“Master of gallant scenes” Konstantin Somov and his piquant illustrations.

Konstantin Somov (1869-1939) was a Russian painter, watercolorist and graphic artist, recognized by his descendants and contemporaries as a true “master of gallant scenes”. He managed to reflect in his works the French Rococo era with its balls and masquerades, repeatedly praised by artists Antoine Watteau and François Boucher, but this time in the direction of Art Nouveau, in which Somov created almost all his life.

Celebration in the vicinity of Venice

Konstantin's path to art was largely predetermined, and his desire to become a professional artist was fully supported by his family. His father Andrei Ivanovich Somov worked in the Hermitage, and therefore the family often talked about art, and in general, considered serving him a matter of more than honorable and worthy. That is why Konstantin's brother Alexander Somov became an art historian and his sister an artist.

Portrait of Andrey Ivanovich Somov

Andrei Somov graduated from the physics department of St. Petersburg University and began working as a governess, teaching exact sciences to rich schoolchildren and cadets. He found an outlet in painting - he studied it thoroughly, painted watercolors and all kinds of graphics, published articles in various art magazines and even translated Galileo's works into Russian. He was able to combine pure art and accurate science, so he was a truly versatile and gifted personality. Although the main capital was successfully married to the beautiful and clever Nadezhda Lobanova, who was given a rich dowry.

Rainbow

His son Konstantin Somov was always committed to innovation in painting. While still studying at the Karl May Gymnasium, together with Alexander Benois and Dmitry Filosofov, he joined the circle “Nevsky Pickwickians”, where besides him there were Leon Bakst and Sergei Diaghilev. They studied art and dreamed of a new direction in painting, which would be radically different from the “dead academism”.

Italian Comedy. Version of the painting made for the "World of Art" auction for the benefit of the wounded

Later this circle was transformed into the group “World of Art”, which included many famous artists: Serov, Korovin, Vasnetsov, Vrubel, Nesterov and others. This was the answer to the seemingly already passing away Wanderers, who were frozen in their critical realism and did not want to write in any other way.

Sorceress

In 1888, Konstantin Somov began studying at the Academy of Arts. However, he already had a considerable advantage over many other students, because thanks to his parents he could see many masterpieces of painting in European museums with his own eyes, instead of relying only on a boarding trip. Somov studied long and diligently, and only in 1897 was finally able to come to his favorite Paris, where many friends of the artist - Benois, Bakst, Diaghilev and others - already lived.

White Night. Sergeyevo

The former “Nevsky Pickwickians” continued to study painting in the best place for this purpose - Paris. However, not all paintings by French artists delighted Somov: “Gauguin is good, but Matisse's work cannot be considered art, and the same can be said about Van Gogh.

Russian ballet

And Somov gradually found himself in illustration. He drew the cover for the magazine “World of Art”, which caused universal admiration. Then he worked on illustrating Gogol's “Petersburg Stories” and Pushkin's humorous poem “Count Nulin”, which they try not to mention at school.

Illustration for Long's novel "Daphnis and Chloe"

By 1903, he had already presented over 160 of his works at a solo exhibition in St. Petersburg. Somov painted many remarkable portraits and landscapes, but it so happened that he was best known to posterity as the author of illustrations for the courtly “Book of the Marquise”.

The Book of the Marquise

However, he himself was not too pleased with this work: “a temporary, non-serious, saleable thing, for which, however, well paid, but did you know how bored I am with these pictures. But it was these “frivolous” illustrations that brought Somov real fame. Art historians wrote: “he managed to embody the very spirit of the gallant XVIII century with its frivolity and defiant sensuality.

The Book of the Marquise

The illustrations for “The Book of the Marquise” were commissioned by Austrian critic Franz Blei, who also compiled this collection, which included “immodest works” by about 50 authors, mostly French. However, in St. Petersburg it was first sold under the table, but in 1918, on the wave of breaking the “old bourgeois morality”, it was officially released.

The Book of the Marquise

After the revolution, Somov decided to leave Russia, as he believed that he was not on the way with the Bolsheviks, but he did not manage to do so until 1923. Then he went to the United States to represent there the “Russian exhibition”, it was successfully held, but he never returned. Four years later he settled in Paris, bought an apartment there and plunged headlong into work: he painted watercolors in the Russian style, painted portraits and landscapes.

Mummers

But Somov's personal life was peculiar. As early as 1910, he began a relationship with 18-year-old sitter Methodius Lukyanov, whom everyone called Mif. He lived in Somov's house and was for the artist “brother, son and husband”.

Portrait of Methodius Lukyanov

Myth was the first to emigrate, prompted by the news that he was ill with tuberculosis. The St. Petersburg climate was not suitable for him at all, so as soon as the opportunity presented itself, he went to France, where he settled in Granville and engaged in agriculture. Warm favorable climate and unburdensome work allowed him to live longer, and Somov, when he moved to Paris, often visited his “brother, son and husband.

Self-portrait in the mirror

In 1932 Mif still died of tuberculosis, and his last words were: “Kostya, goodbye”. Somov outlived Mif by only seven years. He died in Paris, where he continued to work until his death, creating wonderful paintings, immensely longing for his homeland and his dead lover.

Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.