The main subject in the genre painting of Boris Kustodiev is the provincial town with its characters and its way of life. He adored everything Russian, including painted fabrics, wooden toys, tableware, and carved interior decor. Boris Kustodiev created a generalized image that represented his vision of female beauty. The voluptuous and languid merchant’s wives from his paintings could easily fit the milieu of Alexander Ostrovsky’s plays or Nikolai Leskov’s stories, folk tales, or children’s picture books. They represent the full-bellied, drowsy, and slumberous merchant Russia. The painter laughs softly and kindly at these people who stare at the world idly and apathetically. In the painting “Provincial Town”, Boris Kustodiev deliberately emphasized the simplicity of their beauty.
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#11
The true Kustodiev is the Russian fair and the bright fabrics, the gaudy calico prints and the barbarian struggle of colors, the Russian posad and the Russian village with their squeezeboxes and gingerbread cakes, flashily dressed young girls and reckless men.
Alexandre Benois
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Boris Kustodiev was born into a large family in Astrakhan. His father was a professor of philosophy, and his mother played the piano. Their family rented a small wing in the house of a wealthy merchant, and Kustodiev reminisced that “the entire lifestyle of merchants was right there, before my eyes”. When the future painter was nine years old, an exhibition of Peredvizhniki artists was organized in Astrakhan. The paintings by Viktor Vasnetsov, Valentin Serov, Ivan Shishkin, and Vasily Polenov made a lasting impression on the young boy who had never seen anything of the kind. That was the moment when Boris Kustodiev decided to become an artist instead of a priest.
Boris Kustodiev became a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts, a member of the Artists Union, and the group “Mir Iskusstva” (World of Art). He studied in Europe and traveled a lot, but he particularly enjoyed painting in the Kostroma Region. Kustodiev also worked as an illustrator, scenic designer, and decorator. His most famous paintings include “At the Fair”, “Merchant’s Wife at Tea”, “Self-Portrait”, “Portrait of Chaliapin”, and “Maslenitsa”.
Boris Kustodiev became a professor at the Imperial Academy of Arts, a member of the Artists Union, and the group “Mir Iskusstva” (World of Art). He studied in Europe and traveled a lot, but he particularly enjoyed painting in the Kostroma Region. Kustodiev also worked as an illustrator, scenic designer, and decorator. His most famous paintings include “At the Fair”, “Merchant’s Wife at Tea”, “Self-Portrait”, “Portrait of Chaliapin”, and “Maslenitsa”.
#13
If I ever met a man of truly noble spiritual stature, it was Kustodiev.
Feodor Chaliapin
#14
For over 15 years, Boris Kustodiev suffered a spinal tumor. Despite the intense pain, he managed to create bright and vivid images. The artist died at the age of 49.
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Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
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Provincial Town
Creation period
1906
Dimensions
80x98 cm
Technique
canvas, oil
Exhibition
2
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