Popkov biography briefly

Viktor Efimovich Popkov to share Viktor Efimovich Popkov - a representative of the harsh style, one of the most outstanding Soviet artists. Having lived only 42 years, killed by an absurd accident, the artist left behind an impressive creative heritage. Often risky, an energetic artist constantly searched for a drive in everything - either changing someone else's picture to his own in the arena, then climbing in an electric train from one window to another with his comrades, then climbing exclusively on thin trees with his son, then rushing into a kubarom from a cliff - he played with death all the time.

He did not look for death, by no means, but he created situations that excite him, giving him new impulses for creativity. A calm life is not about him, it is worth looking at his paintings, they are all emotional, troubled. He greatly appreciated the freedom and the desire for self -expression - "you need to listen only to his impulses and trust them." Viktor Popkov was born in the year in the family of Russian peasants, it is easy to understand how he, a child from a large poor family, was not easy to decide to become an artist.

After one unsuccessful attempt to move to Moscow, Viktor’s parents still find the opportunity and move from the Smolensk region, in which a terrible hunger raged in Yetishchi in the years. When the war came, the father of the family went to the front, where he died in the same year. Stepanida Ivanovna was left alone with four children. The artist’s craving for art manifested itself in childhood, he, at will, was recorded in an art school, where he decided to make art the main thing of life.

In the year, he enters the art and graphic pedagogical school, which has just opened in Moscow. The artist met his future wife during their joint studies. In the year, the couple had a son Alexei. The artist during their marriage often wrote his wife. Surikova - despite a great desire to study at the faculty of painting, Popkov was enrolled in the faculty of graphics. It was during the years of study that the artist’s trips in the country begin, which greatly contributed to the development of his work.

Popkov Victor Efimovich. The location is unknown. Popkov’s early works are characterized not only by posterity, but also by graphics, which can be explained by the influence of graphic teachers. Here, not only the lack of experience in working with butter and tempor, but also a conscious appeal to the legacy of A. Deineki and, in general, to the style of the remaining.

Popkov attracted the attention of the thesis: a series of color linograms "Transport" in one year was exhibited at many largest exhibitions. The plot of the most famous work from the Transport series came completely unexpectedly - the train lingered on the platform near Moscow, and Victor decided to see what happened. And suddenly he saw high figures of electricians high in the sky against the background of clouds.

Perfectly balancing on thin stairs, they seemed to steam in the air, repairing wires. And this selfless enthusiasm was conveyed by the artist in the best sheet of the thesis. Since then, the story about people of labor has become a leader in his work. The beginning of the 10ths in the artist’s work is characterized by a departure from academic work and the search for his style.

The vector shifts from the image of the plot to the compositional and coloristic finds. At the same time, he has an interest in portraits, as a rule, he writes people close or familiar to him. They rejected the arrogant, academic nature of socialist realism and his obsession with the heroism and power of the party. Inspired by the Russian avant -garde of the 10ths, as well as modern Western painting, which in the Soviet Union finally began to exhibit, the group created colorful and expressive works dedicated to the life of ordinary Soviet citizens with all their imperfections.

A departure from Soviet academicism, from illustrativeness, took place. Artists wanted to be more open, more sincere. The modern person, who first saw Popkov’s painting, seems to be realism, which was welcomed in Soviet times. It is important to understand that it was not socialist realism. His work most often at exhibitions caused friction and hostility from official art. But, on the other hand, the Ministry of Culture was very loyal to him, he acquired his work, he was even pushed to the Committee on Lenin Prizes in the year.

The artist suggested that this happened due to the fact that his work attracted attention, and it was especially noticeable at international exhibitions in Finland, Japan, Italy and Yugoslavia. Yuri Popkov, the artist’s nephew, said that Viktor Efimovich was always painful about injustice. Often, in the name of justice, he walked against everyone, for example, in the year, when he was urgently demanded to vote against the assignment of the Lenin Prize Alexander Solzhenitsyn for the story “One Day of the Life of Ivan Denisovich”, he did not listen to Evgeny Vutecich.

The beginning of the conflict was provoked by the exclusion of the artist from the committee. In the year, not only in life, but also on Viktor Popkov’s canvases, another woman appeared.It was Tatyana that the artist portrayed in the painting “Two”, and the man nearby was Andrei Surovtsev, soon Tatyana married him. His paintings are absolutely autobiographical, for each of them you can catch his thoughts, his thoughts, experiences and hobbies.

After the news about the marriage of his muses, the artist decides to take accounts with life. Victor saved the father -in -law. He painted the paintings, parables with their inherent symbolism, cannot find anything superfluous in his paintings. Deep drama - so he perceived himself and himself in the country, and the country itself. In the beginning of the middle of the 10ths, Popkov writes a number of paintings on a production topic.

He demonstrated the option of easel interpretation of the Palekh style. The Khrushchev thaw gave rise to a new artistic direction in Russian painting - a harsh style. Almost immediately after the student bench, the young Popkov fell into the category of masters, whose work received official recognition. The works of the early harsh style carry a different understanding of heroism than the canvases of the Stalinist socialist realism.

They have no heroic pose and bodily perfection. But there is in the new heroism of isolation, calm, silent fatigue. In the same manner, his works such as “Abakan-Taikh”, “builders”, “to work” are also performed. In the “Builders of Bratsk” the artist revealed the theme of the feat of the labor person, the courageous and strong are shown not only in the body, but also in spirit, and types.

In this work, stingy flavor is emphasized. The workers of the fraternal hydroelectric power station are written by silhouettes on a black background, as in Russian icons, the background is specially made dark, the construction space is hidden from the eyes of the viewer, first of all, we see the artist’s desire to demonstrate the builders themselves. Two figures are depicted in a sitting position, the remaining three stand and look with open faces at us.

So what is new in this work and is the value of Popkov's art? Firstly, a new installation in the image has appeared; Secondly, a socially significant topic is restored, fake pomp is disappeared, even when considering well-known, vied with topics. Thirdly, the artist has a desire to connect the viewer to important problems, thereby the viewer becomes the co-author of the artist.

The picture begins not to depict the vital activity, but seeks to call the viewer to analyze reality. And here is the study of life. The type of generalization arises: despite the specific individuality of these workers, it is no secret that many of them were prisoners, he sees in them a sense of dignity, a person’s strength with an open direct look. State Tretyakov Gallery. Private collection.

In the picture we see two groups of people, two circles - men and women. They rest after active work: someone sniffs, someone blissfully laid down on the grass, someone smokes, and someone dozed off.

When viewing the picture, a feeling of complete harmony and calm arises. From the canvas it blows with popular simple -mindedness. The picture was noted on the Biennal of young artists in Paris. In the picture, nothing confuses, except for an exaggerated huge, almost fabulous tree. It spread its branches on almost the entire space of the canvas, representing a metaphor of the sky.

A clear drawing of leaves and the complete absence of a hint of its size excites the imagination of the possible size of such a tree. If you look at the upper left corner, you can notice a certain amount of yellow leaves, which particularly give emphasis on an emerald background. There is no doubt that this branch has a special symbolism. The motive of the branch distinguished from the general background was later continued in the work "A good man was a grandmother Anisya." This is a picture of youth, about people of a different, bright fate.

They are together on Earth among flowers under the rays of the sun. On the whole earth there is no one but them. Each of them is in their thoughts. There is no action in the picture, a man and a woman is nearby, but it is not clear together or not. Everything is solved at the level of emotions. The artist is stingy with details, here we see only flowers in the lower left corner, but they do not interfere with our perception at all.

Conditional flavor- the colors are perfectly combined with each other, being almost in the same color scheme, a milky feminine dress is contrasted with rude men's jeans pants. Figures contrast with each other not only in color combination, but also in choosing pos. If a man has an uncomfortable, slightly rude pose, then a woman has very light and delicate.

This work was discussed a lot in magazines, but it was she who was more often represented by the public at constant exhibitions. For Popkov, the widow is not desperate old women whose husbands did not return from the war. They do not seem to us desperate or dreary. These women remember youth-someone sings, someone is dancing, someone looks thoughtfully out the window.

From the past, they draw strength and look into the future with hope. Each of them, experiencing its own, creates a certain emotional atmosphere around itself, and together these five images are combined into an amazingly poetic whole. He wrote to the village without describing the village cycle.