Precise architectural landscape. Architectural landscape
The theme of landscape as a genre of fine art is the locality. The word “landscape” is translated from French as “locality, country”. After all, a landscape is not only an image of nature that is familiar to us. The landscape can also be urban (architectural, for example). In the urban landscape, a documentary accurate image is distinguished - "lead".
And if we talk about the natural landscape, then there is a separate seascape, which is called "seascape" (respectively, artists depicting the sea are called "seascape painters"), space (the image of heavenly space, stars and planets).
But landscapes also differ in terms of time: modern, historical, futuristic landscapes.
However, in art, whatever the landscape (real or fictitious) is always an artistic image. In this regard, it is important to understand that each artistic style (classicism, baroque, romanticism, realism, modernism) has its own philosophy and aesthetics of landscape painting.
Of course, the landscape genre evolved gradually, just as science developed. It would seem, what is common between landscape and science? A lot in common! To create a realistic landscape, one must have knowledge of linear and aerial perspective, proportionality, composition, chiaroscuro, etc.
Therefore, the landscape genre is considered a relatively young genre in painting. For a long time, the landscape was only an "auxiliary" means: nature was depicted as a background in portraits, icons, in genre scenes. Often he was not real, but idealized, generalized.
And although the landscape began to develop in ancient Eastern art, it acquired an independent meaning in Western European art starting from about the XIV century.
And it would be very interesting to figure out why this happened. Indeed, by this time, a person already knew how to fairly correctly depict abstract ideas, his appearance, his life, animals in graphic symbols, but he remains indifferent to nature for a long time. And only now he is trying to understand nature and its essence, because to portray - you have to understand.
The development of landscape in European painting
The interest in landscape became evident starting with the painting of the Early Renaissance.
Italian painter and architect Giotto(circa 1267-1337) developed a completely new approach to depicting space. And although in his paintings the landscape was also only an auxiliary means, he already carried an independent semantic load, the flat, two-dimensional space of the icon Giotto turned into three-dimensional, creating the illusion of depth using chiaroscuro.
Giotto's "Flight into Egypt" (Church of San Francesco in Assisi)
The painting conveys the idyllic spring mood of the landscape.
Landscape began to play an even more important role during the High Renaissance (16th century). It was during this period that the search for the possibilities of composition, perspective and other components of painting began to convey the surrounding world.
The masters of the Venetian school played an important role in the creation of the landscape genre of this period: Giorgione (1476/7-1510), Titian (1473-1576), El Greco (1541-1614).
El Greco "View of Toledo" (1596-1600). Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
The Spanish city of Toledo is depicted under a gloomy stormy sky. The contrast between heaven and earth is obvious. The view of the city is given from below, the skyline is raised high, phantasmagoric light is used.
In creativity Pieter Bruegel (the Elder) the landscape is already gaining breadth, freedom and sincerity. He writes simply, but in this simplicity one can see the nobility of the soul, which knows how to see the beauty in nature. He knows how to convey both the petty world underfoot, and the vastness of fields, mountains, heavens. He has no dead, empty places - everything lives with him and breathes.
We bring to your attention two paintings by P. Bruegel from the cycle "Seasons".
P. Bruegel (the Elder) "The Return of the Herd" (1565). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)
P. Bruegel (the Elder) "Hunters in the Snow" (1565). Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna)
In the paintings of the Spanish artist D. Velazquez the emergence of the plein air is already seen ( plein air- from fr. en plein air - "in the open air") painting. His work "View of the Medici Villa" conveys the freshness of greenery, warm shades of light sliding over the leaves of trees and high stone walls.
D. Velazquez "View of the garden of the Medici Villa in Rome" (1630)
Rubens(1577-1640), life-affirming, dynamic, characteristic of the work of this artist.
P. Rubens "Landscape with a rainbow"
From a French artist Francois Boucher(1703-1770) landscapes seem to be woven from blue, pink, silver shades.
F. Boucher "Landscape with a water mill" (1755). National Gallery (London)
Impressionist artists strove to develop methods and techniques that made it possible to most naturally and vividly capture the real world in its mobility and changeability, to convey their fleeting impressions.
Auguste Renoir "The Frog". Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York)
Post-Impressionist painters developed the traditions of the Impressionists in their painting.
Vincent Vag Gogh Starry Night (1889)
In the XX century. the landscape genre was used by representatives of a wide variety of artistic trends: Fauvists, Cubists, Surrealists, Abstractionists, Realists.
Here is an example of a landscape by an American artist Helen (Helen) Frankenthaler(1928-2011), who worked in the style of abstract art.
Helene Frankenthaler Mountains and Sea (1952)
Some varieties of landscape
Architectural landscape
N. V. Gogol called architecture "the chronicle of the world", because she, in his opinion, “speaks even when songs and legends are already silent ...”. Nowhere is the character and style of the time manifested so figuratively and clearly as in architecture. This is probably why the masters of painting captured the architectural landscape on their canvases.
F. Ya. Alekseev "View of the Stock Exchange and the Admiralty from the Peter and Paul Fortress" (1810)
The painting depicts the Spit of Vasilievsky Island. The compositional center of its architectural ensemble is the Stock Exchange building. In front of the Exchange there is a semicircular square with a granite embankment. On its two sides there are columns that served as beacons. At the foot of the columns there are stone sculptures symbolizing the Russian rivers: Volga, Dnieper, Neva and Volkhov. On the opposite bank of the river, the Winter Palace and the buildings of the Admiralty, Senate Square are visible. The construction of the Stock Exchange, designed by Tom de Thomon, lasted from 1804 to 1810. When Pushkin arrived in St. Petersburg in 1811, the Stock Exchange had already become the architectural center of the Strelka of Vasilyevsky Island and the busiest place in the port city.
Veduta is a kind of architectural landscape. As a matter of fact, this landscape of F. Alekseev is the leading one.
Veduta
Veduta is a genre of European painting, especially popular in Venice in the 18th century. It is a painting, drawing or engraving detailing an everyday urban landscape. So, the Dutch artist Jan Vermeer depicted exactly the city of Delft, his native city.
Jan Vermeer "View of Delft" (1660)
The masters worked in many European countries, including Russia (M. I. Makhaev and F. Ya. Alekseev). A number of leads with Russian views were performed by Giacomo Quarenghi.
Marina
Marina is a genre of painting, a kind of landscape (from Lat. Marinus - sea), depicting a sea view or a scene of a naval battle, as well as other events taking place at sea. The marina emerged as an independent type of landscape painting at the beginning of the 17th century. in Holland.
Marinist (fr. Mariniste) is an artist who paints marinas. The brightest representatives of this genre are the Englishman William Turner and Russian (Armenian) artist Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovski, who wrote about 6,000 paintings on the marine theme.
W. Turner "The Last Voyage of the Brave"
I. Aivazovsky "Rainbow"
The rainbow that has appeared in the stormy sea gives hope for the rescue of people from the wrecked ship.
Historical landscape
Everything in it is quite simple: to show the past through the historical setting, natural and architectural environment. Here we can remember pictures N.K. Roerich, images of Moscow in the 17th century. A.M. Vasnetsova, Russian baroque of the 18th century. HER. Lancer, A.N. Benoit, archaic K.F. Bogaevsky and etc.
N. Roerich "Guests from Overseas" (1901)
This is a picture from the cycle “The Beginning of Rus. Slavs". In the article “On the way from the Varangians to the Greeks” (1899) Roerich described an imaginary poetic picture: “Midnight guests are sailing. The gently sloping coast of the Gulf of Finland stretches in a light stripe. The water seemed to be saturated with the blue of the clear spring sky; the wind ripples along it, driving off dull purple stripes and circles. A flock of seagulls sank onto the waves, swayed carelessly on them, and only under the keel of the front boat flashed their wings - something unfamiliar, unprecedented, alarmed their peaceful life. A new stream makes its way through the stagnant water, it runs into the age-old Slavic life, it will pass through forests and swamps, roll over a wide field, raise the Slavic clans - they will see rare, unfamiliar guests, they marvel at their strictly fighting, on their overseas custom. The rooks go in a long row! Bright coloring burns in the sun. The bows were famously wrapped, ending with a high, slender nose. "
K. Bogaevsky "Consular Tower in Sudak" (1903). Feodosia Art Gallery named after I.K. Aivazovsky
Futuristic (fantastic) landscape
Belgian Paintings Jonas De Ro are epic canvases of new, unexplored worlds. The main object of the image of Jonas is extensive pictures of the post-apocalyptic world, futuristic, fantastic images.
In addition to the future of absolutely real cities, Jonas also draws completely original illustrations of the abandoned city.
J. De Ro "Abandoned Civilization"
Landscape philosophy
What is it?
At the center of landscape painting is always the question of a person's relationship to the environment - be it a city or nature. But the environment also has its own relation to man. And these relationships can be harmonious and harmonious.
Consider the Evening Bell landscape.
I. Levitan "Evening Bells" (1892). State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)
The painting "Evening Bells" depicts a monastery at the bend of a river and illuminated by the evening sunbeams. The monastery is surrounded by an autumn forest, clouds float across the sky - and all this is reflected in the mirror-like surface of the calmly flowing river. In harmony, both the bright joy of nature and the spiritual world of being and the feelings of people are merged. You want to look at this picture and look, it soothes the soul. It is blissful, idyllic beauty.
And here is another landscape by the same artist - "Above Eternal Peace".
I. Levitan "Above Eternal Peace" (1894). State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow)
Levitan himself wrote about this picture as follows: "... in it I am all, with all my psyche, with all my content ...". In another letter: "Eternity, a terrible eternity, in which generations have drowned and will drown yet ... What horror, what fear!" It is about this formidable eternity that Levitan's picture makes you think. The water and sky in the picture capture, amaze a person, awaken the thought of the insignificance and transience of life. A lonely wooden church stands on a steep high bank, next to a cemetery with lopsided crosses and abandoned graves. The wind shakes the trees, drives the clouds, draws the viewer into the endless northern expanse. The gloomy greatness of nature is opposed only by a tiny light in the window of the church.
The artist, perhaps, wanted to answer with his painting the question about the relationship between man and nature, about the meaning of life, opposing the eternal and mighty forces of nature to a weak and short-term human life. This is a sublime tragedy.
Who among us has not admired the majestic and charming views of the city, endlessly diverse, evoking the same varied feelings and emotions! The fabulous silhouettes of ancient city walls and towers, stately bulk of palaces and public buildings, attractive and imposing arrays of residential buildings, powerful groups of industrial and other structures are the result of creative thought and constructive work of generations of many centuries or the result of heroic and ingenious transformations.
It is not surprising that the city's paintings inspired and inspire the artist's creative thought.
The cities of our homeland provide a limitless choice of exciting subjects for artists.
Stalin's five-year plans of grandiose socialist construction are transforming the face of our country from year to year. (One after another, before everyone's eyes, new cities grow, old ones are reconstructed and expanded, changing their appearance beyond recognition, which remained unchanged for decades. New giants of the Soviet industry are emerging, grandiose structures are being erected - hydroelectric power stations, bridges, dams, canals and many, many others , a wide variety of names and purposes.
This construction, by its appearance, by its architecture, speaks of a new life, of new achievements of free socialist labor. It inspires and attracts to new exploits and victories.
The themes of our urban, industrial and architectural landscape are countless and extremely grateful to the artist for their emotional significance and beauty.
That is why young artists should not only get acquainted with this section of drawing and painting, but also try their hand at creative work on its subjects.
Since ancient times, architecture has attracted artists - painters and graphic artists - not only is the compositional element of the painting, reflecting the real setting of the action or the environment of the depicted object, but also the beauty of architectural volumes and forms that are perfectly combined with nature, the figure of a person, the movement of the crowd, the colors of decoration and costume ... However, the image of architecture was for a long time decorative and did not go beyond the conventions of the flat style.
Realistic, correct and expressive in terms of volume and space, the transfer of more or less complex architectural forms organized in ensembles and groups became possible only after the laws of perspective were investigated and revealed in the 15th century, during the Italian Renaissance.
The science of perspective has developed more and more over time and in our time has been brought to such perfection that its rules not only allow depicting objects when drawing them from nature, but also reproduce the appearance of objects created by the artist's creative imagination.
In addition to knowing the laws of perspective, in order to successfully work on the urban landscape and architectural motives, the artist must become better acquainted with the art of architecture and architectural forms.
As you know, this most ancient of the arts, creating buildings and structures, endows them with such forms and external signs that make it possible to guess the purpose of structures in appearance, to determine the relationship of one part of it to another and their mutual connection, to distinguish the main from the secondary.
Organizing the space and processing the volumes, planes and details of the structure, the architect is guided by the artistic image and architectural idea he creates.
With a lot of practice in drawing from life, the inquisitive eye of the artist gradually learns to understand the peculiarities of construction and the stylistic nature of architectural forms of even significant complexity. However, for a conscious attitude to Nature, acquaintance with history is necessary.
It goes without saying that independent compositional work on any complex architectural topics cannot be successful without sufficient specialized knowledge.
Reproductions from drawings and paintings by masters of the urban and architectural landscape - painters and architects - presented here make it possible to analyze the moments of the compositional order and get acquainted with the techniques of execution.
It is immeasurably more useful to conduct such a study from the originals that represent this p ° D of drawing and painting in our art galleries and museums.
Renowned masters of architectural landscape were the Venetian painters Antonio Canaletto (1697-1768), Bernardo Belotto (1720-1789), Francesco Guardi (1712-1793), D. Panni-ni (1695-1768), the Venetian architect and etcher Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), French artist Hubert Robert (1733-1778).
The works of Russian masters are excellent: An. Velsky (1730 1796), F. Alekseev (1755-1824), Sylvester Shchedrin (1791-1830), Galaktionov (1779-1854), M. Vorobiev (1787-1855).
Brilliant examples of architectural landscape and architectural fantasies and perspectives can be found in the drawings of architects: M. Kazakov (1738-1813), Giacomo Quarenghi (1744-1817), A. Voronikhin (1760-1813), P. Gonzago (1751-1831) and dr.
Here are a few practical notes related to working from nature, which are useful to consider for aspiring young artists working on an architectural landscape.
A good choice of the point from which a sketch of a city view, an architectural landscape or an architectural monument is made is of great importance. This task should be solved in the most advantageous way both in terms of the overall composition and in terms of the most expressive characteristics of the main theme of a given drawing or pictorial sketch. In this direction, you need to develop your artistic flair in every possible way, studying classical examples of composition in the visual arts and the endless beauties of nature. Sometimes it can be difficult to immediately stop at the choice of the most advantageous from the artistic point of view of the boundaries of the picture.
The reason for this may be the vast scale of the city view or the architectural landscape stretching in front of us, the multitude of architectural details that equally attract the artist's eye and are equally tempting for him.
It should be borne in mind that it is more expedient for novice artists to first limit themselves to simpler and less-subject subjects, moving on to work on more complex topics gradually.
When working on architectural landscapes, a young artist should go from the main, from the main to the particulars, to the secondary. The drawing should be based on the correct perspective construction of forms. The drawer must first of all clearly imagine the position of the horizon, vanishing point, points of deviation of lines, etc.
Perspective constructions when drawing from nature can be reduced to the simplest schemes of techniques. They are very elementary and concern only basic constructions and basic forms. The necessary techniques, evenness should be carefully studied by nature and drawn, guided by the rules of perspective, in full agreement with the main perspective scheme.
The artist of an architectural landscape should be especially demanding of himself when he analyzes the structure of architectural masses, volumes and forms, determines their mutual constructive connection, establishes relationships and proportions, seeks out the nature of movement and rhythm of architectural masses and lines. The portrait likeness of the image for architectural subjects is of exceptional importance. The ego follows from the conditions of harmonious regularity and completeness of architectural forms.
The plans of city views and architectural landscape, spatiality and relief plasticity of architectural exteriors and interiors, the effects of light and shadow, the airy haze of the distance and the transparency of shadows, which go far into the depths of the picture, will undoubtedly attract the attention of the young artist. He must strive for their faithful, lively and artistic transmission, given that a significant share of the charm and persuasiveness of his drawings and sketches depends on this.
Publications in the Architecture section
Architecture in the paintings of domestic artists
Panoramas of the capital's streets, architectural monuments, buildings that no longer exist, wooden boats scurrying along the Neva and the Moskva River - all this can be seen in the paintings of the masters of the urban landscape of the late 18th - first half of the 20th century. About 10 artists of this genre - in the material of the portal "Culture.RF".
Fedor Alekseev. View of the Resurrection and Nikolsky Gates and the Neglinny Bridge from Tverskaya Street in Moscow (fragment). 1811. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Fedor Alekseev. Red Square in Moscow (detail). 1801. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Fedor Alekseev. View of the Spit of Vasilievsky Island from the Peter and Paul Fortress (fragment). 1810. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Fedor Alekseev began his career with the cityscapes of Venice, where he lived as a pensioner from the Academy of Arts. Returning to Russia, he painted views of the Crimea, Poltava, Orel, but he became famous for his paintings depicting Moscow and St. Petersburg. The most famous canvases of his Moscow cycle - "Red Square in Moscow" and "View of the Resurrection and Nikolsky Gates and the Neglinny Bridge from Tverskaya Street in Moscow" - are now kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. The main St. Petersburg paintings of the artist - "View of the Spit of Vasilievsky Island from the Peter and Paul Fortress" and "View of the English Embankment" can be viewed in the collection of the Russian Museum.
Alekseev's paintings are interesting not only from an artistic, but also from a historical point of view: for example, the 1800s painting "View of the Church of Nikola the Great Cross on Ilyinka" depicts a baroque temple of the late 17th century, which was demolished in 1933. And thanks to the painting "View of the Kazan Cathedral", one can learn that initially there was a wooden obelisk in front of this St. Petersburg church. Over time, it fell into disrepair, and in the 1820s it was removed from the square.
Maxim Vorobiev. View of the Moscow Kremlin (from the side of the Ust'insky bridge) (fragment). 1818. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Maxim Vorobiev. View of the Kazan Cathedral from the west (fragment). First half of the 1810s. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Maxim Vorobiev. Peter and Paul Fortress (fragment). End of the 1820s. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
He also depicted other Petersburg suburbs - Peterhof, Pavlovsk, Gatchina and, in fact, Petersburg itself. Among the artist's works are "Apollo's Cascade and the Palace", "View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace", "View of the Big Pond Island in Tsarskoye Selo Gardens", "Countryside Courtyard in Tsarskoe Selo." And although Semyon Shchedrin was a master of the urban landscape, he painted architectural objects rather conditionally. The main attention of the artist was paid to nature - art critics consider him a harbinger of the Russian lyrical landscape.
Stepan Galaktionov. View of the Neva from the side of the Peter and Paul Fortress (fragment). 1821. All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin, St. Petersburg
Stepan Galaktionov. Fountain in the park. (fragment). 1820. Sevastopol Art Museum named after P.M. Kroshitsky, Sevastopol
Stepan Galaktionov. Dacha in the park (detail). 1852. Tyumen Museum of Fine Arts, Tyumen
Stepan Galaktionov was not only a painter and watercolourist, but also a brilliant engraver: he was one of the first in Russia to master the technique of lithography - engraving on stone. The main source of inspiration for Galaktionov was the architectural monuments of St. Petersburg. He participated in the creation of an album of lithographs "Views of the Suburbs and Suburbs of St. Petersburg", which was supervised by the artist Semyon Shchedrin in 1805. This collection includes his works: "View of the palace of the Stone Island from the dacha of Count Stroganov" and "View of the Monplaisir Palace" in Peterhof, "View of the Temple of Apollo with a Cascade in the garden of the Pavlovsky Palace" and "View of a part of the palace from the side of a large lake in the city of Gatchina" ... Subsequently, he took part in the work on the collection "Views of St. Petersburg and the Environs", published in 1825 by the Society for the Encouragement of Artists.
Vasily Sadovnikov. View of the embankment and the Marble Palace (fragment). 1847. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Vasily Sadovnikov. View of the Neva and the Peter and Paul Fortress. 1847. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Vasily Sadovnikov. View of the Neva and the Peter and Paul Fortress (fragment). 1847. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Self-taught artist Vasily Sadovnikov painted the architecture of St. Petersburg, while still a serf of Princess Natalia Golitsyna. Having received his freedom, he entered the Academy of Arts, where Maxim Vorobyov became his teacher.
Numerous views of the Winter Palace are known, painted by Sadovnikov on behalf of the emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II. But the most famous work of the artist is the 16-meter watercolor "Panorama of Nevsky Prospect", on which he worked for 5 years - since 1830. On it, the main street of St. Petersburg is drawn in both directions - from Admiralteyskaya Square to Anichkov Bridge. The artist depicted in detail every house on Nevsky Prospekt in the picture. Later, the publisher Andrei Prevo released separate parts of this panorama in the form of lithographs, the series consisted of 30 sheets.
Among other capital paintings of the artist - "View of the embankment and the Marble Palace", "Court exit from the main entrance of the Grand Palace in Peterhof", "Field Marshal Hall". In the work "Departure of the Stagecoach from St. Isaac's Square", the cathedral is depicted even at the construction stage.
In addition to St. Petersburg, Sadovnikov painted city landscapes of Moscow, Vilnius, Helsinki. One of the artist's last works was a panorama of St. Petersburg from the Pulkovo Heights.
Andrey Martynov. View of the palace of Peter I in the Summer Garden (detail). 1809-1810. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Andrey Martynov. View of the Gulf of Finland from the balcony of the Oranienbaum Palace (fragment). 1821-1822. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Andrey Martynov. View of Nevsky Prospekt from Fontanka to the Admiralty (fragment). 1809-1810. State Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Among the first independent works of the master of landscape painting Andrei Martynov were Italian views. After graduating from the Academy of Arts, the artist lived as a pensioner in Rome. Returning from Italy to his homeland, Martynov painted views of St. Petersburg, using various techniques, including watercolors and engraving. Martynov even opened his own lithographic workshop to print engravings.
Among the famous works of the artist - "The Shore of the Bolshoi Embankment in St. Petersburg from Liteinaya to the Summer Garden", "Along the Summer Garden to the buildings of the Marble Palace", "From Moshkov Lane along the buildings of the Winter Palace".
Martynov traveled a lot, with the Russian ambassador he visited Beijing. Later, the artist released a lithographic album "A Picturesque Journey from Moscow to the Chinese Border." During his travels Martynov drew ideas for his paintings, he also captured the views of the Crimea and the Caucasus. The artist's works can be seen in the collections of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum and the A.S. Pushkin.
Karl Beggrov. In the Summer Garden (detail). 1820th. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Beggrov. Arch of the General Staff Building (fragment). 1822. All-Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin, St. Petersburg
Karl Beggrov. Triumphal Gates (detail). 1820th. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
Karl Beggrov painted landscapes, however, unlike the son of the marine painter Alexander Beggrov, he painted not sea, but city views. A student of Maxim Vorobyov, he painted a large number of watercolors and lithographs with the landscapes of St. Petersburg.
In 1821-1826 Karl Beggrov created a series of lithographs, which were included in the collection "Views of St. Petersburg and the Environs". Among them, for example, "View of the Arch of the General Staff." After the publication of this album, Beggrov worked more in watercolor technique, but he still painted mainly Petersburg - for example, "In the Summer Garden" and "Triumphal Gates". Today, Karl Beggrov's works are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the State Russian Museum, the State Hermitage Museum and museums in other cities.
Alexander Benois. Greenhouse (detail). 1906. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Alexander Benois. Frontispiece for The Bronze Horseman by Alexander Pushkin (detail). 1905. State Museum of Fine Arts named after A.S. Pushkin, Moscow
Alexander Benois. Oranienbaum (detail). 1901. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In 1902 in the magazine "World of Art" 
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Petersburg (fragment). 1914. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. House in St. Petersburg (fragment). 1905. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky. Corner of St. Petersburg (fragment). 1904. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Mstislav Dobuzhinsky was a versatile artist - he designed theatrical performances, illustrated books and magazines. But the central place in his work was occupied by the urban landscape, especially the artist loved to depict Petersburg - there Dobuzhinsky spent his childhood.
Among his works - "Corner of Petersburg", "Petersburg". Petersburg landscapes can be seen in the book Petersburg in 1921, in illustrations to Dostoevsky's White Nights and Dostoevsky's Petersburg by Nikolai Antsiferov. In 1943, Dobuzhinsky created a cycle of imaginary landscapes of besieged Leningrad.
As art critic Erich Hollerbach wrote: "Unlike Ostroumova-Lebedeva, who captured mainly the architectural beauty of St. Petersburg in her engravings and lithographs, the artist also looked into the lowlands of city life, embracing with his love not only the monumental splendor of St. Petersburg architecture, but also the pitiful squalor of the dirty outskirts." After leaving the country, Dobuzhinsky continued to paint landscapes, but this time in Lithuania and the USA.
Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Petersburg, Moika (fragment). 1912. Private collection
Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Pavlovsk (fragment). 1953. Private collection
Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva. Petrograd. Red columns (detail). 1922. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
One of the main graphic artists and engravers of the first half of the 20th century. On woodcuts - woodcuts, lithographs and watercolors - she mainly depicted views of St. Petersburg. Among her works are illustrations for the books “Petersburg” by Vladimir Kurbatov and Nikolai Antsiferov “The Soul of Petersburg”, watercolor “Field of Mars”, “Autumn in Petrograd”, engravings “Petersburg. Summer Garden in Winter "," Petersburg. Rostral Columns and the Exchange "and others.
The artist did not leave her native Leningrad even during the siege: “I wrote often in the bathroom. I’ll put a drawing board on the sink, and an inkwell on it. Ahead on the shelf is a smokehouse. Here blows sound more muffled, the whistle of flying shells is not so audible, it is easier to collect scattering thoughts and direct them along the proper path. " Works of this period - "Summer Garden", "Rostral Column" and others - were published in the form of postcards.
ARCHITECTURE IN LANDSCAPE
Many artists draw and paint architectural monuments from nature every summer. Outdoor painting requires certain knowledge and practical skills. Much larger spaces can be observed here: often the distance to the objects depicted can reach several kilometers.
Let's say you come to a park. Among the old spreading poplars and lindens, there are small details of architecture - freakishly shaped woodenbenches, gates, gazebos, verandas, fountains. Before proceeding tosketches , choose the point of view from which the objects in the environment of greenery will look most expressive.
We must strive to emphasize the characteristic feature of the structure and form of architectural elements, to learn to see the main and the secondary in them. Some of the most interesting parts should be drawn in more detail, the rest should be simplified.
Suchoutline flexible, timesthe line should beto be done with tone - shading.Then the drawing will look likelivelier. Sketches are in progressin any technique, but their mainthe task is to develop the sharpness of the formniya, observation, firmreach of the hand. Then go tosmall coloretudes.
They may include proneat elements architecture.
The rule is also needed herechoice motive... If you are fromyou brave the gates of the villageat home, don't forget about surroundingobjects along the path,bushes near the gate, dere vyah.
The image is often composited too large for the selectedformat sheet. Or, on the contrary, they draw some detail so finely that it disappears intolandscape ... Or it turns out to be exactly in the center of the sheet, as if breaking it into equal parts. Often, young artists depict a building in such a way that it covers the entire landscape - be it a river, forest, lake, field.
Drawing various architectural motives, many are careless about their elementary construction. This gives the impression of instability of structures, leads to the curvature of their individual parts.
An accurate, well-arranged drawing is easier to writecolor ... But it is not at all necessary to show and then studybrush the smallest details of the structure. It is necessary to choose from them only those that give the building the originality of the architectural appearance, express its character, "face". After all, we often miss the main thing in the pursuit of trifles. But often there is another mistake: complete ignorance of details, the obligatory "pursuit" of generalization. This emasculates vitality from the etude, makes the work approximate.
Outdoor plans are especially pronounced - for example, a building in the distance will no longer look as distinct as it does up close. The distant forest will seem like a blue or blue stripe, the trunks and crowns of individual trees are simply not visible. Likewise, an architectural structure at a certain distance is "generalized" bystuffy environment and looks either dark or light in the sketchsilhouette against the background of heaven and earth - it already depends on the state of the day.
Watercolors most often the first and middle shots are prescribed in more detail, superimposing several transparent layers of paint one on top of the other, with a gradual gain in color strength andtones ... And for the distant plan, they use the filling technique - the imposition of paint in one layer.
Color the architectural landscape depends both on the appearance and color of structures and the reflexes falling on them, and on the time of day.
If you have chosen a morning motive, the colors of your sketch should not be too bright, harsh. Try to choose calm combinations of warm and cold shades. Working on a sunny afternoon, you may notice that the color of objects in the light is whitened, and the shadows, on the contrary, are saturated with hot reflections from the ground and cold ones from the sky. When depicting an evening motif, such as a sunset, keep in mind that objects become less distinguishable in detail, darker in tone and colder in color, while the sky can be very colorful, even somewhat fantastic. It is very important to correctly understand the tonal and color relationships and correctly convey them.
Work on an architectural landscape will be successful only with a careful study of nature, the ability to see the details as a whole and the whole is inseparable from the characteristic details. And most importantly, one must love nature and architecture, feel their indissoluble, poetic unity.
I. NIKITIN