Afanasy Efremovich Kulikov. Self-portrait. 1917 Automatic translate

From February 8, the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts (104 Lenina St., main exhibition) will host an exhibition of one painting “Afanasy Efremovich Kulikov. Self-portrait. 1917".

2024 marks the 140th anniversary of the birth of artist Afanasy Kulikov, a native of the Kaluga region, who is considered the creator of the Soviet popular print, who managed to organically combine folk traditions and individual artistic style in it.

Afanasy Efremovich Kulikov (1884-1949) - Russian artist of the first half of the twentieth century, painter, graphic artist, monumentalist, theater artist, master of decorative and applied arts. A. Kulikov’s works are kept in a number of Russian and foreign museums. Modern masters of folk art still study from the artist’s sketches of paintings on objects of decorative and applied art.

Afanasy Kulikov was born in the village of Isakovo near Maloyaroslavets, Kaluga province, into a poor peasant family. Once in Moscow, from the age of 12 he worked as an apprentice at a weaving factory and in the store of the merchant Myasnikov. At the same time, he began to learn the basics of icon painting - he spent more than five years as a student in an icon painting workshop. After that, he studied church painting at a wall-climbing school, studied in A. Bolshakov’s private studio, and from 1906 to 1912. at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where his teachers were such famous artists as V. Serov, A. Korin, A. Vasnetsov, K. Korovin. A. Kulikov left the school without an official title, since for reasons unknown today he did not exercise the right to paint a picture.

A new milestone in the life of A. Kulikov came in 1917 - the artist was called up for military service in an infantry regiment, but soon, by decision of the Moscow Council of Soldiers’ Deputies, he was sent to design revolutionary celebrations. And then they recalled me to work in the art section of the cultural department of the Moscow Council of Soldiers’ Deputies. In the same year, the artist participated for the first time at the exhibition of the World of Art association, showing four of his works in popular print style.

In 1918, he painted propaganda trains at the Moscow Proletkult, and after two years he left for Maloyaroslavets, where he had previously built a house. There the master entered the service of the District Department of Public Education, and also worked as a decorator and actor.

Since 1921, A. Kulikov painted calendar walls and popular prints for the State Publishing House, many of which were purchased by the state, and also produced painting samples for the Moscow Handicraft Museum. In 1924, he received a 2nd degree diploma for painting trays, and gold and bronze medals at the international exhibition in Paris for sketches of handicrafts. In 1926, he participated for the first time in the exhibition of the Association of Artists of Revolutionary Russia. Since the 1920s - a regular participant in all-Union exhibitions, a member of the Zhar-Tsvet and SSKh societies.

In the 1930s–1940s. A. Kulikov worked fruitfully in different genres: in addition to popular prints and book graphics, he was engaged in painting and painting, and created historical dioramas. A striking example was the diorama “The Battle at the Chongar Bridge” (part of the panorama “The Assault of Perekop”), for which A. Kulikov received the Arts Committee Prize. During these same years, he designed the Moscow pavilion for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

The permanent exhibition at the KMII includes the famous “Self-Portrait” by A. Kulikov (1917), where he depicted himself in an emotionally elevated mood against the backdrop of paintings with popular prints. We see how sincerely the artist’s eyes shine from under his glasses, and with what spontaneity the master’s wide smile is conveyed, exposing the upper row of teeth. Full of creative plans and desire to create, the author of the painting looks into the future with hope and optimism. The shoulder presentation of the model, tightly pushed to the front edge of the canvas, the compositional placement of the figure, which occupies almost the entire field of the picture, seems to tell the viewer that the main thing here is the personality of the artist depicted. And not even the physiological signs of a person, although they are shown in sufficient detail and carefully in the portrait, but the emotional message, the mood with which the creator himself presented himself in the picture.