Kuzma Sergeevich Petrov-Vodkin

An Outstanding Russian painter and theater artist, a graphic artist and art theorist, a teacher and writer. He was a member of the World of Art group, one of the co-founders of the Free Philosophical Association, a member of the Four Arts association. Participated in the Paris Salons, exhibitions “Golden Fleece”, in the international “Baltic Exhibition” (Sweden), the society “Heat Color”. Was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia. He devoted a lot of his efforts to the activity of a teacher, to developments in the theory of painting, and was engaged in the reorganization of the system of art education.

Key ideas:

– Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, being a Symbolist raised by the Paris school, an icon painter in the past, who did not hide his interest in religious art even during the times of militant materialism, was nevertheless recognized by the Soviets and actively participated in the artistic life of the country.

– The master considered painting to be a means and even a tool for improving human nature; he sought to discover the manifestation of the eternal laws of the general structure of the world in a human being through the ideas of his works. In such paintings as his famous «Red horse», the image is the embodiment of the connection between space powers and a certain time and events. This is a bright example of Symbolist painting with a very deep image representing the époque of changes (it was created in 1912) and speaking from its face. At the same time, the image of the horse looks like an iconographic image, most often present in the plots with George the Victorious.

– “The shape and the colour that embraces this form is painting itself,” Vodkin himself formulated his principle, leading to his theory of the “three-color scale”. He fully applied this principle and this theory in “Playing Boys” (1911), which became his program work. The specialty of his later manner became the use of the limited number of colors – red, yellow, blue (or green). These colors are used in icon painting.

– Compositional solutions also changed – they got balance and certain static, even if the image implies movement. This innovation makes each picture unique , and when applied to the “Red Horse” – even ingenious. Often creating still lifes, Petrov-Vodkin found rich experimental possibilities in this genre, as it is seen in the “Still-life with a rose”.