Kuznetsov Konstantin Vasilievich. Kuznetsov Konstantin Pavlovich French impressionist from Chernorechye

Original taken from yzhka in Konstantin Kuznetso in

Today is the birthday of the illustrator Konstantin Vasilyevich Kuznetsov (1886-1943). A talented graphic artist, engraver, and draftsman, he did not receive any special art education. He studied engraving techniques on his own, took lessons from his cousin, the graphic artist L.F. Ovsyannikov, and later worked mainly in the cardboard engraving technique he invented. The first drawings were published in 1913 in the magazine “New Satyricon”. In the mid-1910s he left Petrograd for the Caucasus, collaborated in the Caucasian "Windows of GROWTH". From 1922 he lived in Moscow. Worked at a children's book museum. He illustrated collections of fairy tales for Detgiz, and based on the illustrations he created easel lithographs published by the MTH printmaking workshop.
Konstantin Kuznetsov created his own unique and recognizable image of Russian children's books of the 20-40s. XX century. Illustrations for Russian folk tales occupy a special and main place in his work. “Kolobok”, “Turnip”, “The Wolf and the Seven Little Goats”, “Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf”, “Teremok”, “Ivan the Cow’s Son”, “About Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water”, “Sivka-b” lesson" - here is just a small list of the huge list of Russian fairy tales. In total, the master illustrated about two hundred publications. Here is a bibliography of books with his illustrations. More than one generation of children in our country has grown up on them...
Unfortunately, I have almost no books with illustrations by Konstantin Kuznetsov. But surely someone will republish it))

I have quite a few of his books...

Volzhskaya pier. Illustration for a book. 1920s

From a peasant family. In his youth he served as a clerk in the forestry industry in Vetluga. He did not receive a systematic art education; he studied drawing and engraving under the guidance of his cousin L. F. Ovsyannikov.

He studied in St. Petersburg: at a private gymnasium, and after that at the Psychoneurological Institute (did not graduate). At the same time, he briefly attended classes at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.

In 1913 he made his debut as an illustrator in the magazine “New Satyricon”. Collaborated in the magazines “Apollo” and “Russian Icon”. He placed caricatures of artists in theater programs.

During those same years, he became interested in folk art; he made sketches of handicraft toys (ladies, Cossacks, generals, horses), which, with the assistance of L.F. Ovsyannikov, he showed at exhibitions of the “Independent” partnership in Paris (1910–1913).

In 1913, due to a serious illness and on doctors' orders, he was forced to leave St. Petersburg, lived for some time in Moscow and Crimea, then moved to Pyatigorsk. He served at a telegraph station. He became close to the artist P. A. Alyakrinsky. After the October Revolution, he headed the glass printing department at Okna KavROST.

In 1922 he moved to Moscow. In 1923 he took part in a polar expedition to the coast of the Arctic Ocean and to Novaya Zemlya. In the first half of the 1930s, he headed the children's art circle in the Children's Book Propaganda Department of the Museum of Public Education of the RSFSR.

He was engaged in easel, book, and magazine graphics. He worked in the techniques of woodcut printing, glass printing, lithography, linocut, monotype; developed a method of engraving with a dry point on cardboard with tinting with watercolors or pastels. He painted with watercolors, gouache, ink (brush or pen).

As an illustrator, he collaborated in the magazines “Krasnaya Niva”, “Veselye Kartinki”, “Murzilka”. He designed books for the publishing houses “GIZ”, “Detgiz”, “Molodaya Gvardiya”, “Peasant Newspaper”, “Pravda”, “Soviet Writer” and others.

He made illustrations for many books by Ya. P. Meksin: “The Mosquito-Mosquito” (1924), “The Cat-Cat” (1925), “Construction”, “How Papa Carried Tanya” (both 1926), “The Gray Duck” ( 1927), “Trouble,” “Whoever dared, ate it,” “Kartaus” (all - 1928), “Hold on, don’t lag behind” (1929), “Homemade products,” “Potatoes,” “Zinkin’s pictures” (all - 1930); A. L. Barto: Pioneers" (1926), "Toys", "Stars in the Forest" (both 1936), "Two Notebooks" (1941), "Flashlight" (1944).

Designed the books: “Mokhnach” by V.V. Bianchi (1927), “Filippok” by L.N. Tolstoy (1929), “Volodya Ermakov” by A.I. Vvedensky (1935), “The Nightingale” by G.-Kh. Andersen (1936), “Taman” by M. Yu. Lermontov (1937), “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” (1937), “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1939), “Ruslan and Lyudmila” (1943) by A. S. Pushkin , “The Scarlet Flower” by S. T. Aksakov (1938), “The Tale of a Stupid Mouse” by S. Ya. Marshak (1938), “Sasha” by N. A. Nekrasov (1938), “Stories” (1938), “Lisichkin bread" (1941) by M. M. Prishvin, "The Fate of the Drummer" by A. P. Gaidar (1938, 1939), "Summer Days" (1937), "Tenants of the Old House" (1941) by G. K. Paustovsky, "Malachite box" by P. P. Bazhov (1944) and others.

He designed many fairy tale and poetry collections for children: “Russian Folk Tales” (1935), “Geese-Swans” (1937), “Christmas Tree” (1941), “New Year” (1943), “Wintering of Animals” (1944) ; individual editions of Russian folk tales: “The Pockmarked Hen” (1936), “Kolobok”, “Little Fox Sister and the Wolf” (1937), “Turnip” (1938), “The Frog Princess” (1944). Together with the artist E. M. Sonnenstrahl created the book “The Printer” (1932).

In total, he designed more than 200 books; many of them underwent numerous reprints both during the artist’s lifetime and after his death.

Author of the series of easel lithographs “Dolls”, “Ivan the Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf”, “Ivan the Cow’s Son”, “About Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water”, “Sivka-Burka”; anti-fascist engravings and drawings on the theme of the Spanish Civil War, the series of drawings “Ancient Rus'” (1933), the humorous series of drawings “Break Inside Out” (1939–1940), “The Adventures of Babai” (1942–1943).

He was involved in the design of the animated films “Aibolit” (1938), “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (1939), and “Kalotushka” (1940).

Since 1910 - participant of exhibitions. Exhibited at the following exhibitions: 1st State Free Exhibition of Works of Art (1919), “Russian Woodcuts for 10 Years. 1917–1927" (1927) in Petrograd - Leningrad; the United Art group (OBIS, 1925), the Association of Graphic Artists (1926), Soviet color engraving (1937), the All-Union Exhibition of Children's Literature and Children's Book Illustration (1938) in Moscow; international exhibition “The Art of Books” in Leipzig (1927); Soviet graphics in Helsinki, Tallinn, Stockholm, Gothenburg (1934), London (1938), New York (1940) and others.

The exhibition “New methods of hand printing in printing production”, which was organized by art critic A. V. Bakushinsky in the halls of the State Tretyakov Gallery (1933), was dedicated to Kuznetsov’s experimental methods of work in engraving.

A memorial exhibition of works took place in Moscow (1949).

The monograph by M. Z. Kholodovskaya is dedicated to the artist’s work: “Konstantin Vasilyevich Kuznetsov” (M.-L., 1950; in the series “Masters of Soviet Art”).

The works are in many museum collections, including the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin.

French impressionist from Chernorechye

In Paris, Alexandra went to study at the Académie Julien, and Konstantin studied with the famous artist-teacher Felix Cormon. I had to paint a lot - from antique casts and body plastics to canvases with diverse tonal shades of the same color. An example in the search for creative style were the works of Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro - “painters of the sun,” as these painters were often called. The main thing that Kuznetsov took from the impressionists and embodied in the works of the first year of his Parisian life was momentary impressions caused by the constantly changing nature. The skillful combination of light and color tones in his canvases allowed Kuznetsov to achieve the liveliness and poetry of “a piece of trembling life.”

At the same time, in most of his works, unlike the impressionists, he does not have bright color schemes. The lyricism of the landscapes is achieved by a restrained tone using unique colors. This “handwriting” of the painter was developed by constant work in the outskirts and on the streets of Paris. But the canvases painted in his studio in Montmatre or Montparnasse also retained the breath of nature, be it the sun, the raging sea, running clouds or fishing schooners.

During the first years of his life in France, the artist constantly yearned for Russia, but he could no longer leave the boulevards and cathedrals of Paris, the bridges of the Seine, and the coast of Brittany. Fascinated by the play of light combined with the magical colors of the sea in northern Brittany, he painted a series of “wildlife” landscapes. In the pauses between these works, Kuznetsov painted portraits of people characteristic of that area, certainly in the open air - this became another distinctive feature of the artist’s works. Such, for example, is the compositional work “Fisherman Concarneau” (1902), exhibited at the Paris Salon of the National Society of Fine Arts. This picture, which did not go unnoticed by Parisians and critics, brought fame to Konstantin Pavlovich. He was a participant in the popular “Autumn Salon” in Paris, which united artists of different ages and directions. The Impressionists were most fully represented at the Autumn Salon. In his review of the 1908 Autumn Salon, critic Rene Arcos, along with Henri Matisse and Deltomb, noted several Russian painters, including Konstantin Kuznetsov. Back in 1904, there were critics in Paris who put three Russian names on a par: Kandinsky, Kuznetsov and Trubetskoy. The artist and art historian A.N. spoke positively about the work of Konstantin Kuznetsov. Benois and the recognized master of painting Alexander Yakovlev. The French poet-critic G. Apollinaire did not deprive the Russian impressionist of attention.

Konstantin Kuznetsov was multi-talented. Classical music and plays by Russian classics always inspired him. He played the piano well and loved opera. His decorations are known, for example, for the opera by C. Debussy “Pelléas et Melisande” for the Opera Comique theater. Konstantin Kuznetsov could not remain indifferent not only to the beauties of nature, but also to the masterpieces of Russian literature. At the end of the 1920s he began to engage in book illustration. And when Elena, Kuznetsov’s daughter, translated Gogol’s “Viy” into French, Konstantin Pavlovich made magnificent illustrations for this book. The publication immediately became a rarity after its publication in 1930. Kuznetsov’s wonderful illustrations of such works as “The Mermaid”, “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” by A.S. Pushkin and other books, fortunately, have survived to this day. Konstantin Kuznetsov never forgot Russia. He loved her folk songs very much, did not miss F.I.’s Paris concerts. Chaliapin, wrote a sketch for the painting “Stepan Razin”.

Evidence of the recognition of Konstantin Kuznetsov’s work was provided not only by his lifetime exhibitions, but also by exhibitions of later years. In 1937, an exhibition took place at the Paris Invalides. Retrospective exhibitions were held at the Autumn Salon (1967, 1972), at the Salon of Independents (1968–1970, 1973), at the K. Granoff Gallery (1965, 1968). In 1966, the France-USSR Society organized an exhibition at the city hall of the 9th arrondissement of Paris. In 1984, a large demonstration of Parisian landscapes by Konstantin Kuznetsov took place at the Carnavalet Museum, and three years later an exhibition of views of Brittany was held. A positive review was published about the 1986 exhibition on Henri-Martin Avenue in the Parisian magazine Russian Thought. There were also later exhibitions, for example, in 1992 in the VI arrondissement of Paris.

Today, the artist’s works are presented in many museums around the world: the State Russian Museum and the State Tretyakov Gallery, the National Museum of Modern Art, the Carnavalet Museum and the Museum of Modern Art of Paris, the E. Boudin Museum in Honfleur, the Musee des Beaux-Arts (Pont-Aven ), Musee de La Haye (Holland), Musee de Chilpancingo (Mexico).

The artist's personal life was full of love and happiness. He married Alexandra Samodurova in 1900. They had four children. With great love, their father told them about Russia. And the children took this love to heart. The artist’s daughter Olga, having become the heiress of some of her father’s paintings, donated them to the Tretyakov Gallery in 1964. The second daughter Elena, who, like her father, became an artist, in 1964 - many years after the death of Konstantin Pavlovich in 1936 - organized an original exhibition of his Parisian landscapes on a river boat. The ship cruised along the Seine along embankments and under bridges that Konstantin Kuznetsov once painted.

The work of Konstantin Pavlovich Kuznetsov, his drawings of Paris deservedly entered the golden fund of paintings by the Impressionists. It is not without reason that in France Konstantin Kuznetsov was considered a follower of Claude Monet. Thanks to the gifted artist, our small village of Zhelnino gained worldwide fame.

Kuznetsov Konstantin Konstantinovich born April 16, 1895 in St. Petersburg (according to other sources, Voronezh) - Graphic artist, painter.

From the family of a teacher and a gymnasium teacher. Member of the First World War. In 1920, after his father was shot by the Bolsheviks (according to some sources, the murder was criminal in nature), he fled to the south of Russia, where he joined the Volunteer Army. At the end of 1920, he was evacuated along with its units from Crimea to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.

For some time he lived in the city of Pancevo near Belgrade; attended painting and drawing courses. He made posters for the Matic department store in Belgrade. He was engaged in book graphics, creating caricatures and posters.

He gained wide European fame as an author of comics: in 1937–1941 he created 26 comics for the Belgrade magazine “Mika Mis” (“Mickey Mouse”) by A. Ivkovic; among them are comics of the mystical-adventure genre: “Countess Margot”, “Vampire Baron (both 1939), “Three Lives” (1940), “The Mark of Death” (1941); based on Russian literature: “Hadji Murat” according to L. N. Tolstoy (1937–1938), “The Night Before Christmas” according to N. V. Gogol, “The Queen of Spades” according to A. S. Pushkin (both - 1940) and other. In 1940–1941, he published the comic book “Peter the Great” and comics based on the fairy tales of A. S. Pushkin “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” and “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel” in the magazine “Politikin Zabavnik”, which were influenced by the style of book graphics by I. Ya. Bilibina. Author of comics “Sinbad the Sailor”, “Descendant of Genghis Khan”, “Orient Express”, “Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves” and others, which were published not only in Serbia, but also in the French magazines “Gavroche”, “Jumbo” , "Aventures", "Le journal de Toto", "Les grandes aventures". Used the pseudonyms Steav Doop, K. Kulig, Kistochkin, Kuzya, K.

During the period of the fascist occupation of Belgrade (1941–1944), he created anti-Semitic and anti-communist posters for the Yugo-Vostok publishing house. Collaborated in the propaganda department "S"; illustrated propaganda brochures. He published a political comic book “The Story of the Unfortunate King”, the main characters of which were the kings of Yugoslavia Alexander I Karadjordjevic (Old King) and Peter II Karadjordjevic (Young King), W. Churchill (Nobleman of the Evil Overlord), Josip Broz Tito (Robber), I. Stalin (Northern Bloody Lord). As a cartoonist, he collaborated in the humorous magazine "Bodljikavo prase" ("Porcupine"), "Mali the Funniest".

In the fall of 1944 he fled Yugoslavia; ended up in a displaced persons camp in Austria. In 1946 he ended up in a camp on the outskirts of Munich, where he designed the cover for the magazine “Lights” (1946, No. 1). He drew cartoons for the humorous magazine “Petrushka”. Compiled and illustrated the publication “Ice March”, dedicated to the 1st campaign of the Volunteer Army of General L. G. Kornilov to Kuban (1949).

Around 1950 he left for the USA. He continued to work as an illustrator, painted easel paintings and icons. He painted watercolors on Russian themes for Christmas cards and calendars of the New York publisher Martyanov. In 1970, the publication “The Baptism of Rus'” with its illustrations was published in Canada (reprint - M., 1988).

Creativity is presented in the Historical Archives of Belgrade, the Russian Cultural Center in San Francisco.

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WINTER MARKET

TSAR SULTAN'S WARNING

SUNSET ON THE RIVER

Taking a Walk,1930-1940s

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Biography

Konstantin Vasilievich Kuznetsov(1886-1943) - artist, engraver and illustrator.

Born into a peasant family. In his youth he served as a clerk in the forestry industry. He studied drawing and engraving on his own, but did not receive any special education in art. For some time he attended classes at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Studied in St. Petersburg at the Psychoneurological Institute.

In 1913, his first illustrations were published in the magazine “New Satyricon”. Collaborated with the magazines “Apollo” and “Russian Icon”. Kuznetsov was also interested in folk art and made sketches of handicraft toys. After the revolution, he became the head of the glass printing department at Windows of KavROST.

In 1923 he took part in a polar expedition to the coast of the Arctic Ocean. In the 30s, he headed the children's art circle in the Department of Propaganda of Children's Books of the Museum of Public Education of the Russian Federation.

He was engaged in easel, book, and magazine graphics. He worked in the techniques of woodcut printing, glass printing, lithography, linocut, monotype; developed a method of engraving with a dry point on cardboard with tinting with watercolors or pastels. He painted with watercolors, gouache, and ink.

Collaborated with the magazines “Krasnaya Niva”, “Funny Pictures”, “Murzilka”; publishing houses “GIZ”, “Detgiz”, “Young Guard”, “Peasant Newspaper”, “Pravda”, “Soviet Writer”, etc. In total, he designed more than 200 books.

“A life-affirming sense of the world, a broad and beneficial appeal to reality gave the children's book not only solid ground, but also great spirituality. It, of course, did not appear in all books, but we feel joyful creative excitement in a very wide range of illustration cycles of that time, and it was indeed wide, covering a wide variety of genres, even fairy tales. The updating of fairy-tale images of the illustration is the merit of Konstantin Vasilyevich Kuznetsov. It is amazing that Kuznetsov’s exceptional talent as a storyteller was revealed to everyone, and to some extent even to himself, when the artist was already almost 50 years old. While the editor very successfully guessed the hidden potential of young artists, the Moscow editors showed amazing sensitivity to the deep personal aspects of the talent of already established masters. This happened with Rodionov and Rylov, but Kuznetsov’s example is especially interesting. After all, for him, working in children's books has long been his main profession. His profile, range of works, love for pioneer, geographical, historical themes were very reminiscent of. Among his illustrations are many interesting books of the 20s and 30s: “Pioneers” by A. Barto (1926), “Berko the Cantonist” by S. Grigoriev (1929), “Tales of My Life” by A. Yakovlev (1927), “The Wandering School” by L. Kassil (1932). He illustrated Paustovsky, and Gaidar, and Prishvin, and an animalistic book, and books for little ones (“Toys” by Barto, 1936), even made homemade toys; he had such artistic successes as the story about the strongest, bravest and most dexterous pioneer (“Volodya Ermakov” by A. Vvedensky, 1935). But until 1935 he did not illustrate fairy tales. Meanwhile, it would seem that everything was preparing him for this.

Kuznetsov was born into the family of a peasant - a hereditary timber raftsman - in a remote Trans-Volga village, from childhood he heard folk legends, saw the products of folk craftsmen in everyday use, wandered with a gun through the forests and swamps, swam with the raftsmen. In 1935, he illustrated a collection of Russian fairy tales processed by Bulatov, and then a collection of fairy tales collected and processed by A. N. Tolstoy. The writer followed the artist’s work with great interest and, apparently, helped him a lot. The style of Kuznetsov, the illustrator of the fairy tale, developed almost immediately. He was already an experienced landscape painter and animal painter, he knew well the centuries-old way of life of the Russian village, and had a great feel and understanding of Russian wooden architecture. It cost him nothing to reproduce in his fairy-tale paintings the poetry of a mysterious remote forest or the harmony of wooden churches and mansions merrily piled up next to each other with the surrounding landscape, to convey the habits of a fox or a wolf, to make them living participants in the action of a fairy tale without emphasized “humanization”, without dressing in peasant clothes. costumes. illustrated folklore for children, and his interpretation of fairy tales, songs, nursery rhymes, and proverbs in the spirit of fine folklore was natural in this case. Most of the fairy tales illustrated by Kuznetsov were intended for children of primary school age or older preschoolers, hence the completely different thematic and figurative range of his drawings.

The combination of drawings by Kuznetsov and Vasnetsov in one book, which was practiced in the 30s, was, as much has already been written about, nonsense that harmed both artists. Meanwhile, they have a lot in common. Both had an organic understanding of the fairy tale as a special world, a fantastic reality with a special fairy-tale atmosphere. Kuznetsov is no less decorative in his quick, light and patterned strokes, in the combination of few, but very ringing spots of color. Its lines and color have no less emotional expression. And yet, both artists illustrate different fairy tales and different things in the fairy tale, appealing to different readers. Vasnetsov's very vivid life observations, from which he proceeds, fit into a conventional fantasy world, where everything lives according to conventional fantastic laws. Kuznetsov’s fairy-tale world lives and is formed according to the laws of life. The illustrations of both correspond to the different levels of the child’s thinking. The baby is more happy with a chock wrapped in bright rags than with the most natural, fashionably dressed doll: the chock excites his imagination more. A child of 6-8 years old enters into a different relationship with the world. He cares about everything, he wants to see and feel everything, he experiences everything together with the heroes of the fairy tale - he is ready to dance with Ivanushka, scream with Masha when the bear carries her away; he enjoys feeling like a resident of a fairy-tale city. And Kuznetsov does not deceive his reader. The city, the villages, and the forest live an extraordinary, exciting and yet very understandable life for him; Even the most fantastic detail looks natural, for example, the radiance emanating from a horse, heated by the gallop, bursting with heat.

Kuznetsov is as national in spirit as Vasnetsov, but in a completely different way.

It illustrates the Russian fairy tale as a page of ancient national history and folk life. And in this sense, he continues the best traditions of Polenova and Malyutin. But as a man of the 30s, who did not know the historical limitations of artistic thought, he does not need stylization; he accepts the fairy-tale world as his folk world without the slightest alienation and exoticism. For Kuznetsov, a folk tale is a part of his soul; he brings into its illustration genuine poetry of feelings, the bold romance of nature, combined with the realistic authenticity of everyday details and human relationships. Kuznetsov thinks in broad spatial compositions that accommodate a large natural and architectural background. In its fabulous cities, life is in full swing, the streets are filled with people, carts drawn by lively horses are carrying hay, and stoves are lit in the houses. Even the weather vanes on the tented towers spin in the wind, and it seems that people have just moved away from the boats tied to the shore (illustration for the fairy tale “The Man and the Bear”). This lively and very dynamic feeling of a fairy tale as a page of the people's past was new in the art of children's illustration and was very close to the art of cinema. It is no coincidence that Kuznetsov subsequently made beautiful drawings for the animated film “The Tale of Tsar Saltan” (published as illustrations in 1946). The colors here are especially sunny and joyful, the characters are especially lifelike, the buildings are real and fantastically festive. Aspects and angles are chosen in such a way that the viewer’s involvement in the fairy-tale world increases: it’s as if we are looking from the gallery at Saltan’s throne room and climbing with Guidon up the steep stairs into the white stone palace sparkling in the sun.”

(c) Ella Zinovievna Gankina “Russian children’s book artists” (1963)