Born 1878, Khvalynsk - Died 1939, Leningrad

Painter, graphic artist and writer

Paintings        Biography        

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You may see additional work by this artist in the Blue Rose group.

Paintings

Biography:

Kuzma Sergeyevich Petrov-Vodkin was born November 5th 1878 in the family of a shoe-maker, in the town of Khvalynsk on the Volga river. When he was 2 years old, his father was recruited into the military, and sent to Petersburg, whither the family moved to join him and stayed for 2.5 years.

Back in Khvalynsk Kuzma's mother went into service for one of the richer families, and Kuzma lived with her.

His first deep artistic impressions Kuzma received in the home of his friend: the icons of Old Faith. He has watched how a neighbor and friend of their family, the old guard Andrei Kondratych, created colorful drawings on fairy-tale and song themes. As a schoolboy, he made the acquaintance of 2 icon painters, as well as a signpost painter and watched their work. That is when the future artist has realized that this wonder may be reproduced and has first tried to paint on his own.

In 1893 Petrov-Vodkin finished a 4-grade town school. At that time his decision to study art was not yet formed, and he attempted the exams for the railway institute. Upon failure, he went on to work for the whole winter season for local signpost painters, and only then went to attend the School of Drawing and Painting in Samara, studying under Burov (1893-1895), until the teacher died of an illness.

At that time, after several unsuccessful attempts at working on his own, Petrov-Vodkin has returned home to his mother, who was still working as a maid. Her sister, Yu. Kazarina, who was a wealthy Petersburg lady, decided to build herself a dacha near Khvalynsk, and brought for this purpose the court architect, R.Meltzer. The work of her nephiew was demonstrated to the famous artist, whose reaction was beyond expectation: he was so astonished by Kuzma's talent that he volunteered to help him get education in Petersburg. His aunt sponsored it.

Petrov-Vodkin was accepted into the Central Stieglitz School for technical drawing, which was a school teaching applied and industrial art masters in strict German style. Here he studied technical drawing, measurement, ornaments etc (1895-1897). After a while he felt that painting drew him a lot more than this dry and accurate drawing. He decided to leave Stieglitz School for MUZhVZ (Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture). The teachers there during the time of his study (1897-1904) are Kassatkin and Serov, as well as I.Levitan, P.Trubetzkoi and K.Korovin. His fellow students are great future artists such as P.Kuznetzov M.Saryan, M.Larionov, S.Matveyev, I.Mashkov.

In these school years Petrov-Vodkin discovered the vast aspects of culture and science he only heard about before, and went to study subjects outside the arts, like physics, chemistry, geology. He plays the violin, writes and even publishes some of his stories. Everything fascinates him. Theoretical analysis and rationalization remain characteristic of him.

He often worked for Meltzer in Petersburg; made drawings and executed different orders for stoves, fireplaces, tiles. He also gave drawing and painting lessons.

In 1901 Petrov-Vodkin sets out on a bicycle trip via Warsaw to Munuch and Italy. His bicycle breaks on the Russian-German border, and he makes it with difficulty to Munich, where he frequents Aschbe's studio for a couple of months. The trip has allowed him a very different view of Russian life and a wealth of experiences. He met the work of foreign srtists, such as Manet, Monet, Renoir, Pissaro, Cesanne.

Upon return to Moscow, Petrov-Vodkin studied in Serov's workshop.

In the summer of 1902 the artist together with goes Kuznetzov and Utkin to Saratov, where their proceed to paint the Curch of Kazan Virgin. This work was ver far from the accepted canons of the Orthodox Church, and before the work was even completed, they caused an uproar. The Church judgement was destroying them, despite the defence from Borissov-Musatov, who wrote then that this was work: "compared to which church painting of all Saratov congregation, old or new, is worthless...".

In 1904 the artist graduated school and in the automn of 1905 his second important voyage abroad began. He visited Istambul, sailed around Greece and finally came to Venice. ITaly made a great impression on him, especially Bellini and Da Vinci. For several months he traveled from one city to another, their artistic monuments passing before his eyes.

In 1906 he travelled to Paris, where he stayed for 2.5 years. Here his painting and drawing skills finally emerged and developed into true mastery.

In autumn 1907 Petrov-Vodkin traveled for 2 moths to North Africa, namely Algeria and Tunisia. He has done many drawings and studies there. The purpose of those was clearly more documentary: fixating the views, faces, dwellings of an environment so exotic and unfamiliar to the artist. Upon return, he created several paintings based on these studies and drawings. The paintings "Family of Nomads (African Family)" and "Arab Dance" were exhibited in Paris salon in 1908. In retrospect, both were not perhaps as lively as the initial African studies.

In 1908 Petrov-Vodkin returns to Petersburg for good.

At the 7^th Exhibition of the Union of Artists in 1910, his painting "Sleeping" draws all attention and is the sourse of controversy for a long time, fixing the name of Petrov-Vodkin firmly in all circles among the most daring and original artists. The artist I.Repin has attacked the painting severely, seeing it as a reflection of decadence; on the other hand, A.Benois and L.Bakst have defended the work energetically.

Petrov-Vodkin was wholly focused on expressing a philosophical concept or thought by means of pure visual art. Contrary to many of his contemporaries, he did not abandon the figurative object as a tool of expression, but instead to combine figurative Neoclassicism with the Symbolism of rhythm, color and spatial composition. As a result, most of his fellow artists considered Petrov-Vodkin's art old-fashioned, passe. at the same time the public has erred just as much, assigning to him the same Formalism as the others.

In the autumn of 1910 the artist was invited to join the re-formed movement of The World of Art. Participating in the group exhibitions he once again met with his old school friends and fellow Blue Rose members such as P.Kuznetzov, N.Sapunov, M.Saryan and others, as well as members of the Jack of Diamonds and other groups.

Each year the artist has spent a few months (usually in the summer) in his native town Khvalynsk, which supplied him with endless fresh experiences and impressions of the simple folk, the freedom and the sheer magnitude of nature.

In the beginning of the 1910s the artist begins to create dynamic compositions in sharpened colors, wanting to affect people's view. The painting "Boys (Playing Boys)" was the first. The dynamics of a dance in the play of the two boys, and the artist for the first time uses a tri-color symbolic spectrum and a not-quite-real flattened space around the boys, still leaving the two figures realistic. The next painting created was "Bathing of the Red Horse", which was to become his trademark and a phenomenon in Russian art of the 1910s.

The series of portraits was made then, in which all the insignificant details are dropped, and only the essense remains, enlarged monumentally.

In the years following the creation of "Bathing of the Red Horse", the artist has finalized the formation of his theory of painting, which he follows for many years. He has developed what he called "the science of seeing", including the original method of flattenning and spreading the surrounding background into a sperical or inclined perspective, and the use of a unique color spectrum. The point of view of the background seemingly from a great height; the vertical lines incline outwards, the horizontal close view inclines up. He aims to convey a deeply philosophical idea of the visual connection of the world we perceive with the theoretic cosmic rules of the universe, thundering into the unknown. As to color, Petrov-Vodkin has come down to the realization that a painting must be created in the three basic colors: red, blue, yellow; each chosen in some tone. In his book, "Euclidean Space" the artist explains how he got to this perception, and analyzes his conclusions in detail. His art developed into a form of mystical realism often on revolutionary subject. The artist has become a leading figure among Petrograd Symbolists.

In his paintings on the theme of motherhood, as his Vigins, Petrov-Vodkin aims to connect the true, pure, earthly emotion with the high spiritual cosmic connection. The onging daily life, stopped for a moment by an event such as and excursion of women to the river, to bathe. The midday harmony of life, including the rest from work, a conversation, ripe apples as a symbol of lifeforce and birth, and a funeral as a connection to death - coveys the true, real flow of day-to day life.

Despite being a novator in art, the artist has remained faithful to the organizations and system he has chosen on his professional path. One such group was the World of Art, in whose exhibitions he continued to participate up to its end.

In 1924, some of the former members of World of Art  have formed a new group in Moscow, Four Arts Society. Upon retun from his second Paris visit, Petrov Vodkin has settled in a small town of Shuvalovo in Petrograd area and has become an active member. Now he is actively interested in the life of the worker, just as in the pre-Revolutionary years he was mainly focused on the farmer.

In the second half of 1920s it has become apparent that the artist has tuberculosis. At the end of 1920s the ilness turns dangerous, and he is almost totally unable to paint for a few years, and turns almost fully to teaching and writing again. It is then that he began his autobiographical books: "Khlynovsk" and "Prostranstvo Evklida" (Euclidean Space). Both books are illusrated: the first - at beginning and ending of chapters; the second is interspersed with many pen-and-ink drawings, allowing the reader to more fully cennect to the author's memories.

The artist taught at the Yelizaveta Zvantseva's school, St. Petersburg in 1910-1915, the SVOMAS (Free Workshops), Petrograd in 1918-1921, and the Academy of Arts in 1921-1933.

In the late 1920-s and the early 1930s the artist successfully participates in large State and foreign exhibitions, and he received the title of Honored Worker of Arts of RSFSR (1930). In 1932 the Leningrad Union of Artists was formed, and Petrov-Vodkin became its first chairman.

In 1938 Petrov-Vodkin was invited to Moscow in order to participate in the construction of the Palace of Soviets, but this was not to be, due to his illness turning to the worse once more. Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin has died on the night of 14-15 February 1939.

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