Bogorodsky, Fedor Semenovich

Early years

Fedor Semenovich Bogorodsky was born on May 21 ( June 2 ), 1895 in Nizhny Novgorod ^[1] in the family of a lawyer.

He studied at the Nizhny Novgorod gymnasium . From the age of 12, he studied drawing - first from the local artists V. A. Likin and the private art studio of L. M. Diamant , and in 1914—1916 in the studio of M. V. Leblanc .

Moscow University

In 1914, after graduating from high school, he left for Moscow. In the same year he entered the Moscow University at the Faculty of Law .

He became interested in futurism , was friends with V. Khlebnikov , N. N. Aseev and V. V. Mayakovsky . During his studies he performed on the stage as a dancer, as well as in a circus, wrote poems.

In 1916, for the first time he took part in an art exhibition - his work “Mother's Portrait” was exhibited at the XVI periodic exhibition of the Nizhny Novgorod Society of Art Lovers, which opened in early March ^[2] .

World War I

In 1914, the Russian Empire entered the war, mobilization began. But students in the army were not called, as they had a delay to complete their education. However, in March 1916, due to the shortage of educated personnel in the army in the Russian Empire, the first call for students was held (at Moscow University, the number of students who studied fell from 11,184 in January to 8,129 in November 1916. ^[3] ) And although in March 1916 The year Fyodor Bogorodsky had not yet turned 21, he was drafted into the army. “ In the early spring of 1916 I was mobilized and sent to Petrograd to serve in the navy, ” Bogorodsky himself wrote about this time in his memoirs. He turned out to be a sailor in the Imperial Baltic Fleet . After some time, he was able to transfer from the crew to the aviation unit of the imperial military air fleet , which initially became civilian in aviation.

While serving in Petrograd, he met again with Mayakovsky, who served there at the Automotive Training School. I visited Mayakovsky in an apartment on Nadezhdinskaya Street , I saw Lilya Brik there .

He was appointed a pilot in the 35th ^[4] corps aviation squad as part of the Special Army . In July 1917, the detachment participated in the offensive on the South-Western Front . In his memoirs, Bogorodsky described the arrival of the Minister of War Kerensky to his military unit on the eve of the offensive.

In September 1917, he flew two-seat reconnaissance aircraft " Farman " in the Skalat and Grimailov area . In the fall of 1917, his plane was shot down by German artillery. Bogorodsky survived and went to treatment in the hospital.

In January 1918, began to walk on crutches. It was treated in the city of Dubno , not far from the front line. On the initiative of the Revolutionary Committee, a Red Guard detachment was organized, the commander of which was Bogorodsky. In February 1918, he was demobilized as an invalid and left Dubno for Moscow with documents from the Belgian pilot Moran.

Red Terror in Nizhny Novgorod Province

In Moscow, he worked in the Cheka. After spending a short time in Moscow, he was sent to his homeland - to Nizhny Novgorod. There Bogorodsky was appointed chairman of the department for particularly important affairs of the revolutionary tribunal of the Nizhny Novgorod province (the tribunal itself was headed by A. V. Anokhin ). The Bolsheviks who seized power in December 1917 abolished the former courts and abolished the post of prosecutor. The court was replaced by a revolutionary tribunal, which in its actions was guided not by law and law, but by revolutionary expediency.

By the decision of the Provincial Committee he was transferred to the Nizhny Novgorod provincial Cheka for the struggle against counter-revolution, headed by Yakov Vorobyov , one of the organizers of the Red Terror in the Nizhny Novgorod province.

In October 1918, he participated in the organization of the Red Army Ball in Nizhny Novgorod at the former Bureaucrat Club on the occasion of the first anniversary of the October Revolution .

From March 1919 - head of the investigative department of the Nizhny Novgorod provincial Cheka.

Civil War in the South

In May 1919 he was sent to the front of the civil war by the political commissar of the sailor detachment of the Don military flotilla. Then the flotilla united with the Northern detachment of the Astrakhan-Caspian military flotilla, which was transformed into the Volga-Caspian military flotilla. The military commissar Bogorodsky was instructed in the shortest possible time to form a detachment of communist sailors for military operations. Fought on the Volga, near Tsaritsyn . At the end of June in one of the battles Bogorodsky was seriously contused. He was treated in the Samara hospital. After being healed, he was demobilized and appointed head of a special department of the Orenburg Provincial Cheka to fight counter-revolution.

Nizhny Novgorod

In January 1920, he was seconded to Moscow in the Cheka. There he soon petitioned to transfer him to work in organizations related to art. A. Lunacharsky was sent to N. Novgorod to the post of head of the art department. However, Nizhny Novgorod Sponge appointed him head of the investigative unit of the revolutionary military tribunal of the Volga region. For two years he lived in his home (on Ulyanov street). He wrote poems in the spirit of "left", revolutionary futurism (the poetic collection "Give!", 1922).

In October 1920, he was transferred to trade union work by a member of the presidium of the Nizhny Novgorod provincial board of the All-Russian trade union Rabis. He was elected a member of the Nizhny Novgorod City Council.

In October 1921 he was sent to Moscow to the trade union conference of artists, where he was elected a member of the presidium.

VHUTEMAS study

In September 1922, the 27-year-old Bogorodsky was sent to Moscow to complete artistic education. A.Ye. Arkhipov invited him to his IVth workshop in the VHUTEMAS workshop. Released poetic collection "Give!" (1922).

In 1922 he joined the artistic association "Being" .

In 1922 he was elected deputy of the Moscow City Council. (1922-1928)

In 1924 he joined the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia , the most extensive and influential grouping of the 1920s. Actively participated in the work of the association. Trying to reflect the new life as widely as possible, the association organized for its members creative business trips to different parts of Soviet Russia. In 1925, Bogorodsky traveled along the Volga, Mari and Chuvash republics.

In 1925 joined the artistic association " Fire Color ".

In 1927 he defended his diploma at the Vkhutein and received a referral from the People's Commissariat of Education for a pensioner's trip abroad.

Years of Creativity

From 1928 to 1930 he lived in Italy and Germany (pensioner's trip), stayed with Gorky for a long time in Sorrento , with whom he was a fellow countryman in Nizhny Novgorod. The portrait of the writer written by him has not been preserved; he is known for reproductions.

In 1930, he returned to Russia, and in 1931–1937, he often visited the Black Sea Fleet , inspired by life and kindness (in 1931–1932, he traveled along the Black Sea coast).

Film Institute

Head of the department of painting and drawing at the Institute of Cinematography (1938-1959), professor (1939).

From the beginning of the war he actively worked in the MOSKh board. November 16, 1941 by a government decision, among 100 artists, was evacuated from Moscow.

In the autumn of 1944 he was sent to the 5th Air Army.

Corresponding Member of the USSR Academy of Arts ( 1947 ).

Chairman of the Board of Moscow Union of Artists (1955-1958).

Igor Grabar wrote about him:

"His increased vitality is reflected in everything he attaches to his hand."

F. S. Bogorodsky died on November 3, 1959 . He was buried in Moscow at the Novodevichy Cemetery (station number 4).

The most characteristic works of the artist are the images of the sailors of the Civil War. His series of street portraits is widely known.

He sought to emotionally intense painting, seeking appropriate expressiveness and showiness.

His early work is characterized by a fascination with impressionism, both French and Russian, as well as the influence of cubism , suprematism and futurism.

In 1916 he made his debut in Nizhny Novgorod at the XVI periodic exhibition of the City Society of Art Lovers, where his attention was drawn to the "Portrait of a Mother". “Mother's Portrait” is distinguished by a pronounced decorative beginning, ornamental and angular pattern.

Studying in the workshop of Arkhipov, he took from him the principles of attitude to nature, the accuracy of the individual characteristics in the portrait, the powerful pictorial plastics. During this period, he creates a series of portraits of street children, which was well received; but the search for the heroically romantic plots that the era demanded led to an appeal to one’s own past. Naval plots identified all the further themes of his main paintings.

In 1927 he painted the painting "The Sailors in Ambush" (the Tretyakov Gallery ), which became the standard of the heroic painting genre. In 1928, the picture was sent to the XVI Biennale in Venice (the author went with her). In Italy, the artist studied modern scenic currents, created many landscapes in oil, also worked in watercolor and tempera, studied the paintings of Pompeii. After studying in Italy, his palette brightened and became lighter.

In the 1930s, he wrote a series of canvases based on the Black Sea nature, but a number of works of this plan are characterized by idealization. He also returned to the memories of youth, writing a romantic self-portrait "Little Brother" (1932), which became the romantic personification of the hero of the Civil War. Then Bogorodsky refuses the dramatic affectation inherent in early works, and seeks ways to create images of monumental-generalized, sublimely heroic.

During the Great Patriotic War creates the painting "Glory to the fallen heroes" (1945, TG ), which deserved wide recognition. The intimate world of the artist was reflected in the landscape paintings.

• Stalin Prize of the second degree (1946) - for the painting "Glory to the fallen heroes!" (1945)
• Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1946)
• Order of the Red Banner of Labor
• Order of the Badge of Honor (04/14/1944)
• medals

Kuznetsov, Leonid Trofimovich

• Bogorodsky F. S. My creative way. M., 1931.
• Bogorodskiy F.S. Avtomonografiya. M., 1938.
• Kravchenko K.S.F. S. Bogorodsky. M. 1952.
• Polevoy V.M. Fedor Semenovich Bogorodsky. M .: Soviet artist, 1956. 135 p., 2 p. ill.
• Two hundred years of the USSR Academy of Arts. Catalog of the exhibition. - L.-M.: Art, 1958. - p. 214.

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