Vasily Surikov, Russian History Painter 26/09/2023, 10:34
Vasily Surikov
Biography of the Russia's Greatest History Painter.
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Vasily Surikov (1848-1916)
The Siberian Cossack painter Vasily Surikov, along with Ilya Repin (1844-1930)
is one of the greatest ever Russian artists to explore the genre of history
painting. Based in Moscow, he travelled to Northern and Southern Russia, as
well as to Italy, Germany, France and Spain. He was a member of the
progressive artist group known as The Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions
(aka The Wanderers, or Itinerants) and was frequently represented in their
exhibitions. While Surikov's main contribution to Russian art is his series of
large-scale historical canvases, he also painted landscapes, portraits, and
watercolours. Patronized by several art collectors including Pavel Tretyakov
(1832-98), and Savva Mamontov (1841-1918), his greatest masterpieces
include narrative works, like The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy
(1878-81, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), Menshikov at Beriozov (1883,
Portrait of Stepan Razin (1909) Tretyakov) and The Boyarina Morozova (1887, Tretyakov); portraiture, like
State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.
Portrait of Unknown Girl Against a Yellow Background (1911, Russian Museum,
RUSSIAN ART MUSEUMS St Petersburg) and Man with an Injured Arm (1913, Russian Museum);
Hermitage Gallery St Petersburg landscapes, like Zubovsky Boulevard in Winter (Tretyakov), and genre works
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
like The Taking of the Snow Fortress (1891, Russian Museum, St Petersburg).
Detail taken from: "The Morning of
the Execution of the Streltsy" (1881)
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
MODERN ARTISTS
For a list of painters like
Vasily Surikov, see: Modern Artists.
RUSSIAN PAINTERS Early Life
Ivan Shishkin (1832-98)
Unique forest landscape artist.
Vasily Perov (1833-82) Born in the remote Siberian town of Krasnoyarsk, of Cossack ancestry, Vasily
Pioneer critical realist genre painter.
Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887) Ivanovich Surikov grew up in the extreme conditions typical of the region, as a
Russia's greatest portraitist. result of which he felt strong personal links with the people and history of
Konstantin Savitsky (1844-1905)
Critical realism; genre painter. Russia. His natural aptitude for drawing and painting was noticed at an early
Vasily Polenov (1844-1927) stage by his school teacher, N. V. Grebnev, who gave him individual tuition.
Landscape and biblical painter.
Mikhail Vrubel (1856-1910)
After completing school in 1868, Surikov travelled on horseback to St
Russian symbolist painter. Petersburg in order to join the Imperial Academy of Arts, a journey which took
Isaac Levitan (1860-1900) him almost 12 months. In 1869, he entered the Academy of Art, where he
Realist/Impressionist landscape artist.
Abram Arkhipov (1862-1930) worked hard for six years under the pedagogue Pavel Chistyakov. An early
Genre painter in critical realist style. work from this period is The Knyaz's Court of Law (1874). After graduating
Alexei von Jawlensky (1864-1941)
Greatest Russian colourist. from The Imperial Academy, Surikov obtained commissions for 4 large-scale
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Vasily Surikov, Russian History Painter 26/09/2023, 10:34
Valentin Serov (1865-1911) fresco paintings for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, where he
Russia's greatest Impressionist.
Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) now settled. He also quickly found a wife, Elizabeth Charais, granddaughter of
Expressionist, abstract art. the Decembrist Svistunov.
Kasimir Malevich (1878-1935)
Cubist, inventor of Suprematism.
Marc Chagall (1887-1985) History Painting
Painter, lithographer.
Chaim Soutine (1893-1943)
Expressionist figurative painter. The old Muscovite architecture, embracing the Kremlin, Red Square and
numerous cathedrals and monasteries proved an immediate inspiration to the
WORLDS TOP ARTISTS
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young artist. It wasn't long before he began painting his greatest masterpiece
Best Artists of All Time. The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy (1878-81), a work which would
For the top allegorical painting, define the main focus of his painting – namely, the depiction of Russians in
see: Best History Painters.
turning points of their history. Like many other Russian artists of the 1870s and
1880s, he was especially fascinated by the Petrine era (the reign of Czar Peter
the Great), which was an important period of national development and cultural
progress. This period also witnessed a conflict between the rights of the
individual and the power of the state, a theme which provides the main drama
of both The Morning of the Execution of the Streltsy and The Boyarina
Morozova (1887). In the former, Peter the Great stares with angry vengeance
as members of the Streltsy - an early type of militia - are led to their execution
by the Kremlin walls. In the latter, a noblewoman, an Old Believer is being
dragged away on a sledge to face punishment for her heretical beliefs. In both
pictures, Surikov highlights the emotions of those caught up in the action and
the impact of history on their lives. Surikov's third major historical work is
Menshikov at Beriozov (1883). This portrays the Siberian exile of Peter the
Great's favourite courtier after the death of the Czar. A once all-powerful
politician, now disgraced, Menshikov continues to impress the viewers with his
strong personality.
During the early 1880s, Surikov was active in several different artistic circles.
He joined the Itinerants (Peredvizhniki) movement in 1881, and also attracted
the attention of the famous Russian art collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov
(1832-98), who bought both the Streltsy and the Menshikov paintings. With
the proceeds, Surikov went abroad, visiting Germany, Austria, Italy and France,
where he studied the Old Masters as well as famous contemporaries of the 19th
century.
Later Years
Tragically, in 1887, not long after Surikov completed The Boyarina Morozova,
his wife Elizabeth died, leaving him bereft. He stopped painting and left
Moscow with his children for Siberia. Here, to help Surikov recover, his brother
urged him to paint a picture of the "storming" of a snow fortress - a Cossack
tradition which was still celebrated in Krasnoyarsk. The result was The Taking
of The Snow Fortress (1891), the most light-hearted of all his works. He
followed this, on his return to Moscow, with a number of portraits, watercolours
and another serious history painting, The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak
(1895, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg). The latter depicted the 16th century
battle between the Cossacks, led by their Ataman Yermak Timofeevich, and the
army of Kuchum-Khan, the ruler of Siberia. Two of his last such narrative
paintings were Russian Troops under Suvorov Crossing the Alps (1899) and
Stepan Razin (1906), both in the Russian Museum, St Petersburg. Some of the
material for these pictures was collected during his trips to the Cossack
homelands around the Don river, as well as the lower Volga and the Crimea.
In 1893 he was elected a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. Surikov
died in Moscow at the age of 68 and was buried at the Vagankovskoye
Cemetery.
For a brief review of the era, see: Russian Painting, 19th-Century.
Legacy
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Vasily Surikov, Russian History Painter 26/09/2023, 10:34
Together with his contemporary Ilya Repin, Vasily Ivanovich Surikov took
historical or narrative painting to an entirely new level. His pictures are filled
with active portrayals of ordinary people caught up in the drama of the
moment, and demonstrate enormous skill in the arrangement of crowds, the
movements of people, and linear perspective. Amazingly, despite his reputation
as Russia's greatest historical painter, Surikov produced only nine historical
works. Most of his painting consists of portrait art, including group portraits
and self-portraits, landscapes and genre-scenes.
Today, Surikov's pictures hang in the best art museums across Russia, Belarus
and the Ukraine, including the Museum of History of Religion and Atheism of
the Academy of Science, St. Petersburg, the Ryazan Art Museum, the Art
Museum of Belarus in Minsk, the Museum of Fine Arts in Kharkov, the A. N.
Radishchev Museum of Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts in Omsk, and the Far
East Fine Arts Museum in Khabarovsk.
• For more biographies, see: Famous Painters.
• For more information about modern art, see: Homepage.
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