Boris Belousov is a significant figure in Chuvash art. He was born in the village of Chuvarley, Alatyrsky district, in 1924. His best paintings depict Cheboksary and the Volga.
Ever since childhood, he was drawn to art, but only at the age of 23, after going through the difficult experience of the Great Patriotic War, did he enter the Cheboksary Art School. Belousov studied under well-known artists: Nikita Kuzmich Sverchkov, Vasily Stepanovich Gurin, and Rozalia Mikhailovna Yermolaeva. Even back then, he impressed his mentors and peers with his subtle understanding of color and diligence. After successfully graduating from the art school, Boris Belousov applied to the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture twice but was rejected.
After he returned to Cheboksary, Belousov dedicated his life to painting and started working in the workshops of the Art Foundation. In the second half of the 1960s, his career enjoyed a heyday. He was determined not to be influenced by new artistic trends, including the “austere style”, and continued working on studies for large panoramic paintings en plein air.
The painting “Drift Ice on the Volga” was created in 1969. Back then, the historical center of Cheboksary still had some remnants of the patriarchal times. Belousov meticulously depicted the picturesque smooth surface of the overflowing river, reaching ancient streets, izbas, and merchant buildings. The well-arranged composition of the painting provides a monumental view of a large space — from the near shore with ice floes and people standing by the boat to the cargo terminal, the pier and beyond, right to the cathedrals and bell towers on the mountain, illuminated by the pink light. In this painting, the artist seamlessly combined the traditions of realism landscape painting, Russian plein air painting, and Russian impressionism.
This canvas is even more valuable today because it gives an idea of how Cheboksary looked before the Cheboksary Dam was built. This used to be the place where the Cheboksarka River flowed into the Volga. The two overflowed every year, flooding the dwellings of the fishing and gypsy villages — those houses with drying laundry, hanging picturesquely, went underwater up to the very roofs. The painting shows the buildings on the territory of the monastery: two one-story buildings that belong to the Church of the Tolga Icon, the pink building with a white stripe — the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the one with a dome — the gate church of Theodore Stratelates, and the yellow building a little to the left is the Solovtsov’s house, an 18th-century landmark, which currently houses the Cheboksary Art School.
Ever since childhood, he was drawn to art, but only at the age of 23, after going through the difficult experience of the Great Patriotic War, did he enter the Cheboksary Art School. Belousov studied under well-known artists: Nikita Kuzmich Sverchkov, Vasily Stepanovich Gurin, and Rozalia Mikhailovna Yermolaeva. Even back then, he impressed his mentors and peers with his subtle understanding of color and diligence. After successfully graduating from the art school, Boris Belousov applied to the Repin Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture twice but was rejected.
After he returned to Cheboksary, Belousov dedicated his life to painting and started working in the workshops of the Art Foundation. In the second half of the 1960s, his career enjoyed a heyday. He was determined not to be influenced by new artistic trends, including the “austere style”, and continued working on studies for large panoramic paintings en plein air.
The painting “Drift Ice on the Volga” was created in 1969. Back then, the historical center of Cheboksary still had some remnants of the patriarchal times. Belousov meticulously depicted the picturesque smooth surface of the overflowing river, reaching ancient streets, izbas, and merchant buildings. The well-arranged composition of the painting provides a monumental view of a large space — from the near shore with ice floes and people standing by the boat to the cargo terminal, the pier and beyond, right to the cathedrals and bell towers on the mountain, illuminated by the pink light. In this painting, the artist seamlessly combined the traditions of realism landscape painting, Russian plein air painting, and Russian impressionism.
This canvas is even more valuable today because it gives an idea of how Cheboksary looked before the Cheboksary Dam was built. This used to be the place where the Cheboksarka River flowed into the Volga. The two overflowed every year, flooding the dwellings of the fishing and gypsy villages — those houses with drying laundry, hanging picturesquely, went underwater up to the very roofs. The painting shows the buildings on the territory of the monastery: two one-story buildings that belong to the Church of the Tolga Icon, the pink building with a white stripe — the Holy Trinity Cathedral, the one with a dome — the gate church of Theodore Stratelates, and the yellow building a little to the left is the Solovtsov’s house, an 18th-century landmark, which currently houses the Cheboksary Art School.
