ChinaCultureConnect - Pushkin's great influence on Russian art can be seen from these paintings

Pushkin (1799-1837) is known as the "Father of Russian Literature" and the "Sun of Russian Poetry". His works cover a wide range of fields, including poetry, novels, fairy tales, dramas, and essays, with rich content and diverse genres. He has won the love of readers around the world with his unique language charm and profound humanistic care.

Recently, "'Great Poet, National Pride' - Pushkin and Eastern Echoes" was exhibited at the China Modern Press and Publication Museum in Yangpu, Shanghai. The exhibition reviewed Pushkin's short but brilliant creative career with more than 100 precious cultural relics. It also showed portraits of Pushkin drawn by famous Russian artists, as well as illustrations and sculptures created for his literary works, showing Pushkin's great influence on Russian art.

Pushkin was born into an aristocratic family and received a good education since childhood. In the early 1820s, he emerged as a poet and showed extraordinary literary talent. His life was full of legends, and he was repeatedly exiled for daring to criticize the autocratic rule. He traveled to many places in the south, absorbed the nutrients of folk literature, and wrote many narrative poems such as "The Prisoner of the Caucasus". In the "Autumn of Bolkino" in 1830, Pushkin ushered in the peak of his creation and completed classic works such as the poetic novel "Eugene Onegin" and the short story "The Tales of Belkin". He was free-thinking and had a distinct personality. He eventually died in a duel at the age of 38.

Pushkin Self-portrait (copy)

In the display cabinet, some of Pushkin's self-portraits (copies) and his illustrations (copies) for literary works are particularly eye-catching. These illustrations and paintings of horses, eagles, landscapes and other subjects are mostly painted with just a few strokes, scattered next to the text, showing the richness and agility of the poet's inner world.

This self-portrait of Pushkin (reproduction) shows one of Pushkin's earliest self-portraits. According to Russian Pushkin experts, it was probably painted in 1817-1818 and was designed as the cover or title page for his first collection of poems to be published.

Exhibition site

At the entrance of the exhibition hall, visitors can see portraits of Pushkin created by Russian artists. In 1827, Tropinin created a portrait of Pushkin in Moscow. Pushkin's close friend Sobolevsky recorded: "... This portrait was secretly commissioned by Pushkin to Tropinin, and then given to me as a surprise (costing him 350 rubles)." The exhibition presents Bryullov's copy completed on the occasion of Pushkin's 100th birthday in 1899. In the portrait, Pushkin is wearing a dark tie, looking casual and unrestrained; the ring on his hand is a "magic weapon" given to him by his girlfriend. On the side, another exhibit worth noting is the engraving made by N.I. Utkin based on the portrait of Pushkin drawn by Tropinin. It is said that most of Pushkin's image spread originated from this painting and the printing of this engraving.

Portrait of Pushkin, by P.A. Bryullov after the original by V.A. Tropinin, 1899, in the collection of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum

Pushkin portrait engraving by N.I. Utkin

In February 1831, Pushkin married Natalia Nikolaevna Goncharova, known as the "first beauty in Moscow". In May of the same year, he moved to St. Petersburg and continued to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. However, this marriage did not bring him long-term happiness and peace. Instead, his wife's extravagant life brought him great mental pressure and debt burden. However, Pushkin became more mature in his creation and completed many important works, including the narrative poem "The Bronze Horseman", the fairy tale poem "The Story of the Fisherman and the Goldfish", the short story "The Queen of Spades", and the novella "The Captain's Daughter".

Portrait of Pushkin's wife Goncharova, by Syedchikov after Bryullov's original, 1899

In 1836, Dantes, a French noble who had fled to Russia, began to pursue Goncharova, and the two often danced together. This story spread among the upper class of Petersburg. For the sake of honor, Pushkin had a duel with Dantes in a birch forest near Petersburg on the evening of January 27, 1837. As a result, the poet was shot in the abdomen and died of his wounds two days later. He was buried in the Holy Mountain Monastery near the village of Mikhailovskoye.

Next to the portrait of Goncharova is a portrait of Pushkin painted by Karl Peter Maazel. It is said that Maazel never met Pushkin in person, but he visited Pushkin's widow many times and studied Pushkin's portraits and relics in detail. In the painting, Pushkin is wearing his favorite red plaid home clothes and leaning leisurely on a sofa piled with books. This painting can be regarded as the first historical portrait created shortly after Pushkin's death.

Karl Peter Maazel, Portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, 1839, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

In addition, the work "Pushkin's Duel Site" by the painter M. M. Gochstein depicts a granite column monument designed and built by architect Katonin in 1932. In 1937, on the 100th anniversary of Pushkin's death, the small square where Pushkin dueled was completely renovated, and the original column monument was replaced with a new obelisk-shaped monument.

M. M. Gochstein, "Pushkin's Duel Site", 1932, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

"The sun of Russian poetry has fallen", but Pushkin's spiritual legacy inspires later generations to continue exploring. In addition to literature, his thoughts have also infected the art world. From the late 19th century to the early 21st century, Russian artists created a large number of illustrations, paintings, boxes, toys, porcelain and other artworks for Pushkin's works, including oil paintings by Russian critical realist painter Repin for "Eugene Onegin", book illustrations by Russian painter Benoa for "The Bronze Horseman", and woodcuts by Russian artist Favorsky for "Boris Godunov".

I.E. Repin, The Duel between Onegin and Lensky, 1901, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

Repin (1844-1930) was a great Russian critical realist painter. He admired Pushkin all his life and called him "my idol" in a letter to a friend. He carefully collected Pushkin's portrait materials and repeatedly depicted Pushkin himself and the image in his works in his creations. The exhibition hall displays Repin's oil painting for "Eugene Onegin", which restores the scene of Onegin's duel with Lensky and vividly reproduces the tense moment in this classic literature.

N.V. Kuzmin, Pushkin and Onegin on the Neva, illustration from Eugene Onegin, 1937, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

N.V. Kuzmin (1890-1987) was a bookbinding artist, watercolorist, and writer. In the 1910s, he collaborated with magazines such as Apollo, Crescent Bay, and New Satirist. He was awarded the Order of Courage four times during World War I and served in the Red Army during the Civil War. After retiring from the army, he enrolled in the Department of Printmaking at the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts. In the late 1920s, he proposed the theory of "quick sketching", breaking through the academic stereotypes, and put this concept into practice in his illustrations for Eugene Onegin. In 1933, his illustrated version of Eugene Onegin was published by the Academy Press, which won the highest honor award and the Grand Gold Medal at the 1937 Paris World Expo. His illustrated version of Onegin has been published in 33 countries in 13 languages.

Illustration from The Story of Tsar Saltan, 1970, Pushkin Museum, Russia

Mavlina, book artist, printmaker, oil painter; Honored Artist of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1981). Mavlina initially worked on easel painting, and later began to illustrate classic literary works, including works by Balzac, Stendhal, Zola, Hoffman, and Lermontov. Since 1949, she has turned to Pushkin's works and fairy tale illustrations. "During the war, I planned to draw fairy tales... I imagined in my mind that on the broken spire, instead of the ordinary weather vane, there was a golden rooster written by Pushkin," Mavlina recalled.

Illustrations from Ruslan and Lyudmila by A.I. Malekin (1890-1942), 1914-1930, in the collection of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum

Malekin (1890-1942) was a painter, illustrator and museum worker. Since the early 1910s, he has worked with book publishers on book illustrations and bookbinding. In his illustrations for the epic poem "Ruslan and Lyudmila", he presented the ancient Russian painting tradition with artistic images.

Illustration from Ye.I. Bashkov, The Story of the Dead Princess and the Seven Warriors, 1963, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

Ye.I. Bashkov, printmaker, decorative applied artist, member of the Union of Artists of the USSR. After graduating from art school, he became a lacquer miniature artist and worked in bookbinding. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, he began to create works for Pushkin, illustrating Pushkin's fairy tales. For this work, he was awarded the first prize certificate in the All-Russian competition of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian SFSR.

I.Y. Bilibin, illustration from The Story of the Golden Cockerel, 1906, Pushkin Museum, Russia

I.Y. Bilibin (1876-1942) was an oil painter, printmaker, theatre artist and educator. He became famous for his illustrations of Russian folk tales, which he created since 1899. Based on his study of Russian folk art, he developed his own unique printmaking style, characterized by meticulous and detailed outline drawing, supplemented by watercolor coloring. His contemporaries called Bilibin "a master of delicate style and an expert in folk patterns."

Yakov Benoa, illustration from The Bronze Horseman, 1905, Pushkin Museum, Russia

Ya.N. Benoa, oil painter, printmaker, theater artist, director, art theorist and historian. Born into a family of famous artists and architects who immigrated to Russia from France in the late 18th century. In the late 1890s, he became one of the founders of the "World of Art" group and a long-term contributor to the magazine of the same name. Benoa first illustrated Pushkin's long poem "The Bronze Horseman" in 1903, and later created works for this work many times. This series has become the pinnacle of Benoa's printmaking art. These extremely concise and expressive illustrations, with St. Petersburg as the protagonist, complement the genius text of the long poem and together form a unified and inseparable image.

Vladimir Ansichev, illustration for Boris Godunov, 1954-1955, Pushkin Museum, Russia

A page from the series Pushkin, who is also Pushkin in China by O.Y. Yakhnin, 1999, collection of the All-Russian Pushkin Museum

In the exhibition, painter O.Y. Yahnin, honorary professor of Nanjing Xiaozhuang College and Peking University, painted a work from the series "Pushkin, He is also Pushkin in China" with Chinese ink and rice paper.

In addition to paintings, the exhibition also presents a number of sculptures, such as "Pushkin Walking" by Leonid Bernstamm and "Bust of Pushkin" by An de Korshikov, S.I. Galiberg and others.

Ma. Ma. Antokolsky, Statue of Pushkin, 1875, E. Gruette Foundry, Paris, France, All-Russian Pushkin Museum

It is worth mentioning that outside the exhibition hall, Pushkin's monuments and statues are all over the world. The Pushkin Monument in Shanghai is located at the intersection of Fenyang Road, Yueyang Road and Taojiang Road. This harp-shaped granite monument, about 4 meters high, was built in 1937 and was funded by Russian expatriates living in Shanghai to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Pushkin's death. After three ups and downs due to wars and other reasons, it was completed on the original site by sculptors Qi Zichun and Gao Yunlong on the 150th anniversary of Pushkin's death in 1987. On October 8, 2019, another Pushkin monument was completed on the campus of Capital Normal University in Beijing.

In addition, the exhibition also presents ceramics and utensils created by artists based on Pushkin’s literature, such as the chess set “Ruslan and Lyudmila” designed by E.I. Yeropkina and the toy design draft of “The Swan Princess” by O.Y. Klevel.