Victor Ostroumov "Picturesque canvases" Automatic translate

On December 3, the exhibition from the cycle “We Remember Your Names”, dedicated to the oldest painters of Kaluga - Victor Ostroumov “Picturesque Canvases”, will begin work at the KIIA (Lenin 103). From the collection of the Pushkin Museum

An exhibition of works by Kaluga artist Viktor Nikolayevich Ostroumov (1904 - 1955) is being organized for the first time in our country. The reason for this was the dramatic fate of their author, which determined only the partial preservation of the works of the pre-war period, which belonged to various persons, and later collected in the collections of Vladimir Efimovich Kiselev, from whose heirs they were acquired by the museum several years ago.

V.N. Ostroumov was born and raised in Kaluga. In 1925, he graduated from VKhUTEMAS in Moscow, after which he returned to his native city and for a decade and a half took an active part in his cultural life, enjoying well-deserved authority among local artists. From the memoirs of people who knew the painter, it is known that the work of V. N. Ostroumov was clearly distinguished by his creative searches and a high technical level, indicating a serious attitude to his work. This is confirmed by the portraits presented at the exhibition, depicting the author himself and his Kaluga contemporaries, and landscapes with views of Kaluga and its environs, marked by obvious influences of French impressionist art. The portrait of the 1930s, which is more rigorous in painting, belongs to the same period. - the only work of the artist, which was in the collection of the museum.

The calm course of life was disrupted by the Great Patriotic War. Drafted into the ranks of the Red Army V.N. He returned to Kaluga, which by that time was already occupied by Nazi troops. Helpful neighbors were quick to inform the invaders that he was an artist. There was a call to the city council, as a result of which an order was given for a portrait of the Fuhrer, from which it was difficult to evade. The logical consequence of this was the flight of the author of this work, since the same neighbors would clearly inform the Soviet authorities about what had happened, and he would be shot.

Having made a difficult journey through Berlin and Carlsbad, at the end of the war V.N. Ostroumov found shelter in the house of Karl and Maria Fisher in the small town of Wangel, where he lived for several years. During this period he painted many portraits, as well as landscapes and still lifes. Usually this is a small-sized work written to order. Portraits are distinguished by pronounced psychologism. He also wrote a lot of self-portraits, various in nature, as well as nudity. The style of these works, as well as earlier ones, reveals following French models, but at the same time there is a clear influence of Russian realistic painting. The years of study in Moscow, where R. R. Falk was his teacher, did not pass without a trace.

In 1948, V.N. Ostroumov met and became close to the famous German artist Otto Dix, who soon performed his portrait. In early November of the same year, they organized a joint exhibition in Wangen, where a Russian artist exhibited 18 of his works.

In 1951, V.N. Ostroumov moved to the United States of America and settled in the vicinity of New York. And in 1953, he marries Christel Schmor, who came to him from Germany. The following year, 1954, the couple had a son, Andrei. However, family happiness was very short-lived: on November 30, 1955, the artist died.

In 1982, 1994 and 2004 in Germany, in Wangen, his personal posthumous exhibitions were held. According to reports, there is also a small museum of his works. The masterpiece is dedicated to the monograph-album of Bernd Kuster, luxuriously published in Passau in 1997.

For the domestic audience, this exhibition of works by Viktor Nikolayevich Ostroumov from the collection of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts represents the first acquaintance with his creative heritage, though limited to the pre-war period. It is not yet possible to assemble it together.