Boris Kustodiev: Paintings: Graphic Works: Book Illustrations: Theatrical Designs

📕 Boris Kustodiev, whose name is a household word in Russia, is only now becoming known here. This Russian painter, using his traditional art training, forged a style that had a broad appeal before the Revolution, during its most troubled days, and afterward. Kustodiev gave the new society its first art. He understood the Russian scene so deeply that his works were beloved of Russians in many walks of life, and in his art he has preserved for us the look of his Russia. Colorful, cheerful, often lavish, he evokes Russian joie de vivre, with all its sights and surfaces, even its tastes and smells and sounds. Kustodiev was born in remote Astrakhan, far from the principal Russian cities. Somehow his talent for art was nurtured and he made his way to the art academy of St. Petersburg. His career became an orderly succession of classes, commissions, diplomas, and fellowships. Then suddenly he sensed a change in the artistic climate of Russia. Never an avant-garde painter, Kustodiev nonetheless grasped the newness of the movements that surrounded Diaghilev, the Ballets Russes, and the World of Art. His oil paintings yielded to stage sets and costume designs; the fairs and holidays of the typical Russian village became his favorite subjects. In his portraits he no longer portrayed upper-middle-class sitters but chose to paint handsome nuns and voluptuous Russian matrons, actresses and playwrights. With the advent of the Revolution, Kustodiev simply shifted gears; he transferred his fer...