Task 11. True/false statements.

1. Surikov executed hundreds of historical paintings

2. The future artist grew up in Siberia

3. He spent twelve month on his journey from Novosibirsk to St. Petersburg.

4. His first historical canvas was “Menshikov in Berezovo”.

5. The collector of Russian art Pavel Tretyakov gave the artist money to go abroad.

6. Surikov’s most joyous picture is “Taking of a Snow Fortress”.

7. The painting “The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak” depicts a horseman, who must jump over a snow wall.

8.Vasily Ivanovich Surikov was born into a family of Siberian Cossacks, but he never depicted Cossacks in his art.

 

V.Sirikov.The Boyarynia Morozova. Detail.	V.Surikov. The Boyarynia Morozova. Detail.

 

Part 2

Besides historical pictures Surikov created many portraits and self-portraits which show the gift of the master and his interest into the inner world of his models. Surikov always focused on fine portraiture. His female images are particularly elaborate and masterful. He appreciated and knew how to depict the beauty of a Russian woman; he understood her contradictory personality, her tenderness, kindness, compassion, cordiality, quiet resignation, and readiness to sacrifice herself, and he recognized that sometimes, her courage, strong will, devil-may-care attitude, and her strong convictions bordered on fanaticism.

During that epoch - the heyday of portrait genre in Russian art - many artists tended to emphasize their characters' personalities in their historical and genre painting. Itinerants made a particularly notable contribution to portraiture. For the first time in Russian art, portraiture stopped being merely the art of painting family members and stopped serving exclusively the sentimental needs and vanity of individuals and families. As a result of the itinerants, the very word portrait acquires new understanding. The reason for the above we find in the definition of reconsidered art that achieved vivid social status. Art changed much. Now it served more for exhibition purposes rather than purely as private commissions.

 

Notes

contradictory personality – противоречивая личность

compassion - сострадание, сочувствие

quiet resignation - тихое смирение, покорность

cordiality - сердечность

to sacrifice oneself – жертвовать собой

strong will – сильная воля

devil-may-care attitude - наплевательское отношение

devil-may-care - беззаботный

strong convictions bordered on fanaticism – сильные убеждения, граничащие с фанатизмом

the heyday - - в расцветеб в зените

to emphasize their characters' personalities - акцентировать внимание на личностях героев

contribution - вклад

vanity of individuals – тщеславие людей

to acquire - приобретать

vivid - явный, яркий

private commissions – частные заказы

rather than - а не

 

Task 12. Describe the painting “ Boyarina Morozova” by V. Surikov using the description outline, the vocabulary below and the information from the Text above.

throngs of people - толпы людей / to throng - толпиться

to surge into the street – ринуться на улицу

interrogation - допрос

torture - пытка

adherence to - приверженность к-л, ч-л

old believers – староверы

dissenters (raskolniki) - сектанты (раскольники), диссиденты, оппозиционно настроенные люди

to pay homage to – отдать должное, оказать почтение

to feel the reverence for smb – чувствовать почтение к к-л

to sympathize with smb – сочувствовать к-л

to worship - поклоняться (боготворить)

the heroic martyr - героический мученик (мученица)

sorrowful – печальный

frightened expression – испуганное выражение

inspired faces – вдохновенные лица

eloquent gesture – красноречивый жест

to make the sign of the cross – крестить (-ся), осенять крестом

indomitable - упрямый, упорный

inflexibility – непреклонность, непоколебимость

a righteous cause - праведная (справедливая) цель

feeble-minded – слабоумный

devotee – фанатик, человек преданный к-л делу

the pilgrim – паломник, странник

absorbed in deep thought - глубоко погруженный в мысли

beggar - бедняк

to kneel – преклонять колени

dispersing crowd – расступающаяся толпа

drawn face - искаженное лицо

Nikolay Yaroshenko

(1846 – 1898)

Nikolay Yaroshenko, who was called “the conscience of the Itinerants”, for his integrity and adherence to principles, created his own portrait type, and his representation of a specific model became the basis for his generalized image of the representation of the different layers of society. “ Girl Student ”, is typical of Yaroshenko. His “ Portrait of Pelageya Strepetova”, a Russian tragical actress, is a very good example of his work. She specialized in the roles of the poor and humiliated, exhausted by life women, and these roles left their mark on this portrait. Looking at the clenched hands of this fine, young, but not pretty woman, we can feel her inner strength and the emotional strain in her image. This image probably reminded contemporaries of young girls exiled to the mines for expressing their ideas. One critic noted the resemblance of bracelets on her wrists to fetters.

 

Notes

the conscience - совесть

integrity - прямота, честность, целостность

adherence to principles - приверженность (верность) принципам

humiliated - униженный

to clench hands – сжимать кулаки

emotional strain – эмоциональное напряжение

the resemblance – сходство

fetters - кандалы, оковы

2.15. Viktor Mikhailovich Vas netsov (1848-1926)

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov was a painter whose works revealed an important facet of Russia's art during the period of Russian Revival. The son of a country priest, he attended a seminary before beginning his artistic education at the Petersburg Academy and later, at the Academy of Arts.

Vasnetsov created many genre scenes, his style changed as the tide of public support turned against such prosaic, "social" art. By 1880 he was busy painting historical and legendary scenes taken from Russia's colorful past. Although by now there are some who doubt the enduring quality of his work, during Vasnetsov's lifetime he enjoyed at least a moderate level of popularity and appreciation and fulfilled various commissions for both museums and churches.

Vasnetsov was probably the first painter to create theater backdrops; he began working in this capacity during the 1880s and 1890s. These efforts were also an expression of the Russian Revival, for out of his work and that of his followers sprang the idea of "realistic theatrical décor," which contributed much to the development of the Russian theater and ultimately was quite influential in Western Europe