While some scold him for trying to please the Soviet authorities, others rank him among the great painters. In Pimenov's paintings, Soviet life seems almost flawless. Only whether these artworks were the result of a bright and positive view of life or a desire to avoid problems with the state will try to understand in this article.
Numerous awards, including for the artwork “Give Industrialization!”, “Workers of Uralmash”, “New Moscow” give reason to consider the artist part of the state propaganda machine. On the other hand, the artist could really perceive reality in this way. It is enough to look at his artwork “Spring Window” to see his susceptibility to mood and his attempt to notice the light in the ordinary.
Spring window
However, many Soviet artists, even the most famous and famous, such as Konstantin Yuon and Arkady Plastov painted pictures in this way - praising the Soviet system and varnishing reality. But at the same time they had absolutely marvelous paintings, written from the heart, not by order, to familiarize yourself with them, and at the same time read about the interesting and unusual life of these artists can be at the links.
Moscow, early twentieth century. In 1903, the future artist was born. On his mother's side he came from a merchant family, and Pimenov's father served as an assistant sworn attorney. The family lived quite well, and already in the gymnasium Yuri's talent for drawing was noticed. Thanks to the help of his teacher, he was able to enter the Zamoretsky school of drawing. At the first opportunity, the young man went to the Tretyakov Gallery to study the paintings of the classics. At the time, he had no idea that one day his artwork would also take its rightful place in this amazing collection.
Moscow Roofs
The painting “Moscow Roofs” is worth only, which allowed to convey the capital in a completely unique style. The new Stalinist high-rise towers over the old Moscow houses symbolizing the success of Soviet life. Although everyone understood perfectly well that ordinary people lived in these very old houses, and Stalin's high-rises were more for propaganda than for living.
At the age of seventeen, the young artist became a student of HATW (Higher Art and Technical Workshops). In his artwork “Artists in the Workshop” the artist depicted the learning process as he saw it.
artists in the studio
Five years later, several graduates of this institution became founders of the Society of Stankovist Artists.
The artwork of the OSTs was a mixture of European expressionism and constructivism, quite fresh and new for its period. The artists chose labor, sports, and the peculiarities of life in the still very young Soviet state as their main themes.
Of course, some of the artwork may be a socialist story, but at twenty-something, the artist did look at life in a positive way.
Soccer
In honor of the decade of the October Revolution, the artist painted a picture “Give the heavy industry!”, which was highly appreciated at the top.
But the opportunity to exhibit at exhibitions was not yet a guarantee that colleagues and critics would appreciate the efforts of the artist. Pimenov was often reproached, his artworks were called “poster-like”, and all members of the OST group were considered excessively fixated on formalism. However, for the second half of the twenties, such reviews were not critical; it did not matter what colleagues said, the main thing was loyalty on the part of Soviet art officials.
In the twenties and even thirties, the Soviet Union was not yet closed, but remained interested in getting closer to the world. They tried to show their best side in the cultural sphere as well. Even young artists criticized for being bourgeois had the opportunity to participate in exhibitions abroad and travel.
The artist expressed his impressions of this period in the work “Far Road”, which is characterized by rather light colors, as, however, almost all artworks by Pimenov.
But at that time, a long journey was not available to everyone, but Pimenov was one of the lucky few. A foreign hat, an umbrella, a plaid scarf, a suitcase with bright foreign stickers and tags were attributes of a completely different life, and Pimenov consciously emphasized them.
Yuri Pimenov had the opportunity to participate in an exhibition in Tokyo, in New York, in Venice and Paris. From the artwork of this period it is worth highlighting the panel “Physical Education Parade”, on which the view of Soviet sporting events appeared clearly inspired. However, this was the order of the day.
Physical education parade
The artist was twenty-six years old when his wife became a typist-stenographer Natalia Bernadskaya. The couple spent the rest of their lives together, and the wife was not only a muse, a sitter, but also an assistant to her creative husband. Later, together with her husband, she would work on the creation of theatrical costumes. On the artwork “Portrait of N.K. Pimenova in a white hat” you can notice how touching and tenderly the artist treated his own second half.
The beginning of the thirties was marked by the split of OST. Together with a part of his colleagues, Pimenov became the founder of the group “Izrada”. Now the theme of the new group's paintings was the “proletarian sector”.
If by the twenties criticism was just an expression of opinion, and did not lead to a harsh response from the Soviet authorities, then by the early thirties the party demanded the elimination of creative associations. Artists now became part of the Moscow Regional Union of Artists of the USSR. Socialist realism was called the most correct and recommended manner of creation.
Window washer
Now any disputes and dissatisfaction expressed in paintings acquired a political coloring. Pimenov experienced this stage hard. From nervous tension, he fell ill, his collection of drawings and illustrations was rejected and the artist for the finished artwork did not receive a ruble. We had to live only on the means of his wife. To calm his nerves Pimenov could go out of town or walk around the capital for a few hours. What exactly pushed him to search for a new direction is unknown, but it is at this point the artist begins to choose the theme of the city and people.
The main changes are noticeable in the style, now he is closer to impressionism, not to the poster. It is enough to look at his artwork “Woman in a Hammock” to notice how strong the changes were.
A woman in a hammock
They're obviously for the best, though. An illness or the unwillingness to live off the earnings of a spouse have done their part. Pimenov destroys some of the old artwork, not just changing the style.
One of the most famous paintings of the artist was “New Moscow”. The absence of pathos, positive attitude to people and attention to detail of the artist made this artwork really interesting.
New Moscow
Now in the artist's work, the theme of roads takes a special place. This was the case with the painting “Tire Traces”, which the artist created at the height of the war.
Tire tracks
Theater career and the world of cinematography attracted Pimenov no less. Already as a student auto was engaged in the preparation of illustrations for magazines, began to work as a theater designer, to create costumes and scenery. He created artists and sets for films, including “Kuban Cossacks”.
It would seem that once the New Moscow artwork was recognized, all doors would be open to the artist. But the Union has always been wary of impressionism, even the fact that the leading artists of the time, such as Edgar Degas, Maurice Utrillo, Paul Gauguin, Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Konstantin Korovin and others, did not change the situation. The problem of style became especially acute in the mid-1940s, when the attitude to the West was sharply revised.
Still, Pimenov tried to create artworks with views of his beloved Moscow in all its beauty. He was more interested in new houses, young, beautiful and happy people, whose eyes shine in his paintings from love. While some criticize the cycle of his artwork “New Neighborhoods” for varnishing reality, others like their positivity.
New Districts
But it should be understood that Pimenov wanted to see Moscow exactly like this; he admired the new Soviet people, who would no longer have to experience the horror of war and live in cramped communal quarters, and was genuinely happy for them. Happiness according to Pimenov is summer rain, newlyweds going to their new apartment on scaffolding, endless optimism before tomorrow. And how we lack all this now.
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