Sergei Romanovich

description

A Russian and Soviet artist, a teacher and a memoirist. He worked in such styles as Post-Impressionism and Rayonism. He worked in the genres of easel and monumental painting, as well as a graphic and book illustrator.

Was born into the family of an inspector supervising homes for the orphans named after Empress Maria Fyodorovna. The mother of the future artist, Sophia Nensberg, a Swedish woman, was fond of drawing and became the first teacher of her son, though sometimes the drawings of her son outraged her.

Romanovich was an active participant and even a “builder” of such groups as “Rayonists and Futurists”, “Makovets”, “Four Arts”. The artist worked much as a teacher of drawing and painting in Voronezh and in Moscow. Talented essayist Romanovich wrote essays and sketches about famous artists-compatriots, such as N. Ge, M. Larionov, P. Bromirsky, P. Mituriche, as well as P. Picasso and Van Gogh.

Paintings of the artist decorate theaters, pavilions, industrial buildings of major cities of the USSR. The artist’s paintings are in the main museums in Russia and in many regional museums and galleries of the country.

Key ideas:

Romanovich showed himself as an artist very early. For example, art critics attribute “The composition in the spirit of Chekrygin” to the 1910s. Being in the cohort of Mikhail Larionov from the age of 17, he worked hard on the technique. In the few known early works (such as “Recollection of Tiraspol”), you can see the work with color and form, a bold liberated brushstroke.

Later, the young artist turned to themes from classical literature, created picturesque paraphrases of the works of Rubens, Tintoretto, and Delacroix. They are marked by the desire for high professionalism and hard work on the tool of expression – the art form of works.

The artist immersed in the monumental painting that was in demand. This happened when the adherence to the traditions of world culture was called “smuggling”, then “artistic counter-revolution” (definitions taken from the article of magazine “Art to the masses”), and the creative groups, the member of which the artist was, became prohibited by censorship, accusing them of “narrowly formalistic” and “in fact, bourgeois tendencies”. A whole series of theaters and cinemas, pavilions and industrial premises received paintings created by Romanovich.

Feeling heavy ideological pressure, he found a way out for his easel painting in “Realism according to Romanovich”. This realism turned out to be close to medieval theology and antiquity in Renaissance painting. Another part of the heritage of the mature period is “Flowers” series. In both subjects, Romanovich followed his reflections that the fine arts are “radiant in nature” and that in any technique there is an opportunity to show all the strength, richness and the variety of color.

As a talented graphic, Romanovich was inspired by literature (Gogol, Lermontov, Goethe) and music (“Beethoven and Schubert in the Music Shop”, 1950s), the nature of the Crimea. In the last decade, the artist returned to “Rayonist” abstractions, demonstrating faith in the legitimacy of the existence of Rayonism as a branch of pointless painting and his devotion to the ideas of M. Larionov.

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1894

1909

1911 - 1914

1918 - 1920

1921 - 1922

1923 - 1927

1928 - 1929

1932 - 1948

1950 - 1960

1968

The birth of the artist

Sergei Romanovich was born on September 11, 1894 in Moscow.

Entered the fine art department of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Entered the fine art department of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where his teachers were N. Kasatkin, K. Korovin, A. Arkhipov and other prominent masters. Participated in six exhibitions from 1912 to 1918 (before graduation).

He enlisted in the army as a volunteer

Became friends with Mikhail Larionov, who became his idol for life. Helped organize the exhibition “Donkey’s tail”, although in his youth years he was not a full member of the group. Participated in the exhibition of avant-garde artists “Target” (1913, its organizer was Larionov), went for sketches to Tiraspol. He became a member of the informal group “Rayonists and Futurists”. 12 works were presented at the exhibition “No. 4. Futurists, Rayonists and Primitive” (1914). After the outbreak of the First World War, he enlisted in the army as a volunteer.

Received a diploma of Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture

Received a diploma of Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, began teaching activities at the studio of the fine arts of Moscow Proletkult, provided his works for exhibitions organized by the People’s Commissariat of Education in 1918 and 1919.

He became an active member of the association "Makovets"

He became an active member of the association “Makovets” (exhibitions with the artist’s participation took place in 1922 and 1924). Six paintings were selected for the first Russian art exhibition gallery Van Diemen (Berlin, 1922).

Got married; his son Paul was born

Got married; his son Paul was born. The works are shown at the exhibition in The Hague (1924). He worked as a professor of painting and drawing at the departments of the Higher Art and Technical Workshops (Voronezh, then Moscow); at the faculty of arts, at the Architecture and Construction Institute, at the Department of Decorative Arts of the Moscow Higher School of Arts and Industry (renamed Stroganov). More than 10 paintings were presented at the traveling exhibition “The Revolution of 1905 in the Voronezh Province” (1926-1927).

Joined the SMA

Joined the SMA (“Society of Moscow Artists”), the exposition of the society took place in 1928. He was invited to participate in the exhibition “Civil War in the Voronezh Region” (1928), took part in the show “Four Arts” (1929); taught painting and drawing at the artistic and industrial technical school in Voronezh.

He married E. Boyko

The exhibition of the Brigade of the Association of Artists of the Revolution was the last one in which the artist took part (4 paintings and sketches). He went to study the subject in Murmansk, was engaged in monumental painting in Central Asia, in Azerbaijan. He married E. Boyko; their daughter Natalia was born in 1936. Worked at the Monumental Painting Workshop at the Academy of Architecture in Moscow. The artist’s son Pavel died at the front in 1941. Sergei, who was released from mobilization due to heart disease, worked on the construction of defensive fortifications.

"Flowers"

In addition to monumental paintings (the last one was in 1957), he created the large series of paintings “Flowers”. He created canvases titled “Abstract (radiant) composition.” He created paintings on biblical and ancient topics. He created paintings and illustrations for the works of Lermontov, Nekrasov, Goethe, and others. He worked on “Doroga the Artist”, a great art and theoretical essay about Mikhail Larionov.