Vasily Surikov put special emphasis on the portrait genre. The painter used to say: ‘As a boy, I remember looking at people’s faces and thinking: why is it so beautiful? I loved Russian women’s faces very much.’ However, interestingly, the artist never considered himself a portraitist. He painted only those people who were dear and interesting to him, which is probably why he had almost no custom-made portraits.
When creating portraits, Vasily Surikov paid special attention to the costumes. He created a whole gallery of women’s images in richly decorated national costumes. Surikov painted in detail the printed flowers on paper fabric, intricate embroidery and fasteners of sundresses, head-dresses decorated with gold pendants and ornaments. On the painting “Siberian beauty”, he depicted Ekaterina Rachkovskaya in a white scarf with gold embroidery, on the picture “Kossack woman” — he painted L. Matorina in a spacious colorful jacket and a decorated shawl. In his famous historical artwork “Boyarynya Morozova” Vasily Surikov painted the characters’ clothing in the finest detail: the glossy fur on the main character’s fur coat, the richly embroidered capes and skirts of young noble women, and the luxuriously decorated sheepskin coat of a boy who stands right next to the sleigh. And in the painting “Capturing the snow fortress” Surikov carefully painted the details of traditional peasant clothing. There are embroidered felt boots (valenki), and painted shawls, and sheepskin coats with waist belts, and high hats trimmed with fur.
In his painting “Anfisa” dated 1990s, the artist depicted a young thoughtful girl in a patterned scarf, a friend of his younger daughter Elena. Surikov chose the image for her, which made her look like an old Russian beauty from the ancient times, or maybe from folk legends or epics. Despite the fact that Surikov carefully painted the decorative patterns on the scarf, it wasn’t the garment which became the center of the composition. The emphasis was put on the beautiful face of the girl and her regular features.
When creating portraits, Vasily Surikov paid special attention to the costumes. He created a whole gallery of women’s images in richly decorated national costumes. Surikov painted in detail the printed flowers on paper fabric, intricate embroidery and fasteners of sundresses, head-dresses decorated with gold pendants and ornaments. On the painting “Siberian beauty”, he depicted Ekaterina Rachkovskaya in a white scarf with gold embroidery, on the picture “Kossack woman” — he painted L. Matorina in a spacious colorful jacket and a decorated shawl. In his famous historical artwork “Boyarynya Morozova” Vasily Surikov painted the characters’ clothing in the finest detail: the glossy fur on the main character’s fur coat, the richly embroidered capes and skirts of young noble women, and the luxuriously decorated sheepskin coat of a boy who stands right next to the sleigh. And in the painting “Capturing the snow fortress” Surikov carefully painted the details of traditional peasant clothing. There are embroidered felt boots (valenki), and painted shawls, and sheepskin coats with waist belts, and high hats trimmed with fur.
In his painting “Anfisa” dated 1990s, the artist depicted a young thoughtful girl in a patterned scarf, a friend of his younger daughter Elena. Surikov chose the image for her, which made her look like an old Russian beauty from the ancient times, or maybe from folk legends or epics. Despite the fact that Surikov carefully painted the decorative patterns on the scarf, it wasn’t the garment which became the center of the composition. The emphasis was put on the beautiful face of the girl and her regular features.
