Portrait of A.F. Kerensky (Repin's painting)

The symbol of the new Russia, born during the February Revolution of 1917 , was a former sworn attorney , who began his legal career during the 1905 revolution, Alexander IV Kerensky , deputy of the IV State Duma of the Russian Empire . In the Provisional Government, he alternately held the posts of Minister of Justice , Minister of War , Minister-Chairman , and ultimately received the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief , becoming at the age of 36 the youngest non-hereditary ruler of Russia in the 20th century ^{[1] [2]} . Kerensky was at the peak of his enormous popularity, at the zenith of political fame. He was an outstanding speaker, literally turning on both his listeners and himself, up to a nervous breakdown, in which some saw the influence of drugs. As a failed actor, he loved and knew how to like, and the craving for popularity, often in vain spurring Kerensky’s political ambitions, took the form of a painful passion ^{[3] [4]} . Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko even wrote: “Kerensky not only burns himself - he lights everything with a sacred fire of delight. Listening to him, you feel that all your nerves stretched to him and connected with his nerves in one knot. It seems to you that you are saying this yourself, that Kerensky is not in the hall, in the theater, in the square, and that you are in front of the crowd, the sovereign of her thoughts and feelings. She and you have one heart, and it is now wide, like the world, and, like it, beautiful ” ^[5] . It was with Kerensky that hopes for change began to be associated ^[6] . In the summer of 1917, many worshiped Kerensky, and Ilya Repin did not make an exception, hoping that this particular person would save revolutionary Russia ^[7] . However, Leo Trotsky argued that Kerensky simply “hung on the revolution” ^[2] .

Since 1903, Repin, a famous genre artist and portrait painter, together with his mistress , for whom he left his wife and four children, lived in his own equipped estate called Penates in the village of Kuokkala on the Gulf of Finland in the Grand Duchy Finland , which was then part of the Russian Empire ^{[8] [9] [10]} . He warmly welcomed February, which destroyed the despotic autocracy and proclaimed a republic , which he was very happy about ^[11] . March 18, 1917 Repin for the first time after the revolution came to Petrograd to a meeting of metropolitan artists, held in the council hall of the Academy of Arts . As the chair of the meeting, together with Vladimir Makovsky , Repin made several heated speeches, with the help of which he got the participants to continue the existence of the “Special Meeting at the Commissioner of the former Ministry of the Court” and the creation of the organization “Union of Plastic Artists”, fostering his idea of ​​reorganizing the Academy of Arts type of commune production and training type ^[12] .

In August 1917, Repin, in a letter to a certain lady, spoke about one of the “extraordinary days of his life”: “Quite unexpectedly, I got into Kerensky’s office during a meeting of the General, who gathered on emergency arrival of the gene [eral] Kornilov . Here I was honored to see Savinkov , and the handsome Tereshchenko , and a few more people who were lit by the Kerensky sun. Such a bouquet could not help but hit my head. And when I went upstairs to the dining room on a round staircase, my head was already spinning ” ^{[12] [13]} . The artist was invited to breakfast, where he went with his album, in which he did fluent sketches of the gathered ^[12] : “Such a bouquet could not but hit my head. And when I went upstairs to the dining room, on a round staircase, my head began to spin. Having placed myself, hoping to finish Kornilov’s album, I saw the incoming Grandmother of the Russian Revolution and jumped to another page of the album to sketch from her ”- this was Ekaterina Breshko-Breshkovskaya , to whom the letter was addressed ^{[12] [13]} . Then Repin says: “breakfast ended quickly. It was impossible to boast about the success of the sketches: extremely interesting faces quickly changed position - only from your face I managed to grab a little look a little bit ” ^[13] . It is noteworthy that after the revolution, Repin sharply changed the bias of his work from to anti-Soviet ^[9] . In this regard, the collector of Russian painting Mikhail Glazunov ^[14] , said to his nephew Ilya , the future artist: “And Repin is your many-sided figure, not to say it’s corrupt, then he flogs the tsar, then draws him, and after that this slander Kerensky ^{[15 ]} .

Despite the fact that Kerensky loved is in the center of attention, there are not so many portraits of him because of the historical ambiguity of his figure ^{[1] [16]} . Currently, three portraits are known, painted by Repin and his beloved student Isaac Brodsky in the summer of 1917, when Kerensky was the chairman of the government and the supreme commander in chief ^[1] . The fact of creating portraits was recorded by Vladimir Mayakovsky in his poem “ Good! "Mockingly comparing Kerensky with Napoleon :" His eyes are bonparty and the color of a protective jacket " ^{[K 1]} ; and adding: “Sewn to history, numbered and fastened, / and it is painted by Brodsky and Repin” ^{[17] [3] [18] [19]} . While working on the portrait, Repin fell under the charm of the new ruler of Russia, he, according to the definition of art critic A. S. Epishin , was simply obsessed with Kerensky, admired his human and political qualities, and once wrote in a letter to sculptor Mikhail Olenin : “What a complicated, ingenious nature. Here is a man born of Napoleon; what a talent, what energy! And to what extent it is always unexpectedly original; but generally simple and kind, as marked by the finger of God ... ” ^[7] . After the July suppression of the Bolshevik uprising, Kerensky came to the taste of power - he moved to the Winter Palace , settled in the chambers of Emperor Alexander III , rode in the royal train, worked at the giant writing desk of Russian emperors ^[3] . In the Admiralty , in the library of Nicholas II in the Winter Palace, where the government held its meetings, Repin painted watercolors and colored pencils in his album the image of Kerensky ^[20] .

Repin worked on the portrait of Kerensky, which was the fruit of visits to the offices of the Provisional Government ^[17] , in July and October 1917 ^[20] . Subsequently, Repin simply and routinely told Soviet artists who arrived at his Penates that “Kerensky’s portrait was painted from a sketch from nature in the office of Nicholas II . They wrote together with Brodsky ... As Kerensky sat in a chair illuminated by the sun, so I wrote him ” ^{[17] [21]} . Brodsky in his memoirs spoke more about this: “In 1917, after the February Revolution, when Kerensky surfaced, Repin, warmed by the newspapers that extolled this“ hero ”, wanted to paint his portrait. I don’t remember through whom, I managed to get Kerensky’s consent to pose for Repin, and at the same time he allowed me to write. The adjutants of Kerensky brought us to his office, which used to be the library of Nicholas II. We started to work: Repin wrote from him a small sketch in a hand-drawer, and I painted with charcoal. [...] Our session took place a month before the October uprising. Kerensky was no longer up to us. My drawing remained in the palace and disappeared there. Repin, in his sketch, made a large portrait of Kerensky ” ^[22] . Kerensky's posing in the office of Nicholas II in the Winter Palace had obvious political overtones; seated in the chair of the ousted emperor, the new ruler of Russia thereby confirmed his high status ^{[3] [23]} . In this regard, Repin noted that Kerensky “had the glory of almost an emperor, but turned out to be such a jerk.” After all, he was an impostor, like Grishka Otrepyev ” ^[24] .

Repin and Brodsky finished work on portraits separately in their workshops as early as 1918, when Kerensky lost all his power as a result of the October Revolution ^{[3] [23]} . In his Penates, until the end of October, Repin worked on the first portrait, and then painted the second portrait of Kerensky, along with the portrait of British Ambassador George Buchanan ^{[20] [20]} . It is noteworthy that at first the artist did not notice that a new revolution had occurred, since he worked hard ^[9] - he wrote Kerensky in several ways ^[23] . Even before her, Korney Chukovsky went to Repin in Kuokkala, to whom he showed a portrait of Kerensky. In a diary entry dated October 4, 1917, Chukovsky notes: “Kerensky looks dimly from a dimly painted licked brown portrait, but he has a tasteless and pretentious bunny on his hair. - That's right! - Repin explains - this is not a monumental portrait, but a random, random person ... True, a brilliant person [...] He worships Kerensky [...] ” ^[25] . Subsequently, in Kuokkale, Repin stated that he did not like Kerensky, since he immediately saw in him “an impostor from socialism ” ^{[7] [26]} .

The first ( 114 × 84 cm ) and second ( 116 × 85 cm ) portraits of Kerensky were painted in oil on linoleum ^{[27] [28]} . Repin, who generally did not shy away from experiments in painting, both technical and artistic ^[7] , in the same 1917 painted a “linoleum” portrait image of the revolution itself “Deserter” ( ) ^[18] . Both portraits of Kerensky are distinguished by a free and spontaneous manner of writing, according to critics who border on impressionism ^[7] or even expressionism (with the appeal to which, according to G. I. Revzin , Repin was ten years late compared to many of his contemporaries) ^{[ 29]} . Repin created them, probably at the same time, changing the angle and lighting, which indicates that the artist did not change the former perfection of the painting technique and the skill of the colorist ^[30] . Kerensky’s figure, as described by A. S. Epishin, is “immersed in an exceptional light-air environment”, from which individual spots of light, contrasting with shaded areas, grab it from ^{[7] [31]} . The composition of the portraits emphasizes the inconvenience of the pose of the portrait and, according to art historians, represent a sincere and believable psychological characteristic of Kerensky, short and unmistakably given by Repin as a portrait painter with experience of many years of creative work ^{[17] [31]} . Their tonal solution is chamber, almost intimate, which does not allow us to consider them official or ceremonial ^[7] . Repin wrote to Kerensky as a flabby, biliary, gray, devastated person, a neurasthenic ^{[4] [26]} . Being a master of revealing the psychological state of the person being portrayed, his very being, the specifics of poses, gestures and facial expressions, Repin leads the viewer to the idea that Kerensky was really like that ^{[7] [17]} .

In the first portrait, Kerensky knee-deeply depicts half-turned sitting in a carved chair, from which he seems to be jumping right now. Kerensky slightly bowed his head in a sly half-smile and looks at the viewer with a piercingly sharp look. On behalf of Kerensky comes peace and fatigue at the same time, he did not seem to get enough sleep, and yet he is relaxed - this still does not fit with his real life, the life of the head of the government of revolutionary Russia, who has taken upon himself all the hardships of managing the young republic and cannot cope with this burden. Compositionally, the portrait is sloppy and even looks unfinished; this is probably due to the fact that Repin in the last years of his life could write only with his left hand. The head is large relative to the torso, the body looks a little dry, childish; the hands are disproportionate and protrude from hastily rolled up split cuffs of a military coat and protective color, as if small for Kerensky. The accuracy of the details does not deprive this work of a somewhat caricatured power, and the figure of Kerensky himself does not deprive the might of the new “historical person” ^{[7] [19] [31] [26] [29] [32]} .

The second portrait seems to be more compositionally thought out and finished in artistic terms. The light is now falling not on the face, but on the nervous, dry hands, one of which is wearing a black glove, which subtly focuses on the mysterious personality of Kerensky. The color decision is made in deep and muted bottle-green, crimson, brown tones, and the light, on the contrary, seems whitish in combination with muddy, dusty windows through which it barely flows into the office, creating an atmosphere of intimacy. According to Repin himself, cited in 1926 by A. V. Grigoryev , sunlight represents joy, and Kerensky represents dark forces. Kerensky’s figure, distinguished by sculptural fashion, presses on to the viewer, at the same time seeming repulsive and attractive: the face depicted in the face froze in a foggy half-smile, the glowing gaze in the dim light distractedly wanders, like a cocainist ^{[7] [19] [31] [ 26]} . It is noteworthy that politically opponents of Kerensky mentioned the “greenish tint” of his appearance, hinting at a possible alcoholic , morphine or cocaine dependence ^[2] .

In contrast to Repin's works, the portrait painted by Brodsky shows the viewer in the person of Kerensky a direct and unemotional vision of a single-minded hero, a national leader, a political leader capable of showing great will and energy to accomplish the miracle that Russia was waiting for. Kerensky, a large, athletically built man, looks decisive and confident, he pierces with an appraising gaze of his cold eyes at the viewer, over which he literally hangs in a threatening pose, largely due to the fact that his body and shoulders are disproportionately large compared to head, in which the portrait of Brodsky opposes the work of Repin. Here the artist, the future author of the pathos portraits of Lenin , is extremely graphic and meticulously naturalistic, he completely rejected the colorful and decorative palette contained in his previous, pre-revolutionary portraits: Kerensky's figure looks embossed and protrudes from the white color of the wall, there are no “repin” royal tsars in the picture chambers, no carved chair, no fancy play of light. Brodsky, according to A. S. Epishin, captured the actor’s game as a leader, which Kerensky was not in reality, while Repin, more likely, exposed him ^{[6] [19]} . All portraits of Repin are painted not by his own “delight”, but by Kerensky himself in all his contradictions ^[7] .

After the establishment of Soviet power and the declaration of independence of Finland at the end of 1917, Repin remained stateless and decided to live with his Nansen passport at his Penates estate in Kuokkale. Его состояние и имущество были национализированы , а самые известные работы остались в Советском Союзе , где стали использоваться в пропаганде и толковаться как идеальные примеры социалистического реализма , в то время как некоторые неудобные произведения, такие как « Большевики », просто замалчивались ^{[8] [9] [10] [3] [18]} . В 1926 году к Репину в Куоккалу приехали советские художники Евгений Кацман , Павел Радимов и Александр Григорьев , которых Репин лично не знал, а также сам Бродский ^{[33] [3]} . По воспоминаниям Григорьева, в Наркомпросе им выдали деньги на приобретение произведений Репина, однако он не уступал им ни одну из своих работ, и в конце концов после долгих препирательств, поставив на мольберт вытащенное из угла полотно, сказал: «Вот лучше я вам уступлю портрет Керенского» ^[26] . Это предложение удивило советских художников, однако они решили от него не отказываться ^[34] , так как Репин, как вспоминал Григорьев, повернул портрет к свету и тот поразил визитёров «остротой характера и темпераментной живописью» ^[26] . Так Репин передал первый вариант портрета Керенского в дар Музею Революции ^[3] . Примечательно, что решение о создании данного музея в здании Английского клуба с подачи комиссара Временного правительства в Москве Николая Кишкина утвердил сам Керенский, о чём Репин, возможно, знал ^[35] .

В 1926 году портрет Керенского экспонировался на VIII выставке Ассоциации художников революционной России и выставке Музея Революции «Русская революция в изобразительном искусстве», пользуясь интересом у публики и прессы; в частности в журнале « Огонёк » он был назван «собирательным образом „керенщины“», то есть проигравшей буржуазной интеллигенции. После выставок портрет был передан в « спецхран », и о его существовании практически забыли, пока в 1935 году не был составлен «акт на списание», а фактически на уничтожение с формулировкой, «как не имеющий художественной ценности». Музейные работники спасли портрет, сняв его с подрамников и положив между другими холстами в «спецхране», где он пролежал до « перестройки » и открытия архивов. В 1992 году портрет был отреставрирован и сразу же выставлен на экспозиции «Лица эпохи. 1917—1985», побывав впоследствии на многих других выставках ^[31] . В Центральном Музее Революции СССР, в 1998 году переименованном в Государственный центральный музей современной истории России ^[3] , портрет хранится до настоящего времени ^[36] , оставаясь практически неизвестным широкой публике ^[37] . Ввиду деформации линолеума портрет в 2002 году подвергся глубокой реставрации, во время которой были проведены выравнивание, чистка и укрепление красочного слоя, а также изготовлена специальная рама ^[31] . В фондах Государственного центрального музея современной истории России хранится и портрет Керенского кисти Бродского ^[23] . Второй портрет работы Репина некоторое время был частью коллекции изобразительных материалов архива А. Ф. Керенского в Техасского университета , затем был выставлен на антикварный рынок, а сейчас хранится в частной коллекции в России ^{[3] [20] [2] [38]} .

В 2017 году, в год столетия революции, первый портрет Репина и портрет Бродского экспонировались на выставке «Некто 1917» в Новой Третьяковке на Крымском Валу ^{[39] [40] [41]} .

• Portrait of A.F. Kerensky. 1918 (first version) (unopened) . CultObzor.ru.
• Portrait of A.F. Kerensky. 1918 (second option) (unopened) . Art-Catalog.ru.