They describe life with… colours!

You can smell summer, mowed grass, whitewater and bright flowers in the exhibition complex of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve. “Autumn Exhibition” presents works made by the artists, the designers and the craftsmen during the summer season. Paintings, installations and metal, wooden and paper articles…

Residents and guests of Kirillov found a sunny corner in the People’s House on a rainy day, August 26.

I.A. Smirnov, advisor to the director general of the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve, opened the event welcoming the Russian artists and the invited guests. He thanked the authors for participation in the display and said that they would look forward to further collaboration.

Anna and Alexander Messerer, Irina Shchyochkina, Lidia and Viktor Kazarin, Viktor Komarov, Igor Roslyakov, Elena Nemirovskaya, Felix Buch, Georgy Kaverin, Dmitry Aronov, Vera Yurieva, Alexander Izyakov and a lot of others – famous authors and beginners – told about their works.

Alyona Gudkova, spouse of Yevgeny Skrynnikov and employee of the Museum of Dionisy’s Frescoes, tells about the outstanding artist whose works are full of spirit, “The fact is that he is almost blind, he has only two percent of side vision. But it is interesting that Yevgeny Semyonovich has started to paint better exactly after he lost his sight. It doesn’t prevent him. He cannot walk, but paints one picture every day. Sometimes two. He has created over 100 pictures this summer. He is a very talented painter. You have noticed that he paints lyrical landscapes. And he makes it according to his recollections. He hasn’t seen anything that he painted for a long time in fact. This is a bridge in Moscow, for example. Or a lake in Ferapontovo… Everything indeed!...

But nevertheless, he never gives up. He is 87 years old and his life is full of colours. He even acts in the theater (though he doesn’t move on the stage)! And he is a wonderful singer! A tenor! Bel canto of the Italian opera! He is an optimist and a cyclothymic personality, a master of communication. He likes cognac and women, and they like him, by the way”.

The works of Yevgeny Skrynnikov can be distinguished from all the rest. They don’t call us up, they magnetize. You look at the pictures and feel the wind searching the streets, the smell of melting snow over the bridge in Moscow. You shiver looking at the winter landscapes and summer near the lake makes you smile.

All artists who have introduced their works in the People’s House draw and paint their own. For example, Irina Shchyochkina whose pictures have been exhibited in Moscow, Mandrogy and Belgium, “paints stillness” in the view of her admirers. “I cannot make something up. I like being amazed at some state, catching it and conveying on the canvas. But it is important not to resemble photography. It must be painting anyway”, said the artist. “When you have gained experience, you can reflect the mood of nature with several strokes of the paintbrush. And it pleases me as I have been painting since the 6th grade. It is good that I had real teachers who told me that I had gifts to be an artist when I chose my professional journey. They said that I would be sorry if I didn’t go my own way. I followed their advice and entered the Art and Drawing Department of Teachers’ Training Institute (Moscow) instead of the vocational school of electrical steel. The artist Mudretsov had a special impact one me in his time. He gave pieces of advice to me and taught how to exhibit my works and how to paint…”

Irina Shchyochkina is so invested in what she is doing that she has already painted hundreds of pictures and can tell a lot of interesting stories connected with their creation. “Once we met with our friends-artists, we stayed at home, but I wanted to go somewhere. The weather wasn’t good. It looked like a storm was coming! They asked me to stay at home, but I took a sketch-block and went to a neighbouring village. It was raining hard all the way, but it stopped and I saw a rainbow. It was like compensation. The rainbow was so bright. I probably painted one of my best pictures on that day!”

The exhibition in the People’s House presents works of avant-garde artists who lived and created in different countries and at different times. They stand out of the herd. The spouses Kazarins, Viktor and Lidia, paint in different styles, depict various subjects, but they have been marred for almost 50 years. Soon Lidia Kazarina will celebrate her 70th birthday and a new exhibition will be staged in Moscow on the occasion of this event.

Realist painters… Avant-garde artists… Elena Nemirovskaya says that she painted more realistic before, “but this winter I have got some freedom and now I paint only in such a way!”

Her vivid works are full of sometimes lightness, sometimes dramatic character. You can see portraits of her friends, acquaintances, models, landscapes of lonely villages. Some abandoned nooks that nobody needs for a long time. The artist told us about the origin of her passion for art, “My father painted. We went to sketch together with him. Then I changed my direction and became an archaeologist. Romanticism of expeditions attracted me – Central Asia, Trans-Baikal, Siberia…”

Metal, paper and wooden articles are also being displayed in the People’s House along with painting and drawing. Alexandra Vladimirova, wood carver, master of folk artistic crafts of the Vologda region, has been participating in “Autumn Exhibition” for the second time, “I am very glad to be among such interesting original artists again. Today I have first introduced a new direction of my creative activity – New Year’s tree decorations. This subject is broad, so I will work on it till the end of this year. Now you can see the collection of 14 articles titled “Mythology of Ancient Egypt”. Wood, tempera, acryl. I think these images are familiar to everybody since childhood. Besides, I am exhibiting the icon of St. Nicholas of Mozhaysk for the first time in Kirillov. It has already received plenty of favourable reviews of the experts”.  

L.A. Lupushor, deputy director of development and exhibition work in the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Reserve, noted that new masters joined in “Autumn Exhibition” every year, “Local craftsman Alexander Izyakov is first taking part in the display. He makes strange and interesting metal articles. If you go to the third exhibition hall, you will see a dog assembled of some metal details that have seen long service. Nevertheless, to make this detail the humanity had to develop to the present level. And it was rather difficult for the master to throw this clever thing. He has made a living being of it! Had revitalized it! Have you seen his rock guitarist? It is a different topic. You look at it and want to stitch the guitar out of his hand and to start to play! The works of Alexander Izyakov are rather expressive, but it is always interesting.

Every person has a creative element. But it reveals itself in a different way. The exhibition presents wooden articles of Felix Buch that are rather unusual in the manner of execution. Metal articles have been created by Alexander Krutikov from Cherepovets. Besides, you will be able to see some works of the world-famous masters - Viktor Kazarin and Viktor Komarov. In the first hall of “Autumn Exhibition”, pay attention to the slideshow of Alexey Podymov who has a fine appreciation of our nature and architecture and who glorifies the local beauty…”

We can tell about the participants of the exhibitions for a long time. In all, the works of 38 masters are being presented in the People’s House! It is high time to see, to feel and to admire. Visit “Autumn Exhibition” and extend your summer together with us!

“Autumn Exhibition” will be open in the People’s House till September 25. You can see it every day from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.