- Vasily Polenov
Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov (Russian: Поленов Василий Дмитриевич;
1 June 1844 ,St.Petersburg , -18 July 1927 ,Polenovo nearTarusa ) was aRussia n landscape painter associated with thePeredvizhniki movement of realist artists.Polenov studied under
Pavel Chistyakov and in theImperial Academy of Arts from 1863 to 1871. He was the pensioner of academy of arts inItaly andFrance , where he painted a number of pictures in the spirit ofAcademism on subjects taken from the European history ("The Right of mister", 1874,Tretyakov gallery ); at the same time he worked a lot in the open air.Polenov took part in the
Russo-Turkish War, 1877-1878 as thewar artist . Returning from the war, he joined thePeredvizhniki , taking part in their mobile exhibitions. His works won the admiration ofPavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov , who acquired many of them for his gallery.In the late 1870s, Polenov concentrated on painting landscapes in the realist tradition of Aleksey Savrasov and
Fyodor Vasilyev . He attempted to impart the silent poetry ofRussia n nature, related to daily human life.He was the one of the first Russian artists who achieved a
plein air freshness of color combined with artistic finish of composition ("The Moscow courtyard", 1878; "The Grandmother's garden", 1878; "Zarosshy pond", 1879). The principles developed by Polenov had a great impact on further development of Russian (and especially Soviet) landscape painting.Polenov's sketches of
Middle East andGreece (1881-1882) paved the way for his masterpiece, "The Christ and the Sinner" (1886-87), an interesting attempt to update picturesque system of academism. In the works of the 1880s, Polenov tended to combineNew Testament subjects with his penchant for landscape. Since the 1870s, Polenov also turned to theatrical decoration. Most notably, he decoratedSavva Mamontov 's mansion inAbramtsevo and hisRussian Private Opera . In 1910-1918, Polenov was involved into a folk theatre project.Polenov was elected a member of
St.Petersburg Academy of arts in 1893, and named a People's Artist of the Republic in 1926. For many years, he coached young painters in theMoscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture . His pupils includedAbram Arkhipov ,Isaac Levitan ,Konstantin Korovin , andAlexandre Golovine . Polenov's mansion in Borok has been designated a national art museum, and the village was renamed Polenovo to commemorate his name.Polenovo
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