Painter Andrei Popov was one of the first artists to start painting scenes from the lives of common people. He was educated at the Academy of Arts joining in at the young age of 14. He was an active participant in Academy’s exhibitions. For his successful studies, he received the Big Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts, the award conferred on its best students. A successful graduate of the Academy of Arts, he showed great promise, but could not work much due to his ill health and subsequently gave up painting.
The exhibition features a small-sized painting by Andrei Popov entitled Morning in the Kitchen (Kitchen Maid). Genre painters depicted people’s day-to-day and private lives realistically and truthfully. Unlike many of his contemporaries, the artist did not resort to satire in his work. He pictured life around him without emphasizing its rough and evil sides. To the contrary, he admired in his works the little joys of by small people, whose daily life was full of deprivation and hard work.
The artist sought to picture life in a simple and sincere way; his contemporaries noted that his paintings showed his ‘deep knowledge of everyday life’. His work was in line with literary genres popular in the 60s of the 19th century – genre essay and feuilleton.
The painting Morning in the Kitchen clearly demonstrates the narrative focus characteristic of the artist. A slightly excessive elaboration of minor details does not interfere with the wholesome perception of the painting. The artist immerses a viewer in the atmosphere of the young woman’s life, he carefully and skillfully pictures the details including her modest clothes. These details prompt us that the master she works for is not rich and the range of her responsibilities is very wide.
The Andrei Popov’s academic education was reflected in the color harmony and compositional solution of the painting. The figure of the young woman is inscribed in a compositional triangle highlighted by the table traverse, the shadow cast by the pipe and other details. Andrei Popov’s painting Morning in the Kitchen demonstrates that the artist does not raise acute social issues in his paintings. He focuses on a small man and portrays him with great warmth and affection.
The exhibition features a small-sized painting by Andrei Popov entitled Morning in the Kitchen (Kitchen Maid). Genre painters depicted people’s day-to-day and private lives realistically and truthfully. Unlike many of his contemporaries, the artist did not resort to satire in his work. He pictured life around him without emphasizing its rough and evil sides. To the contrary, he admired in his works the little joys of by small people, whose daily life was full of deprivation and hard work.
The artist sought to picture life in a simple and sincere way; his contemporaries noted that his paintings showed his ‘deep knowledge of everyday life’. His work was in line with literary genres popular in the 60s of the 19th century – genre essay and feuilleton.
The painting Morning in the Kitchen clearly demonstrates the narrative focus characteristic of the artist. A slightly excessive elaboration of minor details does not interfere with the wholesome perception of the painting. The artist immerses a viewer in the atmosphere of the young woman’s life, he carefully and skillfully pictures the details including her modest clothes. These details prompt us that the master she works for is not rich and the range of her responsibilities is very wide.
The Andrei Popov’s academic education was reflected in the color harmony and compositional solution of the painting. The figure of the young woman is inscribed in a compositional triangle highlighted by the table traverse, the shadow cast by the pipe and other details. Andrei Popov’s painting Morning in the Kitchen demonstrates that the artist does not raise acute social issues in his paintings. He focuses on a small man and portrays him with great warmth and affection.
