(1841/1842-1910) is a great Russian artist of Greek origin. He became known for his unique style of landscape painting. One of the most remarkable works of Kuindzhi is the painting "Birch Grove".
Painting " Birch Grove"was painted in 1879, Oil on canvas. 97 × 181 cm. Currently in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. After the work was completed, the landscape was presented at the 7th exhibition of the Wanderers or the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. The picture shows a birch grove on a bright sunny day. Even then, at the first exhibition where the painting was presented, many viewers immediately drew attention to the unusual nature of the landscape painting. Kuindzhi not only created a very sharp contrast between light and shadow, thereby emphasizing the dazzle of sunlight, but also depicted unusual colors and shades that made the picture very realistic and fabulous at the same time.
The picture is visually divided into two parts by a stream flowing through the center. The stream not only divides the picture into two parts, making it more harmonious, but also carries the viewer's eye away, almost to the very horizon. Another quality that the stream has is freshness and coolness. It is, in a way, shading the general appearance of a hot day with a scorching sun.
The trees in the background act as a backdrop. Arkhip Kuindzhi deliberately does not give them drawing and detail, as if showing the viewer that the most important thing is in the foreground. Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi has always been in awe of Russian nature and Russian landscapes, and this picture, in particular, perfectly shows all the love of man for nature and the crazy inspiration that he drew in the forests, meadows and fields of the Russian hinterland.
Painting "Birch Grove". Kuindzhi
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The powerful, original character of Arkhip Ivanovich, illuminated by the halo of artistic genius, left indelible marks in the memory of everyone he met on his life path. Among the many curious manifestations of his multifaceted life, two characteristic cases that depict Kuindzhi as an artist-teacher and Kuindzhi as the keeper of his artistic treasure are particularly deeply embedded in my memory. In January 1898, my friend and I were preparing our paintings for the Spring Exhibition at the Academy of Arts. Having met with Arkhip Ivanovich at the Academy, I asked him to come to our apartment to see our work. The next day, around noon, familiar measured steps were heard in the corridor leading to our room. I rushed to the door. Before us stood Arkhip Ivanovich in his black greatcoat with a beaver collar and a fur hat...
"Moonlit night on the Dnieper":
In the summer and autumn of 1880, during a break with the Wanderers, A.I. Kuindzhi worked on a new painting. Rumors about the enchanting beauty of the "Moonlight Night on the Dnieper" spread throughout the Russian capital. For two hours on Sundays, the artist opened the doors of his studio to those who wished, and the St. Petersburg public began to besiege her long before the completion of the work. This picture has gained a truly legendary fame. I.S. Turgenev and Y. Polonsky, I. Kramskoy and P. Chistyakov, D. I. Mendelev came to the workshop of A. I. Kuindzhi, the well-known publisher and collector K. T. Soldatenkov asked the price of the painting. Directly from the workshop, even before the exhibition, “Moonlight Night on the Dnieper” was bought for a huge amount of money by the Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich ...
Kuindzhi's mission in Russian art:
For Russian painting, the appearance of its own Monet was necessary - such an artist who would understand the relationships of colors so clearly, would so accurately delve into their shades, would so ardently and passionately wish to convey them that other Russian artists would believe him, would cease to relate to palette as to some hardly necessary appendage. Since the time of Kiprensky and Venetsianov, colors in Russian painting have ceased to play an independent, significant role. The artists themselves treated them as a kind of official costume, without which, only out of prejudice, it is indecent to appear before the public.
Kuindzhi Arkhip Ivanovich "Birch Grove" 1879
"Birch Grove"
1879
Canvas, oil. 97 x 181 cm
State Tretyakov GalleryThe picture attracts and delights with its simplicity, national identity. The plot of the composition from the first moments becomes native, cozy at home. The artist depicted a small green meadow flooded with sunlight. The meadow is cut by a stream, sometimes covered with duckweed. On one of its banks are sleepy birch trees, illuminated by the sun and contrasting with the dark outlines of the forest in the background.
The picture fascinates with its lightness, a certain decorative effect: there are almost no details or accents. Everything is very airy. Only a few birch branches attract attention, which the author of the picture draws with great love and realism.
Critics quite rightly find a certain Levitan style in the composition: Kuindzhi, creating "Birch Grove", relies on the imagination of his viewer, gives him only a general composition, the viewer thinks out the details himself.
The contrast of the combinations should also be noted: snow-white, light-washed birch trunks are shaded by a dark, in some places almost black forest, which is depicted in the background.
Kuiji is rightfully considered an "artist of light": the canvas "Birch Grove" is the best proof of this. A subtle combination of light and shadow, sunbeams jumping on tree trunks and darkened water admiring the depth - all this conveys the freedom of a corner of the grove, the radiance of a summer day.
Numerous sketches were made beforehand. All of them are united by the presence of birch trees on a dark background."Master of Light" - such a nickname was given to Kuindzhi by other artists. Since for them it was always a secret of his unusual talent to depict light so realistically that it seemed as if it was not a picture, but a photograph. Until now, many artists look at the paintings in confusion and do not understand how and with what it is possible to convey the light of the moon or the sun's rays in order to squint when looking at them.
The work "Birch Grove" was written in 1879. The canvas depicts a bright, radiant and sparkling day with sunlight. Everything is calm and quiet around, a certain indescribable joy and delight settles in the soul.
The corner of the birch forest, absorbed in the game of "bunnies", is so skillfully depicted that you involuntarily become a witness to an unusual performance - the sun's rays are woven into the hanging branches of birches and "ride" on them, blown by a light summer breeze. And it seems that if you listen closely, you can hear the rustle of leaves and the singing of birds, the chirping of grasshoppers in the tall and soft grass. The fullness of the contrast of green and its shades, allows you to take a closer look at the depth and splendor of the birch forest.
Next, we are transferred to the stream, which, with its fresh and cool stream, takes us into the depths of the canvas, to a place where it can no longer be seen. However, the feeling of freshness and purity sharply creates a contrast between the summer heat and the saving coolness of the clear waters of the stream.
In order to give the forest density and depth, the artist draws dark silhouettes against the far background of the picture, but does not give them a concrete form, which indicates that the most important thing here, in front of the eyes, is spread out in full view.
Kuindzhi achieves such subtlety of lighting effects with the help of a properly selected composition of color and contrast. After all, you can feel the light so subtly, being in darkness. Therefore, the author prefers to combine dark tones with light ones, so that one stands out against the background of others with its depth and purity. The dark forest gives us the opportunity to perceive the blue sky and the almost luminous birch trunks more vividly.
The artist is in awe of Russian landscapes, because the Russian forest is full of thoughts and hopes, desires and prayers, which are very clearly felt when you get into this wondrous nature.
The next exhibition - already the seventh in a row - of the Wanderers promised, as always, a lot of new products and unexpected artistic solutions. The public was looking forward not only to the works of already recognized masters, but also to the emergence of new names working in the style of realism. The real event of this exhibition was Kuindzhi's painting "Birch Grove".
The biography of the remarkable artist Arkhip Kuindzhi is an excellent example for those who, despite all the difficulties and obstacles, are firmly moving towards their intended goal. With all his works, the master sought to justify his surname, which in Greek means "goldsmith". Entering the Academy of Arts only on his third attempt, he brought a lot of new things to the compositional construction of the landscape, to giving the paintings brightness and refinement. An excellent example of all this is the work of Kuindzhi "Birch Grove".
A native of Mariupol was far from the first to take up the image of the unspoken symbol of Russia, but he managed to find such means that made the picture truly spiritual.
Kuindzhi's Birch Grove, whose history can be found in almost any major art reference book, is an example of the style known as "romantic landscape". This style is characterized by a masterful use of light and shadow, combined with an open composition.
In particular, in Kuindzhi’s painting “Birch Grove”, the image of light green branches of birches against the background of a dark green thicket of the forest gives the necessary effect. Through the use of this technique, the festivity and brightness of the image are achieved. The sharp contrast between sunlight and shadow creates a joyful, upbeat mood in the viewer. In terms of composition, the most important role is played by the stream, which divides the canvas into two parts, it gives life to the picture, sets the rhythm, encourages life and creativity.
Almost all critics and art historians agree that in Kuindzhi’s painting “Birch Grove”, the author managed to give significance and brightness to a landscape that is quite ordinary for our country. This is achieved through a combination of richness of colors, bold alignment of the compositional space, as well as through the filigree technique of transition from one color scheme to another. Like no one else, Kuindzhi knew how to show the light, even without sunlight.
The liveliness of the picture is given by various small details, to which the author paid very close attention. In many ways, this is why this canvas creates a “presence effect” for the viewer, forcing them to inhale the aroma of birches and listen to the murmur of the stream.
The techniques used by the author in Birch Grove were subsequently applied by Kuindzhi in other famous works: Night on the Dnieper, After the Rain, Sea at Night. The name of this remarkable master entered the golden fund of the national landscape, along with such luminaries as Shishkin and Levitan. Currently, the work of Kuindzhi "Birch Grove" is stored in the Tretyakov Gallery, never ceasing to delight new generations of connoisseurs of real art.
In Arkhip Ivanovich Kuindzhi. "Birch Grove"
The illusion of light was his god, and there was no artist equal to him in achieving this miracle of painting.
— Ilya Efimovich Repin
"Birch Grove" Kuindzhi, dated 1879, made a huge impression on contemporaries and to this day is perhaps the most famous work of the artist. Of course, in line with the traditions of the Wanderers, the painting became innovative, breaking the canons of harsh realism in painting with its social background of plots and tragic colors.
Birch Grove 1879
"Birch Grove" is called the bright picture of Kuindzhi, permeated with light, luminous.
I think that it is as dramatic as the other things of the painter. Behind the birches of the foreground illuminated by the sun's rays, a mysterious forest rises with gloomy interweaving of trunks with massive dark crowns, while the tops of the "front" birches, probably transparent, trembling, are not visible, only guessed. In the very foreground of the picture are thick shadows. In general, there are a lot of condensed saturated colors in the picture, perhaps, however, less than in many other works by Kuindzhi. The jubilant noon, enveloping the warmth of the sun, concentrated in the center of the composition, attract attention and give the "Birch Grove" some kind of melancholy - sadness that the day will soon change into evening and the grove will plunge into darkness.
The painting clearly traces the Art Nouveau style with its conditional decorativeness - in a clear, somewhat magical appearance of birch trunks. However, from the edge painted with slightly blurred colors with its flowering plants, the pond, covered with delicate duckweed, breathes with the spirit of impressionism.
Another "Birch Grove", created in 1901, seems even more impressionistic. It is a grove of smoky air and light mother-of-pearl light, at the same time dreamy and majestic in its quiet peace. Charmingly soft, brooding, magnificent landscape, also received fame and recognition.
Birch Grove 1901
The artist painted several more paintings and sketches under the name "Birch Grove".
I like "Birch Grove" - an autumn landscape and "Birch Grove. Spots of Sunlight" - sad, completely impressionistic works with an amazing harmony of golden light and ocher colors of the grove, with radiant midday greenery and play of sun glare in a summer grove with "Patches of Sunlight" ".
A talented contrast with the whimsical dense coloring - ultramarine, purple and malachite - of a birch grove at night ("Forest"), written in a manner typical of Kuindzhi, in the spirit of old fairy tales and legends.
Birch Grove 1898-1908
Birch Grove 1880s
Birch Grove 1880s
Birch Grove 1879
Birch Grove Variant-sketch of the painting of the same name, 1879
Birch Grove (Forest) 1880s
Birch Grove. Spots of Sunlight 1890-1895
