Biography, life story of Fedor Pavlovich Reshetnikov

Reshetnikov Fedor Pavlovich − Soviet artist, who worked in the genre of socialist realism.

early years

The famous master of the brush was born on July 15, 1906 in the Ukrainian village of Sursko-Litovskoe, which is now located in the Dnepropetrovsk region. Fyodor's father painted icons, and the same fate was in store for his son. However, fate decreed otherwise: at the age of three the boy became an orphan. The hardships of raising little Fedya fell on the shoulders of his older brother, who had to quit his studies and go to work.

Vasily got a job as a master in the picturesque decoration of churches, and free time continued the work of his parent. Fedor, despite his age, tried to help his brother in everything. Over time, he began to earn money on his own. At first, the young man took on any job - he decorated the premises of buildings and even performed the duties of a sports instructor. There was enough to live on, but Fedor understood that it was impossible to achieve success without education.

I decided to study in Moscow. Upon arrival in the capital city, he entered the workers' faculty, and then became a student at the Higher Art and Technical Institute. It was within the walls of this university that Reshetnikov’s abilities were fully demonstrated. Graphic works young artist were received with delight.

Northern hikes

Thanks to recognition of his talent, Reshetnikov received an invitation to join the polar expeditions. This was in the thirties, when legends were made about courageous Soviet sailors.

In 1932, Fyodor Reshetnikov stepped aboard the icebreaker Sibiryakov to go to the ends of the world as a reporter. During the hike, Fyodor drew a lot and prepared sketches for paintings. Participation in this expedition ended for him with the award of the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

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The artist presented his Arctic sketches to the public, which aroused great interest. Inspired by success, in 1973 Reshetnikov depicted the death of “Chelyuskin” on canvas. The film of the same name is dedicated to the drama that took place in the Chukchi Sea.

In 1934, Fyodor Reshetnikov began to paint historical canvases, which could hardly be called outstanding. But in general they were favorably received by the public. And the painting “Generalissimo Soviet Union", which was released in 1948, was called a masterpiece. It is not surprising that the following year the artist received the Stalin Prize of the second degree for it. He received the “third degree” in 1951 after finishing work on the film “For Peace!”

An ardent supporter of socialist realism, Fyodor Reshetnikov could not complain about the lack of attention from the Soviet government. In 1953 he was elected a member of the Academy of Arts. Then the title of People's Artist of the USSR arrived.

Spouse

Fyodor Reshetnikov was married to Lydia Brodskaya, the daughter of a painter and student of Ilya Repin. She danced in the circus, and he tried to instill in her a love of fine arts. And not without success - over time, Lydia also received the title of People's Artist of the country.

Fyodor Pavlovich passed away on December 13, 1988 in Moscow. He found his last earthly refuge at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

In the village where Reshetnikov was born, his museum was opened.

The artist F. P. Reshetnikov was very fond of painting on children's themes, which he developed since the time of the Great Patriotic War. Often watching teenagers play war. It was from that day that he began to increasingly depict children in different life situations in his paintings.

Reshetnikov’s painting “Boys” was created in 1971 and is also dedicated to children. Ten years have passed since legendary first human flight into space. All the boys dreamed of space and, as one, wanted to be like Yuri Gagarin. The painting shows three boys who climbed onto the roof of a multi-story building on an August night to watch starry sky. As you know, in August in central Russia you can often watch a starfall and boys, seeing another falling “star”, try to make their deepest wish as quickly as possible.

Reshetnikov places all the “dreamers” in the center of the picture. However, the boys are different in character, as evidenced by their poses. One teenager leaned completely against the parapet. His friend is holding on to the railing, but the unusual height scares him a little. The one in the middle, in a friendly manner, put his hand on the shoulder of the one standing on the left and tells what he read in some book just a few days ago. He points his hand at some particularly bright star and perhaps talks about it, especially emphasizing its name. He enjoys feeling some superiority over his comrades, which is so important at this age. The schoolboy talks with such enthusiasm that his friends, without looking up, look at the star that the narrator points to. They are a little jealous of him because he knows so much about galaxies and planets. And he also really dreams of flying on a real spaceship, on which he will definitely accomplish a feat.

His friends are already imagining that they, of course, will fly to the distant stars all together and will definitely visit this star, which is so different from the others in this dark blue sky, like soft velvet. Their eyes sparkle just like these stars, because the boys are sure that as adults they will contemplate the sky not from the height of a high-rise building, but through the window of an interplanetary space rocket. Below there will be a land illuminated sun rays, and not a city sparkling with lights, merging with the sky, as if one whole.

In the painting Boys, the artist vividly depicts a state of passion, immersion in a dream, when everything around ceases to exist. It is such dreamers who, having matured, accomplish real feats, make great discoveries that allow humanity to move forward. The boys, with undisguised delight and childish inquisitiveness of mind, are directed towards the future, which is slowly revealing its secrets to them.

Around them the city has plunged into the night and is falling asleep in a foggy haze. Reshetnikov conveys to us the state of these guys, awakening in us childhood memories. We remember our dreams and secrets of the distant past with a certain amount of nostalgia. And these suddenly flooding memories seem to give us wings and give us the strength to go to the end - towards our dreams. After all, the more impossible the dream seems, the more interesting the path to it.

Fyodor Pavlovich himself experienced all this during an expedition on the legendary Chelyuskin. It was a heroic epic in which the true character of the Russian man was revealed. And this campaign included the same grown-up dreamers, about whom the whole world started talking back in 1934, admiring their courage.

Reshetnikov Fedor Pavlovich - artist, biography and creativity. The artist was born in the village of Sursko-Litovskoye (the current territory of the Dnepropetrovsk region, Ukraine), in July 1906. His father is a hereditary icon painter, but Fedor is not destined to inherit this profession. A three-year-old boy loses both parents, and his older brother Vasily, who abandoned his studies at an art school for this, is involved in his upbringing.

To earn money for bread, Vasily has to earn extra money. He paints churches and paints icons in his free time. Fyodor, although still a child, helps his brother as much as possible, doing the work of an apprentice. Having matured a little, he begins to earn money on his own. Young Reshetnikov takes on any job, from applying his existing skills in decorating buildings to working as a sports instructor.

But, without education he cannot find Good work, so he goes to Moscow and enters the workers' school. Wanting to continue practicing with a brush, he chooses the art department. Since 1929, Fedor has been studying at the Higher Art and Technical Institute. He would study there until 1934, gaining knowledge from artists such as Gerasimov and Moore. Already in student years Reshetnikov begins to draw, and he graphic works enthusiastically received by the public. The artist himself is called a virtuoso of graphic cartoons.

Thanks to his talent, the young artist gets the opportunity to take part in polar expeditions. He is hired there as an artist-reporter, and for the 1932 expedition on the icebreaker Sibiryakov, the 24-year-old student will be awarded an order. In addition, during the expedition he draws a lot, and in particular, makes sketches for his first painting work.

In 1933, he went on a journey again as part of another expedition, now on the icebreaker Chelyuskin. This time the swimming turned out to be more difficult. During the expedition, Fedor faced many trials, and only in 1934, together with other sailors, he was found on a drifting ice floe, from where he was taken home. But, despite all the hardships, glory awaits Reshetnikov upon his return. The sketches made during the trip are a huge success, and later, in 1973, he will paint the painting “The Death of Chelyuskin,” which will become a masterpiece completion of the “Chelyuskin epic.”

In 1934, a newly minted graduate of the art institute began independent work. First, he painted a number of successful paintings dedicated to historical topics patriotic orientation.

Later, wanting to gain a foothold as an artist, he painted several easel paintings. True, he does not show any special abilities in this area, and publishes works of an average level. But his painting “Generalissimo of the Soviet Union Stalin I.V.”, published in 1948, will still be called a masterpiece. The artist himself was awarded a state prize for this painting and the canvas “Arrived on Vacation”, published during the same year.

The artist also publishes several genre compositions, among which it is worth noting the painting “For Peace!” 1950, for which he would receive a second prize a year later. In addition, in 1952, the artist published the painting “Deuce Again,” which became one of his most famous works.

But the artist’s true calling remains satire. Reshetnikov is an ardent supporter of socialist realism; he does not recognize any other genre. There is a sense of harsh banter in his works, and in the years 1950-1970 he created a whole series of cartoons ridiculing recognized masters of painting.

In 1960, the artist painted a unique painting, “The Secrets of Abstractionism.” This is the only canvas in which Fedor Pavlovich Reshetnikov embodied a caricature triptych of his own invention. The artist likes the work so much that in 1963 he publishes a book of the same name that complements the painting.

In 1953, Reshetnikov became a member of the Academy of Arts of the Soviet Union, and in 1973 he was promoted to vice president.

In addition, in the period 1953-1962, he worked as a teacher.

In 1974, Reshetnikov was awarded the title of People's Artist of the USSR. During his life, he received several other awards, including another order and several medals.

The creator died in Moscow and was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery. In 1990, a folk museum named after him was opened in the artist’s native village.

Reshetnikov Fedor Pavlovich - Soviet artist who painted in the genre socialist realism. Born on July 15 (28), 1906 in the village of Sursko-Litovsk in Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk region. Nowadays, in this village there is a museum of the artist. At the age of three he became an orphan.

He studied in Moscow at the VKHUTEIN - Institute of Fine Arts from 1929 to 1934.

In 1933, while still a young man, he took part in the famous Arctic expedition on the steamship Chelyuskin, where he and everyone else drifted on an ice floe. Having experienced many difficulties and hardships, he was rescued in 1934.

During the war, he was engaged in agitation, drawing posters and paintings on this topic. After the war, he chose socialist realism as a genre.

Reshetnikov taught at the Moscow State Art Institute. Surikov (from 1953 to 1957) and the Moscow Pedagogical Institute. Lenin (from 1956 to 1962).

In 1974 he received the title People's Artist THE USSR. Twice received the Stalin Prize. He was married to Lydia Brodskaya, also a People's Artist.

The most famous paintings- “Arrived on vacation”, “A bad mark again”, “For peace”, “Enough of the language”, “Boys”, “Generalissimo of the Soviet Union Stalin I.V.”, “Portrait of the pilot A. Lyapidevsky”.

F. Reshetnikov. Arrived for the holidays! Oil. 1948

Reshetnikov Fedor Pavlovich People's Artist of the USSR

Works of this recognized master genre painting Of course you know. They became classics - “Arrived on vacation!”, “For peace!”, “Again deuce”. The heroes of these and many other works of the artist are children. Bullies, dreamers, mischief-makers, truth-seekers, crybabies, tireless explorers of life - they are exactly what you yourself were yesterday. And what all boys and girls are destined to be at all times.

People's Artist of the USSR, vice-president of the USSR Academy of Arts, laureate of the USSR State Prize Fyodor Pavlovich Reshetnikov was also once a boy. And, as he himself says, “ruffy.” His biography is simple and at the same time unusual. Simple, because the artist’s fate is similar to the fate of many of his peers who entered life shortly after the victory of the Great October Revolution. Unusual because it is inseparable from amazing biography our Motherland.
Fyodor Pavlovich - guest " Young artist" In a conversation with a magazine correspondent, he recalls his youth and talks about his work.
- Fyodor Pavlovich, among your paintings dedicated to children, there is one called “From the Window.” Climbing onto a chair, the baby looks out of the window. He stretches, trying to see more. What is he thinking about now?
- Maybe he doesn’t think so yet. He just looks. There's a little man walking over there. There's still something visible. What? The next moment he will ask himself this question. He will ask the elders - they will try to explain. The boy will think and ask the following question: “What is there where you can’t see?” Then again, again... In a word, now he won’t give adults peace. I love these kids. In another picture - “Boys” - I also depict such people. Only older. They climbed onto the roof and looked out for the satellite. Imagine what will happen to the mothers if they find out where the boys are! And they talk about their own: “It’s flying!” Then they will grow up and understand that it’s time to answer the questions themselves. Then they will climb not only beyond the horizon, but beyond the edge of the world.

Fyodor Pavlovich, is it true that you ran away from home as a boy?
- He escaped. I took a bunch of brushes, a bundle of paints, crackers, some clothes - and off to the station. Only I was already fifteen years old then. In those days he was quite an adult.
- Did you start drawing early?
- You see, what a thing. My father was a hereditary icon painter. True, I don’t remember either him or my mother. I was not even three years old when they died. But I remember very well the workshop that my father built with his own hands. My brother and I often spent time there, and my nose was always red. The older sister, who raised us, liked that the children were always at home.
But one day the house burned down. For some time we lived among people, until our elder brother Vasily took us in with us. He followed in his father's footsteps and studied at the Kiev Art School. But he left the third year because he had to feed us kids. He knew how to do everything: he painted walls, made stucco, painted decorations. I learned a lot from him. At first I just watched. Then, | when he got older, he began to help Vasily. I washed my brushes and rubbed my paints. It is not surprising that over time I began to draw myself. As they said, I was especially good at portraits. I remember that I even made money from them: some gave me a piece of cake, some a handful of grain. That was helpful. My brother started a family, and the time was hungry - it was 1922. And then one day I thought that I could probably feed myself.
And I left. The first time the escape was unsuccessful. My brother caught up with me at the station and took me home. But I firmly decided to start an independent life and next time I was more cunning. He went to see a friend and didn’t show up for three days. And when everyone decided that Fedya was already far away, I went to the station, fought my way onto a freight train crowded with bagmen, and left... I wandered for about a year. My portraits turned out to be of little use to anyone, because there was a severe famine and people were thinking about something else. I didn't draw much. But one day I found myself at the Grishino station in Donbass. There I first felt like an artist.
- Please tell us more about this.
“I was attracted by the sounds of a piano coming from the broken windows of a mansion. Has entered. There was nothing in the house except a sofa and a broken piano. Empty frames hung on the walls - the owner must have taken the paintings abroad. It was winter, people in outerwear were walking around the halls, smoking and talking. By some instinct I realized that this was a club. One
the room was especially crowded and smoky. I went there and asked if they needed an artist. "What can you do?" - followed the question. I replied that I could draw Karl Marx. They gave me a piece of wallpaper, I had coal. Passed the exam.
I was assigned to live with an old woman - right next to the club. She had a stove burning in her closet, and I immediately warmed up... From time to time they gave me new tasks - either to write a slogan, or a poster, or decoration. I soon decided that the bare walls of the club needed to be painted, and offered my services to the board. I must say that, constantly being among the workers, I have already gone through some school of political literacy. Therefore, when they asked what I would paint on the walls, I blurted out: “A link between the city and the countryside.” The management reacted favorably, since the topic was relevant.

But how to solve it? After all, I had never painted walls before, I just watched my brother work. My trick was quite impudent, but there was no turning back. I remembered what Vasya did and how he did it, and got to work. On the central wall he painted a “bow”, on the side walls there were figures of a worker with an anvil and a Red Army soldier with a gun. The walls were filled with satirical images: bourgeois, White Guard, kulak. Everything was executed quite primitively, although with an eye to the excellent works of Moore and Denis. But the worse thing is that before priming I forgot to remove the whitewash, as my brother always did. After some time, my painting began to show cracks. However, the club management and the audience liked her. What to do here - be proud or upset? In any case, I did not lose heart. I understood that the most important tests were still ahead.
I had to grow up to college. After all, my education was then two classes primary school. I worked for another two years. He cobbled, painted, carpentered, went down into the mine. And of course, I drew. In the end I ended up at the Pobedinsky coal mine - not far from Moscow. What wonderful guys there were! At the mine I joined the Komsomol. And soon he was sent to Moscow on a permit from the mine committee. At first, at the Workers' Faculty of Arts, I received my lost diploma and mastered the basics visual arts. And only then I entered VHUTEIN... By the way, both at the workers' faculty and at the institute, I walked everywhere with a notebook and made a lot of caricatures and friendly caricatures. This helped me become a participant in the famous polar voyage on the icebreaker Sibiryakov.
- But how did you, a student, manage to get on an expedition where they selected one out of a thousand?

F. Reshetnikov. “...We carried the ship literally on our shoulders.” Watercolor. 1932.

This whole story!.. It was a time of rapid development of the Arctic. Expeditions followed one after another. The Sibiryakov campaign was planned for the summer of 1932. The icebreaker was supposed to fulfill the age-old dream of sailors - to go from Arkhangelsk to the Bering Strait in one navigation. I didn’t really understand the significance of this expedition, but I really wanted to visit the Arctic. See eternal ice, polar lights, polar bears... In a word, a purely boyish thirst for the new, the unknown. And I set a goal for myself: to get on the icebreaker at any cost. There are no more than twenty-five days left before departure.
The head of the expedition was the wonderful Soviet scientist Otto Yulievich Schmidt. I knew him by sight. And then suddenly I saw him on the street. I followed. He got on the tram, and so did I. I stood a little behind, looked, and remembered. Then he began to sketch it in a notebook. Schmidt was handed a coin - without turning around, he handed it to me. I don’t take it on purpose, I wait for him to turn around so I can take a better look. Turned around. I did the same thing again... Based on this sketch, I then made a friendly cartoon and took it to show Otto Yulievich. Leonid Mukhanov, my comrade who was assigned as the secretary of the expedition, introduced me. Schmidt liked the drawing, but when he heard about my request, he immediately became cold: “There are no places. The expedition was recruited a year ago.”
What to do? I packed my suitcase and went to Arkhangelsk, where the Sibiryakov was loading. Mukhanov was simply horrified when he saw me: “Why are you doing this?” I explained to him my adventurous plan: to hide in a secluded corner and go out somewhere in the Barents Sea, when no one would dare to throw me into the waves. Mukhanov promised to help, and we began to prepare a place in the hold and food.
But first I decided to take another ride on my favorite skate. Mukhanov would strike up a conversation with one of the members of the expedition, and I, hiding behind a newspaper, stood to the side and quickly made a sketch. Soon a whole gallery of friendly cartoons accumulated. We pasted the drawings onto large sheets of Whatman paper and hung them in the wardroom. People immediately came running - recognizing each other, laughing... They sent for Schmidt. He came and also began looking at the cartoons. I’m standing in the corner, neither alive nor dead, and suddenly I see: Otto Yulievich’s shoulders are shaking with laughter. "Who did it?" - asks. They pointed at me. Schmidt recognized him immediately, frowned, pulled his beard into his fist, and left.

But then everyone took my side. They sent a delegation to Otto Yulievich. At first he didn’t want to listen, but then he started thinking. And suddenly he asks: “How is our library?” Mukhanov immediately went to the forefront: “Very big and in terrible disarray.” “Okay,” says Schmidt, “I’ll enroll you as a librarian, but you’ll work like everyone else.” The next day the icebreaker went to sea. It was the happiest day of my life. By the way, it's my birthday.
- What did you do at Sibiryakov as an artist?
- From the very beginning, in addition to all sorts of other things, of which there were a lot, I worked on “Arctic Crocodiles.” Such long paper sheets with drawings and friendly cartoons with humorous captions pasted on them. They talked about certain events from the life of the expedition. For example, in the Chukchi Sea, while fighting heavy ice, the propeller of an icebreaker broke. First the blades, and when they were replaced with new ones, the shaft broke off. What should I do? They began to blow up the ice with ammonal in front of the icebreaker. When a hole about one and a half meters in diameter was formed, they threw a tug on the hummocks and pulled it up using a winch. They blew up again and pulled up again. The masts were equipped with sails made from all available tarpaulin. If we approached the ice hole, then a fair wind would drive the ship to the next edge. The last fifty miles took fifteen days, but we got there! Meanwhile, drawings dedicated to these events appeared in The Arctic Crocodile.

There was a lot of interest in the newspaper. We usually hung it out at night. But people still came out of their cabins to look new release. Together, these newspapers compiled a kind of chronicle of the expedition... At the same time, other work was going on, hidden from people. I observed, made sketches, sketches, portraits. Prepared materials for future work. I contacted them more than once afterwards.
- Fedor Pavlovich, for the campaign on the Sibiryakov you were awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and you were the first among Komsomol members and students to receive this high award...
- If we’re talking about the results of the expedition, I’ll say this. I went to the Arctic for exotic things. But first of all I saw people. Wonderful people who became my comrades and examples in life.
- A year later, did you meet many people at Chelyuskin?
- I was officially invited to the second expedition. The icebreaker was supposed to repeat the path of the Sibiryakov, but with a practical purpose: to deliver cargo to Wrangel Island, to replace the winterers who could not get out of there for four years. That’s why there were women with children on the ship, and a whole team of carpenters who were sent to build a collapsible barracks. But we didn’t reach the island...
Now I understand well what Schmidt had in mind when he suddenly decided to take me on the ship. The hike was going to be difficult. It could have been winter, or a catastrophe could have happened. Otto Yulievich saw how people reacted to my cartoons, and thought that a funny joke in such a dangerous matter could be very useful. The Chelyuskin expedition showed that he was not mistaken.
The conversation was conducted by V. Sidorov