Vasiliev, Fedor Alexandrovich

Based on the data of the first biographies of Vasiliev, it is generally accepted (although no documents were found about the place and date of birth of F.A. Vasiliev) that he was born on February 10 ( 22 ), 1850 in Gatchina (now the Leningrad Region ) in the family of a small postal official from St. Petersburg.

At the age of twelve, he was sent to the main post office, where he received 3 rubles of salary per month. From early childhood, showed the ability and interest in drawing. He left the service and went to study at the Drawing School of the Society for the Promotion of Arts in St. Petersburg (1865-1868), at which time he combined classes at the school in the evenings with work at the restorer from the Academy of Arts P.K. Sokolov . By the end of his studies, Vasiliev entered the midst of famous artists, especially became close to Kramsky and Shishkin . An important event in this period for the young artist was his trip to the island of Valaam , where he worked with I.I. Shishkin for more than five months: from June to late autumn 1867. In 1869, Vasilyev traveled to the Tambov province, to the estate of Count P.S. Stroganov, the village of Znamenskoye (in summer), and to Ukraine , also to the estate of P.S. Stroganov, to the village of Hoten (autumn). These trips have played a favorable role in the development of the artist’s original talent.

In 1870, Vasiliev, together with the artists I. Repin and E. Makarov, took a trip along the Volga . They sailed along the great river from Tver to Saratov , and arranged a creative apartment in the vicinity of Samara Stavropol , opposite Zhiguli ^[2] . A lot of impressions and many drawings from this Volga summer served as the basis for a number of paintings, the most significant of which are “ View on the Volga. Barques and Volga Lagoons . Upon returning from a trip, Vasiliev creates the “ Thaw ”. The picture immediately became an event of Russian artistic life. Her author's repetition, in warmer tones than the first version, was shown at the 1872 world exhibition in London.

While working on the painting "Thaw", in the winter of 1870 , Vasiliev caught a cold, he had tuberculosis . At the suggestion of Count P.S. Stroganov, the artist spent the summer of 1871 on his estates in the Kharkov and Voronezh provinces , but did not recover. The Society for the Encouragement of the Arts gave him the means to travel to the Crimea (even before he left, Vasilyev was enrolled as an independent student of the Academy of Arts and received the title of an artist of the first degree with the condition to pass the exam from the scientific course). In Crimea, Vasiliev spent the last two years of his life. During this period, he creates many drawings (pencil, watercolor, sepia) and paintings. The central work on Crimean nature is the large painting “ In the Crimean Mountains ” (1873, Tretyakov Gallery). In Crimea, Vasilyev also painted significant paintings on the nature of the north: “Morning”, “Abandoned Mill”, “Swamp in the Forest. Autumn ”(1873),“ Wet Meadow ”( 1872 , Tretyakov Gallery ). Honorary freelancer of the Academy of Arts (since 1873) ^[3] . The artist worked a lot and hard, sometimes at the expense of treatment. This was not conducive to recovery and led to a tragic end.

F.A. Vasiliev died on September 24 ( October 6 ), 1873 in Yalta . The grave is located in the same place, at the Polikurovsky cemetery .

Gallery

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  Thaw , 1871

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  After the rain. Country Road. 1867–1869

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  Cum cloud 1860

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  Crowns of trees. 1867

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  Brickworks. 1869. National Museum of Art of Azerbaijan ( Baku )

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  Swamp in the forest. Autumn. 1873

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  Monument-bust in Yalta

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  The grave of the artist in Yalta on Polikurovsky cemetery

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  The painting “ Village Street ” on a 1975 USSR postage stamp

1. F. Vasiliev. Letters and Documents / Introductory Art. and preparing letters for publication by A. A. Fedorov-Davydov. M., 1937
2. Fedorov-Davydov A. Fedor Alexandrovich Vasiliev. 1850 - 1873. M .; L., 1947
3. Maltseva F. S. Fedor Alexandrovich Vasilyev. 1850 - 1873. Life and work. M., 1984
4. Priselkov S.V. Figures by F.A. Vasiliev // Transactions of the All-Russian Academy of Arts. L .; M., 1947. 1. P. 185 - 198
5. Winner A. Painting Technique F. Vasiliev // Artist. 1962. No. 6. P. 23 - 26
6. Novouspensky N. N. Fedor Alexandrovich Vasilyev. Album. M., 1991
7. Smolnikov I.F. The Story of F. Vasiliev. L., 1962
8. Plyasov N. F. “Two portraits” (M. Voloshin. F. Vasiliev. Essays). "Tavria". Simferopol. 1995
9. Kuznetsov S.O. Strogonovs. 500 years of kind. Above only kings. - M-SPb: Centerpolygraph, 2012 .-- 558 s - ISBN 978-5-227-03730-5
10. S. N. Kondakov. Anniversary reference book of the Imperial Academy of Arts. 1764-1914. - St. Petersburg: Partnership R. Golike and A. Vilborg, 1915. - T. 2. - S. 33. - 454 p.

• Vasiliev Fedor Alexandrovich - article from the Great Soviet Encyclopedia .
• Vasiliev Fedor Alexandrovich. Biography and works of the artist on Artonline.ru
• About the artist F. A. Vasiliev
• Vasiliev, Fyodor Alexandrovich in the library "Prospector"

• Pictures F. A. Vasilyeva on postcards (inaccessible link) . Collection of postcards with reproductions of paintings by Russian and foreign artists on the PINAKOTEKA.ru website
• Letter of F. A. Vasilyev to I. I. Shishkin.
• on the Palette