Pavel Sokolov-Skalya was born in 1899 in Strelna, not far from St. Petersburg, in the family of a railway employee. In 1914–1918, he studied at the studio school of Ilya Mashkov, then spent two more years in the Higher Art and Technical Studios. Sokolov-Skalya worked in different genres: he painted portraits, landscapes, genre domestic scenes, and multi-figure thematic pictures.
The time of his becoming an artist coincided with the revolution in the country, so most of his paintings were devoted to communist ideals, as well as the people’s courage and heroism. For example, in 1939 Sokolov-Skalya created his most famous work — “Storming the Winter Palace” for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition Main Pavilion. He depicted an armed crowd at the arch of the General Staff Building, as well as the Bolsheviks’ leader with a fluttering red flag in his hands. A year later, the artist repeated this work for the Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army.
Besides, Pavel Sokolov-Skalya often referred to historical subjects. The painting “Boyar Maidens” from the Shebekino Museum collection belongs to such works. It was a sketch for a larger painting featuring Ivan the Terrible.
In the sketch, the artist depicted two women in traditional Russian costumes: highly decorated sarafans, dresses, and kokoshniks. The boyar girl on the right, as if scared of something, clings to her mother. Below the hemline are her red and gold knee-high boots — the traditional footwear, usually worn by the wealthy. These boots were sewn from Morocco leather or velvet, less often they were made from brocade. Girls from boyar families were given such knee-high boots before they got married.
The boyar’s wife in the center of the canvas is numb with fear. Sokolov-Skalya emphasized her image with the color techniques: the purple shawl on the woman’s head is the brightest spot on the painting, this color is repeated nowhere else. The boyar wife’s golden skirt shines brightly in the sun and creates a contrast to the woman’s pale face.
A man in a fur coat and fur hat is featured behind the girls; he grabs his hat, preparing to take it off and to bow. Though it is only a sketch, Sokolov-Skalya rendered the faces and figures of the three people, their poses and gestures, paying special attention to the emotions and color palette of the picture.
Today the artist’s works are housed in the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in the Shebekino History and Art Museum and other collections of the country.
The time of his becoming an artist coincided with the revolution in the country, so most of his paintings were devoted to communist ideals, as well as the people’s courage and heroism. For example, in 1939 Sokolov-Skalya created his most famous work — “Storming the Winter Palace” for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition Main Pavilion. He depicted an armed crowd at the arch of the General Staff Building, as well as the Bolsheviks’ leader with a fluttering red flag in his hands. A year later, the artist repeated this work for the Central Academic Theatre of the Russian Army.
Besides, Pavel Sokolov-Skalya often referred to historical subjects. The painting “Boyar Maidens” from the Shebekino Museum collection belongs to such works. It was a sketch for a larger painting featuring Ivan the Terrible.
In the sketch, the artist depicted two women in traditional Russian costumes: highly decorated sarafans, dresses, and kokoshniks. The boyar girl on the right, as if scared of something, clings to her mother. Below the hemline are her red and gold knee-high boots — the traditional footwear, usually worn by the wealthy. These boots were sewn from Morocco leather or velvet, less often they were made from brocade. Girls from boyar families were given such knee-high boots before they got married.
The boyar’s wife in the center of the canvas is numb with fear. Sokolov-Skalya emphasized her image with the color techniques: the purple shawl on the woman’s head is the brightest spot on the painting, this color is repeated nowhere else. The boyar wife’s golden skirt shines brightly in the sun and creates a contrast to the woman’s pale face.
A man in a fur coat and fur hat is featured behind the girls; he grabs his hat, preparing to take it off and to bow. Though it is only a sketch, Sokolov-Skalya rendered the faces and figures of the three people, their poses and gestures, paying special attention to the emotions and color palette of the picture.
Today the artist’s works are housed in the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Volgograd Museum of Fine Arts, as well as in the Shebekino History and Art Museum and other collections of the country.
