The incomparable master of the epic landscape, who praised the mighty beauty of Russian fields and forests, was Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin. His work covers almost the entire second half of the 19th century and in many respects determines the development of native landscape painting.
Shishkin saw the task of his art in the subtlest transfer of the comprehensive nature’s life. The artist’s favorite time was summer with its lush and joyful flowering of all his life forces, which gave the master the opportunity to show the inexhaustible wealth and beauty of his native country with particular integrity.
The painting ‘Forest’ was created in the early 1880s, when Shishkin’s best works fully embodied many years of observation of the forests’ life, the search for a perfect plastic form. It is known that during this period of creativity Shishkin was interested in the problems of the open air. In the work ‘Forest’, the painter reflects sunlight, brightly illuminating the clearing and trees in the depths of the picture, with amazing authenticity. Soft black and white contrasts transmitted by subtle gradations of color do not destroy the contours of trees and allow the viewer to maintain the clarity of the picture and careful study of details. Shishkin finds his tonal sound for almost every small brushstroke, masterfully avoiding excessive coloristic monotony when writing green pine branches.
One of the critics of that time very accurately expressed the impression of Shishkin’s landscapes: “How much truth and subtle understanding in his images of the forest! You need to peer at his works for a long time to feel, as if the smell of the forest begins to fog up your head and the living gradually, truly living individual life of pines, spruce, rye - under the spreading tops of few trees - covers you with its carefully studied truth”.
Shishkijn, as an attentive researcher of nature, along with the monumental landscapes of forests and fields, was able to depict such small forms as flowering grass, ferns, and quiet backwaters. In the small work “Dam”, created in 1895, one can feel the sensitive and touching attitude of the artist to a modest corner of nature. The richness of the color palette, which the painter uses, admires; and the strokes that convey the movement of water on its surface not only remind of the transience of life, but also that Shishkin was a graphic artist of exceptional talent.
Shishkin saw the task of his art in the subtlest transfer of the comprehensive nature’s life. The artist’s favorite time was summer with its lush and joyful flowering of all his life forces, which gave the master the opportunity to show the inexhaustible wealth and beauty of his native country with particular integrity.
The painting ‘Forest’ was created in the early 1880s, when Shishkin’s best works fully embodied many years of observation of the forests’ life, the search for a perfect plastic form. It is known that during this period of creativity Shishkin was interested in the problems of the open air. In the work ‘Forest’, the painter reflects sunlight, brightly illuminating the clearing and trees in the depths of the picture, with amazing authenticity. Soft black and white contrasts transmitted by subtle gradations of color do not destroy the contours of trees and allow the viewer to maintain the clarity of the picture and careful study of details. Shishkin finds his tonal sound for almost every small brushstroke, masterfully avoiding excessive coloristic monotony when writing green pine branches.
One of the critics of that time very accurately expressed the impression of Shishkin’s landscapes: “How much truth and subtle understanding in his images of the forest! You need to peer at his works for a long time to feel, as if the smell of the forest begins to fog up your head and the living gradually, truly living individual life of pines, spruce, rye - under the spreading tops of few trees - covers you with its carefully studied truth”.
Shishkijn, as an attentive researcher of nature, along with the monumental landscapes of forests and fields, was able to depict such small forms as flowering grass, ferns, and quiet backwaters. In the small work “Dam”, created in 1895, one can feel the sensitive and touching attitude of the artist to a modest corner of nature. The richness of the color palette, which the painter uses, admires; and the strokes that convey the movement of water on its surface not only remind of the transience of life, but also that Shishkin was a graphic artist of exceptional talent.
