Sergei Gribkov (1822-1893) was a Russian artist who painted pictures in the domestic genre. His paintings are not too well known, but they were of high quality, with good colouring and careful detailing. Gribkov skilfully built a composition, and he was especially successful in small genre scenes and portraits. The best of them were little inferior to the work of Vladimir Makovsky - Russian travelling artist, master of chamber scenes, although in general mood they are still closer to the works of his brother Konstantin Makovsky - the highest paid artist in Russia. We will talk about the undeservedly forgotten artist Sergei Gribkov in this article.
Blessing for the wedding
Sergei Gribkov was born in the town of Kasimov, located in Ryazan province. His father was a merchant, but did not have a good turnover and was mainly engaged in petty trade. Sergei from childhood showed an aptitude for drawing, and persuaded his father to allow him not to continue the family business, and allow him to enter the Moscow School of Painting. After 6 years of hard study, Gribkov became known as a promising artist. Some of his works were presented at the exhibition and critics especially noted his desire to follow the truth of life, to move away from excessive parade, Gribkov's paintings depicted simple people in simple situations, but that was their special charm.
Water carrier
Gribkov was clearly inspired by the paintings of his teacher Mokritsky, who had once studied under Venetsianov and adopted his creative style.
In the church
Some of Gribkov's paintings are in the Tretyakov Gallery, such as "Peasant Shearing a Sheep".
A peasant shearing a sheep, 1852.
The influence of Venetsianov is evident here - few Russian artists in those years painted pictures on folk themes and depicted ordinary people in them. The time of the Wanderers had not yet come, and artists preferred to paint ceremonial portraits of the nobility.
True, the painting still turned out to be somewhat old-fashioned, partly reminiscent of the works of the old Dutch masters. But who said that following well-proven traditions is a bad thing. Although there is no denunciatory message typical of the Itinerant painters in the painting, it is simply a reflection of peasant labour, hard, monotonous, down-to-earth, but so necessary.
Girl at the well
However, with each year the skill of the artist grew. The painting "Girl at the Well" leaves a much more pleasant impression. Surely this is a future bride, who has put on the best outfit and is now waiting for her groom. Gribkov surprisingly accurately managed to convey modesty and beauty, and the bride, although of simple origin, still does not seem humiliated, humbled and submissive, there is dignity in her, no less than in the pompous portraits of nobility.
The Cat and the Cook
Gribkov also illustrated the works of our classics, for example, Krylov's fable "The Cat and the Cook". He convincingly managed to show the mess made by an impudent cat and a strange cook who reads morals to the cat instead of just throwing him out of the kitchen. However, all of Krylov's fables are allegorical and should not be taken literally.
A quarrel between Ivan Ivanovich and Ivan Nikiforovich
Gribkov's creative assets include a painting based on a well-known story by Gogol. Gribkov scrupulously followed Gogol's text, but added a lot of his own - a sharp contrast between the stately obese and clumsy Ivan Nikiforovich, who prefers to relax in his house in his mother's clothes, not embarrassed by the serfs, who, it seems, and did not consider them as people, and skittish fidgety Ivan Ivan Ivanovich, already after a quarrel came to visit him to express all his grievances.
There is both mockery and strict adherence to the literary source - all the ingredients of a good illustration.
Xenia Godunova
Gribkov also tried his hand at the "elite" historical genre, but gradually settled back on optimistic genre scenes, strikingly in contact with the paintings of the then popular travelling painters.
In the shop
However, he found his niche, his work was willingly bought, and it is more pleasant when in the living room hangs an unpretentious, but pleasing to the eye picture "In the shop", rather than a serious canvas depicting the suffering of the people. Perhaps it was following such a frivolous genre that contributed to the fact that Gribkov was forgotten in Soviet times.
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