Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev was a talented artist who engaged in various forms of art: he was a painter, set designer, decorator, graphic artist and illustrator. During the difficult and dramatic revolutionary years, he sought and found new directions for his art.
Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev was born on December 14, 1880 in a peasant Old Believer family. He studied at the Moscow Stroganov College of Industrial and Applied Arts, then continued his studies at the Konstantin Savitsky Art School in Penza. In 1901, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Drawing School of Princess Maria Tenisheva to learn under the tutorship of Ilya Repin and D. Shcherbinsky.
Mikhail Nikolaevich painted landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, including “The Doll”, “Portrait of a Woman in a Green Dress”, “Altai Landscape”, “River Bank near Moscow”, “Path”, “A Street in Bruges”, and “High Society in the Rococo Style in the Alley”.
The artist traveled a lot. He lived in Germany, France and Belgium. He created a considerable number of watercolor studies, mostly for landscapes. Yakovlev admired the beauty of meandering rivers flowing through the expanses of his native land.
One of his riverscapes “Boats on the Moscow River” is housed in the collection of the National Art Museum of the Sakha Republic. The canvas, painted in 1914, was noticeably inspired by the impressionist practices. The painter uses a special technique of quickly applied brush strokes, which seem chaotic up close, but at a distance the viewer sees a relaxed play of colors and an intricate play of light. The artist uses a traditional method of Impressionism: the pier and the boat cut off by the edge of the canvas invite the viewer into the landscape space. Thus, on a sultry summer day, we walk along the boats on the thin pier and listen to the water splashing.
How skillfully the painter conveyed the rippling water surface! It reflects both warm golden and cold blue tones. The artist imbued the river landscape with the vibrancy of pure colors and the energy, typical of Impressionism. His main focus is the river expanse. He strives to represent the character of the river — it is not strict, as in the epic landscapes of Kuindzhi and Clodt, but rather lively and fast. The river, boats, and pier seem to be transformed by the artist’s brush into a musical spectacle that gives rise to a charming melody imbued with the dazzling joy of being.
Mikhail Nikolaevich Yakovlev was born on December 14, 1880 in a peasant Old Believer family. He studied at the Moscow Stroganov College of Industrial and Applied Arts, then continued his studies at the Konstantin Savitsky Art School in Penza. In 1901, he moved to St. Petersburg and entered the Drawing School of Princess Maria Tenisheva to learn under the tutorship of Ilya Repin and D. Shcherbinsky.
Mikhail Nikolaevich painted landscapes, still lifes, and portraits, including “The Doll”, “Portrait of a Woman in a Green Dress”, “Altai Landscape”, “River Bank near Moscow”, “Path”, “A Street in Bruges”, and “High Society in the Rococo Style in the Alley”.
The artist traveled a lot. He lived in Germany, France and Belgium. He created a considerable number of watercolor studies, mostly for landscapes. Yakovlev admired the beauty of meandering rivers flowing through the expanses of his native land.
One of his riverscapes “Boats on the Moscow River” is housed in the collection of the National Art Museum of the Sakha Republic. The canvas, painted in 1914, was noticeably inspired by the impressionist practices. The painter uses a special technique of quickly applied brush strokes, which seem chaotic up close, but at a distance the viewer sees a relaxed play of colors and an intricate play of light. The artist uses a traditional method of Impressionism: the pier and the boat cut off by the edge of the canvas invite the viewer into the landscape space. Thus, on a sultry summer day, we walk along the boats on the thin pier and listen to the water splashing.
How skillfully the painter conveyed the rippling water surface! It reflects both warm golden and cold blue tones. The artist imbued the river landscape with the vibrancy of pure colors and the energy, typical of Impressionism. His main focus is the river expanse. He strives to represent the character of the river — it is not strict, as in the epic landscapes of Kuindzhi and Clodt, but rather lively and fast. The river, boats, and pier seem to be transformed by the artist’s brush into a musical spectacle that gives rise to a charming melody imbued with the dazzling joy of being.
