Ilya Glazunov, one of Russia’s great painters is dead at the age of 87.
The “official” art of the modern age is an aesthetic desert; a postmodernist joke that celebrates fraudsters and degenerates, and benefits art dealers and billionaires. Yet there are still men of idealism, far from the cameras and the accolades of handshakeworthy critics, who labor on, creating Great Art for this lost age, and ages yet to come.
Ilya Glazunov was undoubtedly such a man, capturing the “spirit” of Russia’s 20th century on canvass with a flair that no-one else has matched. A nationalist of monarchic and Orthodox inclination who was alternatively persecuted by and accomodated for by the Soviet regime, the unloosening of social and political strictures following its collapse – especially in tandem with the dark backdrop of the despair and moral anomie of the 1990s – offerd Glazunov the scope to realize his full potential.
It is unclear who will carry on his legacy. Pavel Ryzhenko, a pupil of his, was the prime candidate, until his untimely death in 2014 from a heart attack at the age of 44 (his life’s work is now tirelessly propounded by his widow, whom I met at an exhibition a few months ago). That said, he headed an academy that churned out dozens of graduates trained in his style of realistic painting every year, so there is a good chance that some of them will rise to deserved prominence.
His website where you can view many of his works: http://glazunov.ru/en
A longer, more comprehensive article about him by Russia Insider’s Ricky Twisdale.
Tsarevich Dmitry, 1967
Mystery of the 20th Century, 1976. (Its display in 1988 was one of the first steps towards Solzhenitsyn’s rehabilitation).
The Roads of War, 1985.
The Legend of the City of Kitezh, 1986.
Eternal Russia, 1988.
In Memory of Wife, 1994. (His wife committed suicide, a trauma he only managed to artistically address eight years after the event).
The Market of Our Democracy, 1999.
Dekulakization, 2010.
So the first one is about one of Ivan the Terrible’s sons who stabbed himself to death (or was stabbed)? Morbid.
Can’t say it suits my (under-developed) artistic tastes, but then I suppose one needs to be Russian (and preferably a Russian nationalist?) to really appreciate it.
I’m not a Russian nationalists and I don’t like art but I really liked these.
The wife one is my favorite even though (because?) it gives me the creeps. I don’t really get what a doll has to do with his wife, was that her doll or something?
Applaud while standing.
That “The Market of Our Democracy, 1999” is somehow disturbing and entrancing at the same time, there is so much cacophony there, but a lot of what I see could apply more to the West (post West) than to Russia.Two things of note are that cross dressing man and that Israeli flag behind FDR at the Yalta conference.
Anyone know what this artist thought of Putin ?
I hadn’t heard of Glazunov before but I checked some of his paintings in the link and I quite like his style.
I really like the paintings that have a lot of little details and background events.
In any case, any artist who goes against the modern day current of late Roman-style decadence that reigns today has earned my respect.
Thanks for that, Anatoly.
I had seen his name before in political commentary, but not his art.
Stunningly great.
Although I well understand the way in which and why he was anti-moderism, some of his works are not stylistically a million kms from Dali or Magritte, or the other Surrealist who had a similar style to Dali (Yves something, I think).
The contrast with Dali’s religious works is interesting and obvious, Glazunov of course is drawing on Orthodox iconography, Dali on Roman Catholic.
I still like Futurist work, both Russian and Italian, have a favourite blouse, bought in Thailand, bizarrely copied from a design by Lyubov Popova, the Cyrillic letters are wrong, but a prized thing, I am only wearing it on holidays in summer. It is old, so only for special times.
Rayonnists, too.
Even Futurist-period Malevich was great at times, the Knife Grinder, others.
That Glazunov draws on modernist influences is clear, just from the examples you post, I also read the RI article at the link.
Thanks again, will enjoy looking at the official site from PC.
RIP, but Glazunov – absolutely terrible artist.
Modern Russian painting without degeneration:
Denis Orlov
https://imgur.com/a/SI8T0
Gennady Pavlishin (illustrations of the “Tales of the Amur river”)
https://imgur.com/a/HuOgS#jbaENQX
Agree – thanks, Mr. Karlin, for putting these entrancing creations before a Western audience.
Upload more.
There is also now a great, and gaining steam, American school of realists–wonderful art.
http://classicalrealism.com/art/
And, of course, some modern Russian realists are wonderful.
the times were pretty degenerate. and his old Russia stuff is pretty, without looking Lubok-like, too
very pretty. the best artists are probably to be found in the illustration trade rather than painting per se.
There was a Frenchman in the 1840’s, I read about him on WP, but he basically anticipated (as illustrator) some major current (forget which) in 20th century art
Very encouraging. The primary problem though is that the modern abstract art gets huge amounts of patronage and vast, open, shiny spaces to display their scratches, while realists are related to cramped galleries and the Internet.
For instance, I discovered Ryzhenko entirely by accident, passing a temporary exhibition on my way to a nature photography exhibit at the Central House of the Artist (which primarily hosts modern abstract works).
This is the sort of thing that modern civilization chooses to prioritize, including in Russias.
There’s more that just a little bit of the ‘modern’ in Glazunov’s ‘realism’. ‘Tsarevich Dmitrys’ almost dreamy like repose, certainly harkens back to Chagall. And ‘In Memory of Wife’ could easily be compared to a Magritte. Yet, this great master seems to do quite a bit of justice to the realist style in his ‘The roads to War’, which unquestionably owes its prominence to the Soviet school of realism. Вечная ему память и низкий поклон!
RIP, I highly respect the man for many of his ideals (such as anti-Bolshevism). I heard his work described, several years ago, as pretty but not “great.” He nearly always paints the same eyes. But clearly his work is superior to the anti-human post-modern nonsense.
A few weeks ago I was spending some time with a prominent artist in Ukraine. We were looking at a portrait by Diego Velazquez (early 17th century Spanish painter) and admiring how “alive” it was. This prompted him to describe his theory of art’s development: according to him, over every generation art underwent gradual development, while maintaining a vitality. This all changed when Leonardo Da Vinci came up with the idea of studying cadavers and applying what he saw to art. As this revolutionary approach became widely adopted Western art, in the age of classicism of the later 17th to early 19th centuries, became an art of corpses, a dull and dead thing. Impressionism and other early modernist movements were a rebellion against this, but eventually it all went too far and ultimately everything was destroyed and virtually nothing was left of real art.
Here is
http://imgur.com/a/5lVMe
Realistic painting is not dead
Students of this Academy paint better than Glazunov himself
http://imgur.com/a/1M5L2
melanf’,
Thank you for introducing me to the nativity scene which certainly resembles “The Adoration of the Shepherds” by Gerrit van Honthorst. But the sense of awe in the Russian painting is much more powerful and stirring.
From this painting alone I concur that “Realistic painting is not dead”!
Look, I’m not a huge fan of abstract art such as that represented by Pollack in painting or Sun Ra in jazz music. But I wouldn’t go so far as to make a blanket statement that what these artists represented in their art was devoid of meaning and should not be considered ‘real art.’ Most likely, I haven’t invested enough time in trying to understand their works, and probably wont invest the time to gain a fuller understanding because what I have experienced so far in these directions doesn’t appeal to my own aesthetical tastes. But, abstract art is only one phase of the modern school, and shouldn’t comprise the backbone of my appreciation (or lack of) of modern art.
I’m not very familiar with the oeuvre of Glazunov’s work and am only basing my opinions on what Karlin has managed to include within this short tribute/obituary piece, and what I see. I’ve already drawn comparisons of two of his works here to other modern masters such as Chagall and Magritte. Take a good look at the ‘Legendary city of Kitzeh’. Here we see two unseemly styles juxtaposed one against the other, to create a really interesting canvas that has strong elements of surrealism exposed that unite the two elements. The top of the canvas reminds me of a modernist city landscape painting in the style of David Hockney, whereas the bottom portion is clearly an attempt to capture a medieval eastern Slavic religious motiff. A clever combination of 20th century and 10th century styles in one work, very imaginatively presented – surrealistic! I’d say that Glazunov’s art is very sophisticated and should not only be characterized as classical- realist.
‘The Market of Our Democracy’ is also laden with 20th century surrealistic sensibilities.
Other artists of the era would have possibly attempted to present the wide scope of ideas presented in more of a collage presentation (Romare Bearden), but here Glazunov has chosen to populate his canvas very capably with his own assortment of characters, very reminiscent of the great 20th century Mexican mural painter, Diego Rivera.
With respect to your first paragraph – I think that art ought not to require “work” to appreciate and understand, on a basic level. Something it wrong if a layman is incapable of liking it. Even animals respond well to Mozart’s brilliance. But one must be a trained specialist to appreciate post-modern cacophony, which ironically even animals such as elephants or chimps have created visually.
It reminds me of an expression – great traditional art is very difficult to produce, but easy to appreciate. Post-modern crap is easy make, but very hard to appreciate.
I don’t disagree with your second paragraph. I was simply repeating what I heard from various people in Moscow, about Glazunov. A superficial assessment that rang true but, on further reflection, wasn’t completely accurate. Though a lot of his people do have the same eyes.
I wont comment about the ‘eyes’ phenomena, but will take it under consideration if I ever am fortunate enough to view Glazunov’s work personally. I don’t know if you’re still in Kyiv or not, but the next time you’re there you might want to visit the Museum of Cultural Heritage, that houses the works of great Ukrainian emigre artists. I was acquainted with Oleksandr Bulavitsky, who served as the inspiration behind this worthwhile project, and that houses many of his works. Although, I haven’t been there yet myself, I suspect that you wont see too many ‘post-modern cacophonys’ on exhibit there. Bulavitsky worked mostly in a light impressionistic mode, but his brushwork still could rival that of most ‘realists’.
http://www.tour2kiev.com/en/muzey-kulturnogo-nasledia.html
His seascapes were magnificent. Check this one out:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/91590072@N04/25313709304
http://tmora.org/2015/12/20/olexa-bulavytsky-immigrant-experiences-and-ukrainian-american-art/
Image 2 has an intriguing composition.
Is the subject of the painting the battle on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus in 1242?
This Battle of the Neva (July 15 1240) where the Novgorod Republic army defeated the Swedish landing (in this picture you can see the nose of a Swedish ship)
The mystery of the 20th century has Bill Clinton in it and the sources I’ve found say it was made in 1999, are you sure it was 1976?
Interestingly, in the exhibitions of Russian graduates of art academies (in such exhibitions – paintings only of the best students) a lot of paintings of Chinese students.
http://imgur.com/a/6xE43
Probably China will become the world center of realist art
All very interesting that societies are mirrored by their elite art, music, architecture and fashion (what attracts the publicity/money and media space).
Right now it seems to be Post Modernism with fractured broken art, fractured broken music bizarre fractured architecture and confused torn clothing, mirroring broken Western society, with that same Western society appreciating the authenticity of the message and buying the product.
Surely a living example of a self-hating society that wants to eradicate itself – i.e. commit suicide.
How can one expect anything different from a society steeped in nihilism?
Nihilism: “The term is sometimes used in association with anomie to explain the general mood of despair at a perceived pointlessness of existence that one may develop upon realizing there are no necessary norms, rules, or laws.”
Yes , I would agree with that, that the structure has gone – but this probably isn’t a permanent state. Some kind of structure will return but it’s unlikely to be Democratic.