Alexander Suvorov, Mikhail Kutuzov inspire you in this war! May the victorious banner of the great Lenin overshadow you !".

Although the commemorative plaque was removed, illustrations remained on the vault - majestic, shining pictures of stone. And as long as we know and remember who is on them, Victory will always be ours.

P.D. Korin. Mosaic sketch for Komsomolskaya metro station. 1951-52. Museum-apartment of the artist P.D. Korin

Alexander Nevskiy. Mosaic. Komsomolskaya ring station of the Moscow metro

Korin Pavel. Dmitry Donskoy. Morning of the Kulikovo field. Mosaic panel sketch. 1951. Paper, oil, gold 101x74. House-Museum of P.D. Korin - a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery

Mosaic on Komsomolskaya. Dmitry Donskoy. Morning of the Kulikovo field»

In 1942-1943, Korin worked on the triptych "Alexander Nevsky", glorifying the power and steadfastness of Russian soldiers.

In the central part of the triptych, the artist depicted a full-length figure of Alexander Nevsky. In the hands of the prince, dressed in the armor of a Russian warrior gleaming with metal, is a huge sword. Rising above the horizon, Alexander Nevsky obscures the gloomy sky, the city spread out on the river bank with white-stone temples. Above the head of the prince flutters a banner with the face of an angry Savior. Vertically elongated, laconic and strict composition has a monumental and majestic appearance.

Alexander Nevskiy. The central part of the triptych "Alexander Nevsky". 1942. Oil on canvas 275x142. State Tretyakov Gallery

In its left part, called the "Northern Ballad", a woman in a black headscarf and an elderly warrior are depicted. With his right hand, he leans on a sparkling sword, his left hand extended forward, as if protecting his companion and the city, the buildings of which are visible behind him. Slender trunks of trees growing on the shore emphasize the solemn grandeur of human figures.

Northern ballad. The left part of the triptych "Alexander Nevsky". 1943. Oil on canvas 275x250. State Tretyakov Gallery

The painting "An Old Tale", the right side of the triptych, is a three-figure composition. Striving for monumentality, the author gave it a somewhat theatrical look. As in the other two parts, the human figures in the painting are located high above the horizon line. In the center of the composition is a small fragile old woman leaning on a stick. Delicate, painted with almost transparent strokes, the flowers surrounding the woman seem to repeat the wonderful patterns of her clothes. The artist depicted on his canvas the famous northern storyteller Krivopolenova. Next to her are the defenders of the Russian land - a tall, muscular young man and a mighty gray-bearded old man.

Flashes. Left side of the triptych. 1966. Oil on paper 27x25. House-Museum of P.D. Korin - a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery

Flashes. The central part of the triptych. 1966. Oil on paper 27x25. House-Museum of P.D. Korin - a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery

Flashes. The right side of the triptych. 1966. Oil on paper 27x25. House-Museum of P.D. Korin - a branch of the State Tretyakov Gallery

Pavel Dmitrievich in the last years of his life passionately wanted to complete his painting “Requiem. Russia is leaving. The only serious obstacle was age and a sharp deterioration in health. He was already about seventy years old, he suffered two heart attacks, and the work required a lot of strength. And yet the master did not want to give up. Korin was even going to order a special lifting chair and start work. But his strength waned, and shortly before his death, the artist said bitterly: "I didn't have time."

Pavel Dmitrievich Korin died in Moscow on November 22, 1967. He was buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Korin's paintings are deeply human, deeply pictorial - this is a high step in the development of Russian art. And Korin's life - intense, passionate, entirely devoted to art - can serve as an example for many artists.

The watercolor "" hangs in the Tretyakov Gallery. This is a simple medium - Russian landscape: low slopes, ravines, on the slope - dark log huts, all around - autumn fields ... A utterly simple landscape, but in every line of it - rye wort, dandelions, a bell tower directed to the sky - there is so much charm that the viewer can stand in front of this picture for a long time and, leaving, mark in memory the name of the great artist Pavel Korin.

" was written by Korin in 1927. Few people knew the artist then. He lived, unknown, somewhere in the attic on the Arbat and dreamed on the canvases of the quiet expanses of the Vladimir-Shuya native land. Perhaps this seclusion would have continued for a long time if the discoverer of talents, Gorky, had not found Pavel Korin.

Korin knew Gorky's work very well, he had seen the writer more than once at art exhibitions. At one of them, Gorky drew attention to the work of Pavel Korin and expressed a desire to visit his workshop.

September 3, 1931, Korin remembered for the rest of his life. On that day, Gorky came to his studio and found, God knows how, the attic of an artist from Paleshan. Carefully, one by one, he looked at Korin's works. He especially liked the group portrait "" - one of the sketches for the painting "". He looked at sketches, copies from Ivanov and said:

- Excellent. You are a great artist. You have something to say! - the writer said to Korin.

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1929. Canvas, oil. 130 x 68

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1931. Canvas, oil. 204 x 142

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1925. Canvas, oil. 73 x 94.5

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1935. Canvas, oil. 244 x 137

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1937. Canvas, oil. 244 x 137

Sketch for the painting "Departing Russia". 1933. Canvas, oil. 217 x 196

- To Italy, my sir, go ... to Italy!

- Yes, how to go - then, Alexei Maksimovich?

- Come with me. Here I am going in a month, and you pack up.

Such a high assessment of Gorky was a complete surprise for Korina. Thus began their friendship.

Korin lived in Italy for about a year. In the galleries of Florence, Rome, he discovered the high art of the Renaissance. And he, a hereditary icon painter, who absorbed the traditions of Russian national painting into flesh and blood, began to study the works of Michelangelo. Raphael. Korin made many skillful copies, wandered with a sketchbook around the outskirts of Rome, where Alexander Ivanov had previously painted sketches.

At the same time, the artist had the idea to write portrait of Gorky. Daring dream! After all, Gorky was painted by outstanding Russian artists - V.A. Serov, I.E. Repin, M.V. Nesterov, in the Soviet era - V.M. Khodasevich, I.I. Brodsky and many other painters.

But Gorky, as if guessing the thoughts of the artist, once said himself:

- You know what - write - a portrait of me.

Korin was excited. Will he be able to capture for the descendants of the great writer the way he was now, on the slope of his life?

Gorky encouraged him:

- Nothing, nothing, handle it, it will come out!

“A big, old man, who has passed the mountains and crossroads of life, is standing to his full height, looking ahead and thinking about his own. The artist emphasized the past years with sharp folds of wrinkles on the cheeks and neck, broad shoulders slightly hunched over from the severity of the years endured, drooping eyebrows and unruly strands of gray hair on the right temple and senile mustaches hiding lips - yes, an old man! And then look at your eyes. Clear, intent, they see far and see new roads along which one must go, along which life is already going, and this person along with it. And his wrinkles, and gray hair, and the tiredness of the body emphasized by the artist make him look younger in a special way, give him a special strength and strength, uh, yes, this old man is younger than many of us, ”the playwright L. Afinogenov wrote about the portrait of Alexei Maksimovich Gorky, which was written in 1932.

In one of the letters to his wife Korin tells about the work on the portrait: “I wrote, Pashenka, today with a frenzy, my throat is dry, my back is all wet, even Alexei Maksimovich noticed, he says: “Your eyes are hollow.” A few days later he continues in another letter: “Hurrah! Hooray! Hooray! The portrait is out. The head is almost ready, it remains a bit to finish tomorrow. Everyone is delighted. Aleksey Maksimovich himself is satisfied. Here are his words: ... Many wrote from me, and everything is unsuccessful, your portrait is successful.

Later, in his memoirs, Korin told how, during joint walks with Gorky, he saw the writer as he captured him in the portrait: “He walked, leaning on a stick, stooping, his angular shoulders rose high, graying hair stood up above his high forehead; he walked, deep in thought, against the backdrop of the Gulf of Naples.

Work on the portrait was completed in 1932 and Gorky donated it to the Tretyakov Gallery. In later years Korin made a lot drawings about to write another portrait of Gorky, but this was prevented by the death of the writer in 1936. Korin did drawing and from the deceased Gorky. Now it is kept in the writer's museum in Moscow.

A year passed, and Moscow heard about the young painter. At the exhibition "XV years of the RSFSR" in 1933 appeared portrait of A.M. Gorky written by Pavel Korin in Sorrento.

The painting caused controversy. Some pointed out that the anatomical details were not verified, others - that the painting was dryish, whitish. But no matter what professionals say about individual imperfections, the viewer was captivated by the monumental figure of Gorky, standing on the seashore, leaning on a stick.

The dream of becoming an artist came to Korin early, in his childhood. And this is not an accident: he was born and raised in the world-famous village of Palekh in the family of an icon painter. Currently, this village in the Ivanovo region is the center of miniature painting on lacquerware. For several centuries, the Korin family gave many painters, but the most outstanding was Pavel Dmitrievich Korin. Before becoming an artist by vocation, he was one by birth. Recalling his childhood, Korin talked about how his father and older brothers worked, how wonderful pictures appeared on special boards prepared by his mother - bright and colorful. Usually the whole family worked in the creation of icons. As a child, Pavel learned to grind paints, prepare boards on which icons were painted. But not only icon painting was the source of artistic education for Pavel Korin. The very life of the Paleshans, their houses with wooden carvings, painted walls, the surrounding nature are marked by special beauty.

Etude. 1928. Canvas, oil. 12 x 13.4

Paper, watercolor. 21 x 30

Paper. Gouache. 12.5 x 23

The boy's giftedness manifested itself early, but the narrow confines of icon-painting traditions made it impossible for his talent to develop. Many advised Pavel to go to Moscow to study with the masters of painting. But Pavel Korin did not immediately find the road to great art. For many years he worked in icon-painting workshops in Moscow, first as an apprentice, then as a master. The case brought Korin in 1911 with the wonderful Russian painter M.V. Nesterov.

“Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov,” Korin recalled, “had a huge influence on me. I was eighteen years old, and I was an icon painter who dreamed of high art. And here is the meeting with Nesterov. About art Nesterov always spoke ardently and somehow sublimely. In one of the conversations, he told me: "You know, Korin, art is a feat." Later, on my life path as an artist, I understood the truth of these words, and then I believed. I worked together with Mikhail Vasilyevich, I saw how he writes: the whole method of his work amazed and delighted me. I learned the art of execution from him.”

Having met the young man Korin, Nesterov immediately guessed his deep nature, talent, nobility, and extraordinary mind. He advised the young painter to enter the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. “You need a systematic art education,” he told Korin. In 1912, at the age of twenty, Korin became a student of this school. The outstanding Russian painters - K.A. Korovina, S.V. Malyutina, A.E. Arkhipov, he studied the art of drawing, composition, perspective, tone, color, mastered the basics of the artist's skill, but he always considered Nesterov his teacher first of all.

Many years later Korin created portrait of Nesterov. He perfectly conveyed the severe restraint of his teacher and his passionate love for art.

The portrait is dynamic: it seems that Korin shook Nesterov at the moment of a sharp, principled dispute about art.

This friendship continued for many years. In Nesterov's house, Korin met outstanding scientists, writers, and artists. Nesterov had an invaluable influence on the formation of the aesthetic and social views of the young artist.

Korin learned a lot from Nesterov: devotion to Russian art, exactingness, tireless search for the new. Throughout his life, Korin sought to improve his skills and not stop there.

Korin graduated from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1916. A year later, the Great October Socialist Revolution took place. Before the eyes of the artist, a new life was being created.

Korin was offered to work at the school, which became known as " Free art workshops". Korin taught, together with V.V. Mayakovsky worked in the windows of satire ROSTA, wrote revolutionary slogans, painted posters, participated in the design of the festive decoration of the streets. All the time Korin worked tirelessly as a painter, improved his skills, painted copies of the works of the great masters of Russian painting. In order to study the anatomy of the human body more deeply, he worked for several years in the anatomical theater.

Every summer, Korin went to his native Palekh, painted sketches there, culminating in the painting - panorama " My motherland”, on which the artist worked for a considerable twenty years.

Korin always wanted to paint a Russian landscape "subtly, chased and with a solemn mood." And he created a typical poetic image of Russian nature, its middle zone. Coniferous and deciduous forests, fields crossed by country roads, a gray-blue evening sky - this is how Palekh captured Pavel Korin in his picture. Panoramic landscape is Korin's favorite genre in painting. The creative heritage of the artist has a lot landscapes of Italy, central Russia, Crimea.

Love for art, the desire to preserve the greatest works of the past for posterity prompted Korin to collect and restore paintings. For forty-five years Korin collected his collection of ancient Russian painting and then donated it to the Tretyakov Gallery. Often the works of ancient masters fell into the hands of Korin in such a way that years of hard painstaking work were needed before the pristine beauty appeared before the viewer.

Restoration fascinated Korin, the artist gave him many years. Hundreds of masterpieces of Russian and world classics found a second life, having been in the skillful and talented hands of the artist-restorer Pavel Korin. For almost ten years, Korin led a group of restorers in the workshops of the Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, who restored life to the masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery. Korin himself restored Raphael's Sistine Madonna. The restoration work was Korin's civic feat. And although she took away the precious time from the artist, which he needed to create his own works, he devoted himself entirely to her. And there were a lot of creative ideas. Back in the 30s he began to work on a series of portraits of his contemporaries: scientists, writers, pilots, artists. Already the portrait of Gorky determined a special, "Korin" style in the portrait genre.

Canvas, oil. 105 x 95

Canvas, oil. 216x110

Canvas, oil. 140 x 126

The artist never aspired to a documentary-narrative image. For him, the main thing was to recreate the character of a person, to reveal his spiritual essence. Portraits of Korin conveyed the charm of the person depicted, it seemed that the artist wants to convey to the viewer part of his love for those whose portraits he paints.

Korin was attracted by bright human characters. In 1940 he began work on portrait of People's Artist Vasily Ivanovich Kachalov, whose performances were a holiday for contemporaries.

In this portrait, he wanted to convey a sense of the joy of art, its festivity, optimism, faith in happiness, penetrating the work of Kachalov. Korin portrayed the artist in full growth, emphasizing in his figure monumentality, stately posture. Posing for the artist, Kachalov read him poetry, excerpts from performances.

During the Great Patriotic War, Korin turns to the themes of the heroic past of the Russian people. He is painting a huge triptych.”

The left part of the triptych "Alexander Nevsky". 1942 - 1943. Oil on canvas.

The central part of the triptych. 1942. Triptych. Canvas, oil. 275×142

The right part of the triptych "Alexander Nevsky". 1942 - 1943. Oil on canvas.

The image of Alexander Nevsky, who saved Russia from foreign enslavement, was close to the artist, echoed the characters of his contemporaries who defended the Soviet country from the Nazis. In the central part of the triptych "" Korin depicted a Russian prince on the banks of the Volkhov River. In the distance one can see the golden domes of the St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod, the close ranks of soldiers.

When Novgorod was liberated from the Nazis by the Soviet Army in 1944, a huge copy of this painting was installed at the entrance to the city. The Old Russian warrior greeted his heroic descendants.

Finished work on the triptych. Korin started writing a series portraits of Soviet commanders, among which was a portrait of an outstanding Soviet commander Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov.

In the post-war years, Korin was increasingly fascinated by the portrait genre. In 1956, he paints a group portrait of famous Soviet artists - satirists Kukryniksy. “I was working on a portrait,” Korin recalled, “I wrote Mikhail Vasilyevich Kupriyanov(KU), Porfiry Nikitich Krylov(KRY), Nikolai Alexandrovich Sokolov(NIKS), and also painted artists Kukryniksy. This was the most important thing in my portrait.

I wanted to understand and express what made them so. The portrait was difficult. I had to convey the inner spiritual posture of each of them and unite in one powerful, extremely expressive and sharp posture the artists of the Kukryniksy, the artists of political satire ... "

Korin loved to paint people of art, especially attracted to his painters. Penetrating into the artist's creative world, capturing the originality and originality of his talent in his portrait - such a task seemed especially interesting to Korin.

Soviet sculptor Sergei Timofeevich Konenkov Korin depicted in a working blouse. It seems that the sculptor has just moved away from the machine. His large, overworked hands lie quietly, resting. The gaze is turned to the work just completed. The portrait was painted in 1947, when the name of the sculptor was already widely known.

In 1961, in Italy, Korin met with the outstanding Italian artist Renato Guttuso, whose work he had long known from many Moscow and European exhibitions. Guttuso is a progressive artist, his favorite characters are peasants, fishermen, workers. Korin wrote Guttuso in his studio. A small room, one of the artist's paintings hangs on the wall, there are cans of paints. Guttuso sits on a folding chair, as if interrupting his work for a second.

Korin began, as usual, with a pencil drawing. By the end of the first session, when the artist sketched the outline of the head, Renato and his friends who were in the studio decided that the portrait was almost ready. Great was their surprise when Korin persistently and stubbornly searched for the desired background for the portrait for many more days, sought to convey as accurately as possible in colors the passionate character of the Italian painter, implacable to evil, to transfer the sunny colors of Guttuso's homeland - Sicily to the canvas.

The last years of his life, Korin was fascinated by monumental art. He dreamed that his works would decorate public buildings.

Once the architect A.N. came to visit Pavel Dmitrievich. Shchusev. He invited Korin to create mosaics for the design of the Moscow metro station " Komsomolskaya - ring road”, which was built according to his project.

Shchusev used the motifs of ancient Russian architecture in the architecture of this station. Korin created eight mosaics on the themes of the history of Russia, and today they adorn the ceiling of the station. One of the most successful works is a mosaic depicting a Moscow prince Dmitry Donskoy defender of Russian lands from the Tatar-Mongol conquerors.

Smalt, marble, mosaic

Smalt, marble, mosaic

Smalt, marble, mosaic

Korin worked with different materials, created mosaics, wall paintings, stained glass windows.

Mosaic pictures of the metro station Komsomolskaya - ring road", colored stained-glass windows of the station" Novoslobodskaya" and residential building on Vosstaniya Square, plafonds of the assembly hall of the University

1951. Smalt, marble, mosaic

In 1962, the country honored Pavel Dmitrievich Korin. He is 70 years old. Academician, laureate of the Lenin Prize, People's Artist of the USSR, he received worldwide recognition. Lived for over thirty years P.D. Korin in a house specially built for him on the initiative of A.M. Gorky in one of the picturesque corners of Moscow - not far from Zubovskaya Square. Many of his works were created here. Friends of the artist liked to come here - writers, scientists, actors, artists. This house after the death of Korin became a branch of the Tretyakov Gallery.

For twenty-seven years in the studio of the artist Pavel Dmitrievich Korin there was a huge canvas prepared for work. All this time, Korin hoped to start writing the main picture of his life - "Requiem". As a result, he did not make a single stroke on the canvas. Pavel Korin's blank canvas has organically acquired an independent status in contemporary art. It is exhibited at exhibitions along with the finished works of the artist, today's critics are again and again trying to comprehend the meaning of this unpainted picture: it is both an "icon of giant light" and the antithesis of Malevich's Black Square. For Korin himself, a blank canvas is a sore wound, an eternal reproach to himself: "I did not do what I could do."

Pavel Korin. Sketch "Requiem" for the painting "Departing Russia", 1935-1959.

The theme of the unpainted picture originated with Korin back in 1925, during the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon in the Donskoy Monastery. There were hundreds of thousands of people at the funeral. Farewell to the patriarch was open. Despite the danger of persecution, for five days the flow of people to the coffin did not stop for a minute. Everyone then, from the bishops to the poor old women and holy fools, asked himself the question: what will be the position of the Church now? It seemed that together with the patriarch, the former old era was irretrievably leaving. The time has come for the Blok Red Army soldiers with their historical mission: "Let's fire a bullet at Holy Russia" - the time of mass martyrdom for the faith.

Korin was at the funeral with his friend and mentor Mikhail Nesterov. There was a high probability that they would never see such a farewell in the new Russia again. It was then that Korin felt that he had to capture the world of the Church, which was native to him, farewell not only to the patriarch, but also to the old, pre-revolutionary Russia. It was important for him not only to artistically reflect real events, but also to comprehend what was behind them. Later, Nesterov would write about Korin's sketches for the painting: "Korin reflected the revolution."

Listening to Berlioz's Requiem in the hall of columns, Korin makes a note in his notebook: “What greatness! This is how you would paint a picture. "Day of Wrath", a day of judgment that will turn the world to ashes."

last parade

Pavel Korin comes from Palekh, from an old family of hereditary icon painters. He knew his roots, loved and kept memories associated with childhood: a hotly heated village hut, he and his brother watched on the stove as his father concentrated with the thinnest brush, draws a web of golden ornament over densely laid paints. In the dusk, the mysterious eyes of the saints on the icons darkened with time - they were painted by Pavel's grandfather and great-grandfather; they knew the faces of the saints as well as the faces of their loved ones. Korin was related to this world by blood. He himself graduated from an icon-painting school, worked in icon-painting workshops, helped Nesterov to paint the church of the Martha and Mary Convent. Later, having become a secular painter, he painfully overcame the traditions of icon painting in his works - "skinning my skin, I got out of the icon painter."

Shiigumenya Tamar. 1935., photo http://cultobzor.ru/

The first study for the conceived picture was written by Korin already in 1925. This is a portrait of an old man, Gervasy Ivanovich.

The wrinkled face of a man who lived a lot, saw a lot, fought as a soldier back in the Caucasian War. The dispossessed people look through the eyes of this old man. He may have been praying all his life in a forlorn wooden church, which they now burned in a drunken brawl as a symbol of the old world.

To persuade the church hierarchs, whom Korin saw at the funeral of Patriarch Tikhon, to pose for the picture seemed impossible. Mikhail Nesterov helped, he persuaded his confessor, Metropolitan Tryphon, to give Korin several posing sessions.

Metropolitan Tryphon, in the world the prince of Turkestans, was close to the circle of the Optina elders - the Monks Ambrose and Barsanuphius of Optina. He graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow University. During the First World War, he served as a regimental priest at the front, lost sight in one eye. He was called the "Moscow Chrysostom" - he was a wonderful preacher, and also the "cook's bishop" - because he loved to serve the early liturgies for the working people.

Metropolitan Pavel Korin depicts in a flaming red Easter vestment. In his prayerful fervor, he seems to see clearly what awaits Russia ahead, what awaits this new Soviet man who no longer needs Christian morality.

With the unspoken blessing of Bishop Tryphon, Orthodox Moscow begins to pose for Korina for a picture. After a long search, he leaves the original idea to write the funeral of the patriarch. “The Church enters the last parade” - this is the final intention of the artist. He begins to paint sketches of archimandrites and metropolitans, beggars, schemes, holy fools.

In 1929, Korin painted a sketch for Archpriest Sergius Uspensky, a hereditary Orthodox priest, dean of Moscow. In the portrait, a man with a humble, sad face holds a cross in front of him with both hands. With an inner eye, he sees his way of the cross ahead. He was repeatedly arrested, the last time in 1922 was sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released conditionally, "because of his declining years." The nephew of Father Sergius, Archpriest Sergei Mikhailovich Uspensky (junior), was shot at a training ground in Butovo in 1937. His Korin also captured for the picture - clenched hands, straight posture, readiness to face death with dignity. One of the distinguished visitors to Korin's workshop remarked: "Your heroes have the posture that was characteristic of people of the Renaissance, your metropolitan, and monks, and beggars, and the blind - everyone passes under fanfare." The portrait of Uspensky (younger) was painted in 1931. Korin had an amazing insight and felt the fate and inner appearance of this man - the portrait seemed to have been painted not six years before his death, but at the moment of execution.

In painting, the tone of the picture plays a huge role, it is part of the content, part of the action itself. The burning of red color is alarming against the background of the dominant dark tone of the study of the schemnik of Father Agathon. In the mournful combination of red and black, there is a premonition of tragedy: Father Agathon was arrested in the mid-1930s along with other monks of the Vysoko-Petrovsky Monastery, and in 1938 he died in the prison infirmary.

Pavel Korin. Bishop. Russia leaving

Pavel Dmitrievich himself determined the mood of the conceived picture: “Bells. Dark, hopeless."
Many representatives of the clergy from those whom Korin painted in the thirties will soon be shot. In the year 2000 the Church will classify them as new martyrs.

Despite the conceived tragic pathos of the picture, Korin did not strive for idealization. One of the visitors to his studio, after looking at the sketches of the "Requiem", said: "Pavel Dmitrievich, you are painting a picture into the hands of the Bolsheviks."
“I, my brother,” answered the artist, “I haven’t painted nice, clean, with rolling eyes, and I won’t write. I write the truth."

There were those who saw in Korin's characters religious fanatics who had fallen out of a new life. But Korin himself knew another truth: "I wrote people of great faith and conviction, not fanatics." In fact, what he did did not fit into the framework of that era. Soviet art created the image of a victorious man, an inspired builder of a new life.

In 1931, Korin wrote the sketch "Father and Son". In his portrait there are strong, heroic Russian people, but their faces are mournful, thoughtful, their eyes are downcast. With the beginning of the revolution, the life of the people turned in a different direction, this turn was difficult for many.

Beggar. 1933, photo http://cultobzor.ru/

Church Moscow of that time was overflowing with various types of holy fools, wanderers in rags. Among all this "Christ brethren" Korin was looking for the image needed for the picture. He found the beggar on the porch of the Dorogomilovsky Epiphany Cathedral. Dirty, with paralyzed legs, matted hair infested with lice. Korin dragged him to the workshop and wrote for three days. In the picture, a beggar cripple, like a clumsy, mossy stump, spread out exorbitantly large arms. With these hands he will hold on to life, no matter how bitter it may be. A man physically crippled, he does not give up. He, like the rest of the characters in the picture, has an internal posture.

Among the characters of Korin's Requiem, Soviet art critics highlighted the image of a blind man. The study "Blind" was written in 1931. Indeed, this is one of the most powerful images of the conceived picture. “It symbolically expresses the moral impasse in which the Church found itself. Blindness. Hands outstretched, seeking salvation. Hopelessness, off-road. Hopelessness, ”the writer Sergei Razgonov wrote about the blind man of Korin.
Meanwhile, Korin was a man of deep faith. There was no question of the moral impasse of the Church for him and could not be. Rather, “Blind” is an image of the lostness of ordinary Russian people who renounced the landmarks that the Church has pointed to for centuries. A helpless blind man in the darkness stretches out his hands into the void.

According to the Gorky ticket

There were rumors about Korin's sketches in Moscow, people started talking about them. Nesterov was very supportive of the overall idea of ​​the picture. But a real ticket to life was given to the picture by Maxim Gorky. September 3, 1931 - Korin noted this date in his diary. On this day, Gorky unexpectedly visited his workshop with a large company. After his visit, Korin wrote: “He came up to me, shook my hand warmly and said: “You are a great artist, you have something to say.” And he began to help me widely and powerfully. Gorky gave me the opportunity to visit Germany, France, England and Italy.

Related material

Dante Alighieri was born 750 years ago. We bring to your attention a selection of quotes from the Divine Comedy, accompanied by engravings by Gustave Doré.

Gorky really organized trips abroad for Korin, gave him the opportunity to learn from the masterpieces of European painting, and secured a large workshop for the artist on Pirogovskaya. Again, Gorky suggested changing the original title of the planned painting "Requiem" to "Departing Russia", thus protecting Korin from possible complications. After all, in those years it seemed to many that Korin in his studies preached love for the old Russia and a misunderstanding of the new Russia. Why did the proletarian writer take Korin under his protection? Korin himself, after Gorky's death, will give his own version of the answer when he writes about the heroes of his picture: “These people are people of great conscience and great spirit, you can disagree with them, but you cannot refuse them respect. Gorky agreed with me.

Maybe you are right. However, it cannot be ruled out that Gorky saw in the picture, first of all, the doom of pre-revolutionary Russia. It is no coincidence that the name he gave to Korin's work outlined the path that later Soviet art criticism would take - praising the painting as anti-religious propaganda: convulsions, desperately resisting the new ... They leave history. Forever and ever. Shadows! - S. Razgonov wrote about Korin's heroes in 1982.

After visiting Gorky, Korin became known in government circles. The former People's Commissar for Education Lunacharsky and the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs Yagoda visited his workshop. The latter even commissioned his portrait from Korin.

Bag in case of arrest

By 1936, most of the sketches for the painting were ready. By this time, Korin is working on sketches for "The Departing Russia". For the painting, a huge canvas was prepared in the workshop (551 by 941 centimeters in size, larger than the Ivanovo canvas “The Appearance of Christ to the People”). Against the background of the canvas, Pavel Dmitrievich sometimes arranged his sketches, estimating the composition of "Russia Departing". Gradually, the internal structure of the picture took shape. Korin decided to place all his people of God - monks, beggars and schemes in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, where, in his own words, "they lined up in military and solemn order against the backdrop of majestic architecture." The choice of the cathedral is not accidental - it is a national shrine, here for centuries Russian tsars were crowned, Moscow saints were buried. But… On June 8, 1936, Maxim Gorky died. Korin was left without patronage. You could start bullying.

Already on December 8, 1936, Stalin received a denunciation concerning Pavel Korin. Its author, Alexei Angarov (Zykov), deputy head of the cultural and educational department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, wrote in his message: “Korin claims, but very uncertainly, that he has collected this entire collection of obscurantists to show their doom. Meanwhile, judging by the sketches, he does not create any impression of doom. On the contrary, it conveys the hatred of these people, according to his plan, strong, strong-willed, full of readiness to die for their ideas.

The persecution was supported by the press, the artist was accused that he "made the priests martyr heroes." In those years, he kept a bag of things at home in case of arrest. Fortunately, there was no arrest, the artist was even kept a beautiful house - a workshop on Pirogovskaya. Shortly before Gorky's death, the sketches for "Rus" were bought from Korin by the "All-Russian Artist" - the All-Russian Union of Cooperative Associations of Fine Arts Workers. Now, fearing for the fate of her works, Korin decides to buy them. The money for the paintings had to be paid for twenty years. “The sale of sketches has become the torment and horror of my life,” Pavel Dmitrievich writes in his book. - In the future, when he painted portraits, sketches, landscapes - they all went for debts. I turned back into a restorer and art teacher. I'm 45 years old".

In the new environment, working on the picture became more and more difficult.

“You need complete calm of the nerves, but there is none. I found the plot in 1925. I have been with him since then and have to write, ”Pavel Dmitrievich bitterly admitted in a conversation with V. M. Golitsyn.

Over time, other concerns appeared, urgent orders arose. In 1942, Korin received an order and created the triptych "Alexander Nevsky", glorifying the power and steadfastness of Russian soldiers. In the post-war period, he paints portraits of prominent Soviet cultural figures and military leaders - writer Alexei Tolstoy, Marshal Georgy Zhukov, actor Vasily Kachalov. Korin fits into Soviet art, receives recognition. He was elected a full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR, awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. In the early 1950s, Pavel Korin worked extensively in monumental painting, creating a number of stained-glass windows and mosaics for Moscow, in particular, stained-glass windows at the Novoslobodskaya station and mosaic plafonds for the Moscow metro station Komsomolskaya on the Circle Line.

The path of Pavel Korin, a recognized Soviet artist, leaves room for reflection. There is a temptation to fit this path into a flat black-and-white picture in which a talented artist disposes of his gift to please the Soviet regime. Among Korin's portraits of the Soviet era, there are successful and not very successful ones, but in general his work received a Soviet inoculation. Korin, the author of "Requiem", now creates works that have become emblems of Soviet art for many generations - the panel "Peace in the World" (1951) at the Novoslobodskaya metro station, which depicts a happy mother with a child in her arms, a mosaic "Red Army men with the Red Banner" on "Komsomolskaya". In the 1940s, the artist worked on sketches for the mosaic frieze "March to the Future" for the Palace of Soviets, an unrealized project of the tallest building in the world, which was supposed to house the Soviet government. Under it, the place of the destroyed Cathedral of Christ the Savior was allotted.

Korin decides the mosaic frieze as a solemn procession of colossal eight-meter figures. Before us is the canonical "bright path" to the shining heights of communism. But how stilted are the images of athletic giants, confidently striding into a brighter future, how theatrically exalted are their poses and faces! There is a certain repulsive hypertrophy in the depiction of their naked athletic bodies. In "Requiem" each portrait conveys something deeply personal, each line shows the character of a person, in "March", on the contrary, there is something completely impersonal, mass ...

Did Korin consider this his work forced, done for the sake of earning?

Pavel Dmitrievich felt himself the heir of Alexander Ivanov in art, he dreamed of painting a large historical canvas, he believed that art should uplift the spirit.

“The spirit in man is the main thing,” he wrote. - And I, to the best of my ability, want to sing the human spirit. Therefore, I look for people in their lives who have a strong spiritual content, and I write them. That in which I do not see the greatness of the spirit cannot captivate me.

Perhaps Korin was sincerely looking for his heroes in Soviet reality. However, one can hardly agree that the author of the "Requiem" and the author of the mosaic frieze "March to the Future" are one and the same artist.

All this time, Korin wanted to start working on his big picture. The last sketch of "Requiem" is dated 1959. “It is difficult for me to explain to you why I wrote this, but still I will say that the tragedy of my characters was my misfortune. I did not look at them from the outside, I lived with them, and my heart bled, ”Korin writes in a letter to V. M. Cherkassky.

The white canvas in the workshop remained untouched.

Pavel Dmitrievich Korin

Born in 1892 in the village of Palekh. His father and grandfather were icon painters, and in his youth Korin also painted icons, at the age of 16 he was admitted to the icon painting chamber of the Donskoy Monastery in Moscow. Maxim Gorky took a great part in his fate, convincing the Soviet government to send the young artist to Italy to study painting. After the end of the Great Patriotic War, Korin led the restoration of the paintings of the Dresden Gallery, restored the frescoes in the Vladimir Cathedral in Kyiv and personally restored the painting
V. M. Vasnetsov and M. V. Nesterov. In 1952 he won the Stalin Prize of the second degree for mosaic panels for the Komsomolskaya metro station on the Koltsevaya Line, and in 1963 he won the Lenin Prize. People's Artist of the USSR, full member of the Academy of Arts of the USSR. He died in 1967.

On the announcement is a fragment of a sketch for the painting "Requiem" ("Departing Russia"). 1935–1959 source http://www.afisha.ru/

"Decorative Art" - Agriculture. Trade in Ancient Greece. Temple of Cece. Potter. Ancient Greece. Work in mines. statues. Painting. The role of decorative art in society. Vase painter. Exhibition of creative works. Temple of Poseidon. ancient Greek school. Practical work. Casting of a bronze statue. Temple of Apollo.

"Types of art" - (From the church-Slav. Theatre. Culture -. Homework. Art. Circus. Cinematography. Material (things and objects created by man). Spiritual (traditions, customs, ideas and knowledge about nature, about the very to yourself). Photography. Morality. Sculpture. Culture. Art (lat. Television. Decorative and applied art.

"Art and its types" - Decorative and applied, There are artistic, scientific, journalistic, reference, critical, courtly, epistolary and other literature. Graphics, Fine arts include: Easel. Monumental. Music is also divided into: folk and classical modern jazz military spiritual.

"Romanov's toy" - The ash from the stoves was often poured into the garden as fertilizer. Story. Craftsmen made crock pots, bowls, spoons from clay. The Romanov toy also began to disappear. . Then they were soaked in wooden troughs. There Vanka the potter, you know what toys he makes! And later, the production of toys was completely banned.

"The Art of Beauty" - The unity of science and art is the most important guarantee of the subsequent development of culture. Mariinskii Opera House. Outwardly, harmony can manifest itself in melody, rhythm, symmetry, proportionality. And today the enthusiasm of researchers does not decrease. ...Music. From the history of the golden section. Mathematics is a prototype of the beauty of the world.

"Folklore Lessons" - The structure of the lesson. Folk culture is one of the means of moral, cognitive, aesthetic development of children. A problem is a complex issue, a task requiring resolution, research. Explanatory note. Annotation The project was created for students of the 5th grade. The creative name of the project: "From what, what are our kids made of ...".

There are 12 presentations in total in the topic