Exhibition of works by Gennady Myznikov Automatic translate

March 20, 2018 at 16.00 the Russian Academy of Arts and the Union of Artists of Russia in the halls at the address: st. Prechistenka, house 21, presents a retrospective exhibition of works by the famous painter, people’s artist of Russia, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts Gennady Sergeyevich Myznikov, dedicated to his 85th birthday.

G. Myznikov is one of the brightest representatives of the generation of artists - the “sixties”, united by a common interest in life truth and socially significant topics. His career began during the “thaw”, then going through the difficult events of recent decades. The exhibition presents about 80 paintings: portraits, landscapes, historical canvases, genre compositions of different years, from the 1950s to the present, giving the opportunity to trace the creative evolution of the artist.

G.S. Myznikov was born in the town of Orekhovo-Zuev, near Moscow, in 1933. He studied at the art and craft school at the Dulevo Porcelain Factory, having received the profession of a painter in porcelain. In 1956 he graduated from the faculty of monumental painting of the Leningrad Higher Art and Industrial College named after V. G. Mukhina.

The young painter received the first significant success in paintings dedicated to the life of the Russian province, its weekdays and holidays, which affirmed the value of ethical principles of life, the desire to comprehend the distinctive vivid beauty of Russian provincial life, to poetize reality and enrich the pictorial-plastic language. According to the artist, he loves the Central Russian province, where the city has not lost touch with nature, where the national character is somehow more acute. Subsequent trips around the country, in particular, an important journey to the North for the artist, further strengthened him in the correctness of the chosen direction. It was then that in 1966 one of his best works, The Northern Song, was created, where the main object becomes the beauty of a melody frozen in time, conveyed by bright, sonorous colors, and at the same time, the tragic fate of Russian women. Myznikov introduced lively intonation into the simplest plots, turning any genre scene into an interesting and significant event. In those years, he created large-format multi-figure compositions in which his love for rich, vibrant, contrasting colors manifested.

G. Myznikov - master of the big picture. Already the artist’s early works outlined two main lines of his work - the lyrical (landscapes, portraits, nude models) and the line of a thematic picture dedicated to the events of Russian history of the 20th - 21st centuries. Recreating specific historical events, the artist tries to penetrate into their essence, reflects on the connection of eras, raises important spiritual and moral problems, among them such paintings as “Strike”, “Mayevka”, “V. I. Lenin. Revolution ”(1964-65). The works of the 1960-1970s are more concise, the drawing is generalized, the characters’ images are extremely typified, large figures are closely brought close to the viewer. The influence of the pictorial manner of B. Kustodiev, folk and ancient Russian art is noticeable. The same techniques are used by the master in plots on a modern theme - “Indian Summer”, “May 9”, “Sretensky Boulevard”, etc.

In the future, the connection between the work of G. Myznikov and the Russian classical tradition of the 19th century is becoming more and more active. He seeks to get away from the previous conventions, decorativeness. His art is becoming more complex and dramatic. The master turns to allegorical, human-sounding subjects. Indicative in this regard is his most significant composition of the last period, “The Red Angel” (2005). A fiery red angel flying directly at the viewer with a trumpet in his hand against a black sky turns his gaze to the earth and sees some gray ruins.

No less important side of the master’s work are portraits, mainly portraits of his family and friends, full of reverent feelings. They reflect the unique individuality of a person, the complexity and depth of his mental, psychological states. A special theme in the artist’s work is a nude female model, which he writes a lot, easily and beautifully, achieving special plastic expressiveness. It is to this genre that its most significant purely pictorial and plastic achievements belong.

The artist achieved significant successes in the field of landscape, creating a generalized image of Central Russian nature, which is an organic part of his genre paintings. The landscape helps the artist to penetrate deeper into the inner world of a person, convey his feelings and emotions. More recently, the artist turned to a new genre of still life. A whole series of simple and concise still lifes appeared, made in the spirit of the old masters. These are old, modest village objects, acquiring monumentality and animation on his canvases.

In general, the exposition, which presents works from collections of the country’s leading art museums and private collections, makes a surprisingly whole and joyful impression. Indeed, many of his works are essentially holidays, the world depicted on them is so bright and harmonious.

The artist remains a supporter of the Russian school of painting, which, according to him, is now the strongest in the world in depth, scale, professionalism, and the richness of a wide variety of traditions. The master’s works are in the collections of the largest art museums in the country, as well as in domestic and foreign private collections.

The exhibition runs on April 8th.