Anniversary exhibition of works by Oleg Smirnov Automatic translate

December 1, 2015 at 16. 00 in the halls of the Russian Academy of Arts at the address: st. Prechistenka, house 21, the opening of an exhibition of paintings by the honored artist of Russia Oleg Yuryevich Smirnov, dedicated to the 85th anniversary of his birth.

The retrospective exhibition included about 100 works of different years.

O. Yu. Smirnov was born in 1931 in Konotop, Sumy Region (Ukraine). In 1956 he graduated from the Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering of one of the Moscow institutes, worked in design and construction organizations of the capital, in the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR. The beginning of his life did not portend the future of the artist. However, after graduation, O. Smirnov, whose grandfather was a professional artist, began to engage in painting enthusiastically, strictly following the traditions of the Russian academic school of painting.

A more serious attitude to painting began to take shape with the artist since 1972 during regular trips as part of a creative group to the Academic Dacha. Communication with recognized Russian masters, an elevated atmosphere of creativity, comprehension of professional secrets and the desire for self-improvement - all this became for the artist a real school, which gave its positive results. Recognition has come - since 1980, O. Yu. Smirnov - a member of the USSR Union of Artists, a participant in many domestic and foreign exhibitions.

In the years 1972-1975. he was director of the Art Fund of the RSFSR. Since 1975, for more than ten years, he was deputy president of the Academy of Arts of the USSR for administrative and production issues. In 1990, on behalf of the USSR Academy of Arts, O. Yu. Smirnov was on a long creative business trip at the Abamelik academic cottage in Rome.

With special gratitude, O. Yu. Smirnov recalls artists whose work was especially close to him, masters who have repeatedly supported him. These are A.V. Kiselev, E.I. Zverkov, A.S. Papikyan, E. G. Bragovsky, B. S. Ugarov.

By the nature of his work, O. Yu. Smirnov was on friendly terms with many major contemporary masters of that time, communication with which allowed him to collect a fairly representative collection of sketches, paintings and graphic works by a number of leading artists of both the Russian Federation and the former Soviet republics. Over the years, the desire to pay back a feasible debt to the land that has nurtured it has determined the decision to donate to the city of Konotop a collection of 250 paintings, sculptures and drawings by famous Soviet artists, which the artist lovingly formed over several decades, as well as a personal library - more than five hundred books, catalogs and art albums. The composition of this collection, along with the works of such recognized masters as L. Brodskaya, E. Bragovsky, E. Zverkov, V. Pimenov, F. Reshetnikov and others, also included works by young artists. In gratitude for the unselfish gift, the inhabitants of Konotop elected O. Smirnov as an honorary citizen of the city.

From the very beginning of his creative activity, the artist was inseparable from the sketchbook, and Central Russian nature became his favorite “model”. O. Smirnov did not miss the opportunity to record his tourist observations, whether it was landscapes of the Crimea and Central Asia, or studies made in foreign trips to many countries of Europe, Asia, Latin America, among which there are many works with accurately and subtly captured views of world famous monuments of architecture. These are images of sun-lit white-stone palaces on the Portuguese coast, and landscapes, sketches of vibrant Latin American nature, and impressions of the unusual architecture of ancient Hindu temples, and motifs seen on the coast of Bulgaria.

But they once again convince that the main center of creative inspiration of the author was and remains the nature of central Russia, which seems to exist in order to respond to his feelings and moods. The dim glow of clouds over Central Russian meadows plunging into an evening dream, the dazzling whiteness of snowy copses near Moscow and the restless running of flood waters among the hilly valleys of Tver land are all motifs to which the soul of the painter O. Yu. Smirnov has long been attached.

Landscapes of O. Smirnov reflect not only the originality and unique color of the area, but also are a testament to the state of mind of the artist, for whom nature is an inexhaustible source of a wide variety of feelings, emotional moods. He seems to be conducting a lively dialogue with her, trying to join her secrets.

The image of rural corners in its primeval nature prevails in the artist’s work. But he also pays tribute to the urban, historical, architectural landscape genre. The most memorable among the works of this kind include paintings depicting ancient Russian cities, ancient monasteries, temples and modest churches, so surprisingly ennobled the Russian landscape.

In the circle of his creative interests, a series of works devoted to the beauty of the ensembles of Novodevichy, Savvino-Storozhevsky monasteries. He worked a lot in Zagorsk and Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda. To the extent possible, I tried not to miss the spring awakening of nature in the suburbs and on the fertile land of Tver for creativity.

The lack of deliberation, false decorativeness is an invariable advantage of Smirnov’s landscapes, the plots of which are usually simple, frankly unassuming. Quite rarely, he turns to panoramic landscape compositions, giving preference to the sketchy concept, which allows the author to more directly reflect the unique signs and state of nature.

The most characteristic for the painter is the desire to express various natural conditions: the soft flickering of golden autumn foliage, the humidity of spring air, the rapid movement of spring water and the awakening of nature. Small canvases are unpretentious, but the simplicity of motives reveals that love for Russia, which nourishes the artist’s work. They reflect not only emotional attachment to the beauty of the national landscape, but also the understanding of the need to meet with these corners of nature, which give strength to stay in a busy city environment.

In his work, Smirnov devotes a lot of time to still life. In the objective environment of man, the author sees the source of human experiences. It is important for the artist that his art serves the noble purpose of introducing contemporaries to the diverse manifestations of beauty in the world around him.