Lukian Popov was born in 1873 into a poor plowman family in a village near Orenburg. At the age of twelve, he had to get a job at a stationery shop. However, according to the painter’s recollections, it was then that for the first time he “felt the first unconscious thirst for painting” and began to take drawing lessons from the local self-taught artist Yerofei Mekhed. Popov doubted whether he needed to seriously study painting.
Threesome (Dispute)
Creation period
1900’s
Dimensions
62,5x41 cm
Technique
Canvas, oil
Collection
Exhibition
0
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Lukian Popov
Threesome (Dispute)
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In his autobiography, he wrote:
“This Hamletian “to be or not to be” greatly excited my nerves… I felt that, situated as I was, it would be at least ridiculous for me to act out this nobly reflecting Danish prince’.
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His peasant origin and years of poverty probably explained the attention of Popov the artist towards people and social problems. In the 1900’s, while still studying at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in the class of genre painting master Vladimir Makovsky, he completed the canvas Threesome (Dispute).
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Here, Lukian Popov portrayed a lively discussion: a young man in an elegant suit is arguing with a guy in simple casual clothes, most likely a simple-born democrat.
Popov created this picture on the threshold of the Russian Revolution of 1905, when social conflicts were brewing in the Russian society. Art historians believe that the artist continued to depict social tension in his paintings during the reactionary times after the revolution. For example, the painting Meadows Flooded (1908) is dedicated to the plight of the common folks whose life depends on many factors. And in the painting In Red Light (1910’s), Popov depicted the confusion of the Russian intelligentsia who see no way out of the social crisis.
Popov created this picture on the threshold of the Russian Revolution of 1905, when social conflicts were brewing in the Russian society. Art historians believe that the artist continued to depict social tension in his paintings during the reactionary times after the revolution. For example, the painting Meadows Flooded (1908) is dedicated to the plight of the common folks whose life depends on many factors. And in the painting In Red Light (1910’s), Popov depicted the confusion of the Russian intelligentsia who see no way out of the social crisis.
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1. Meadows Flooded, 1908. 2. Under the Red Light, 1910’s
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This being said, Popov cannot be called a politicized artist: over the years, he painted portraits of the nobility on a by-order basis and even painted a portrait of Nicholas II on the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty. Rather, he took the position of an everyday-life portrayer who depicted contemporary issues in his canvases. Many of his genre paintings are completely devoid of conflict: for example, in the Spiritual Landscape he portrayed nuns against the background of a village church, and in his later work, Deep Sleep, he portrayed peasants sleeping in a field.
Popov’s realistic art was appreciated by his contemporaries. In 1903, he became a full-fledged member of the Association of Itinerants, in 1909 he was admitted to the Kuindzhi Art Society, and in 1912 the Academy of Arts awarded him the title of Academician of painting.
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Spiritual Landscape, 1900’s. Source: wikipedia.org
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Orenburg Regional Museum of Fine Arts
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Threesome (Dispute)
Creation period
1900’s
Dimensions
62,5x41 cm
Technique
Canvas, oil
Collection
Exhibition
0
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