Aristarkh Vasilievich Lentulov was born near Penza. He began to study art at the Penza Art School, and then continued in Kiev. In 1905, he returned to Penza to prepare for admission to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. This early period of the artist’s work is presented in the Penza Picture Gallery with an expressive, subtle and somewhat scenic “Portrait of N. A. Soloviev “. 

The artist portrayed his friend, a Penza doctor, in the open air during a country walk. The composition of the portrait is simple and unstarched: a young elegant man in a light summer suit and white hat is depicted against the background of an audience walking in a grove. 

The canvas, which is highly elongated horizontally, takes the form of a kind of panel. It makes an attempt to convey complex transitional color shades of the day, dissolved in the light of form, by means of painting. 

Also, on the portrait of N.A. Soloviev observes the echo of the art group “Blue Rose” paintings, with its decorativeness, plane, fluidity, changeability and constant movement. The portrait was painted in 1907 even before the creation of the “Jack of Diamonds” and of Aristarkh Lentulov’s experiments with cubic futurism. 

The artist boldly works with color; the shadows are painted in lilac, blue and ingigo. This courage on the verge of insolence a year ago costed him admission to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. At the college boards, Lentulov painted a green shadow on the nose of the model. To the teacher’s question, where did he see her, he answered that if the professor does not see the green color, then he is sincerely sorry. Of course, the young Aristarkh did not enter the Academy of Arts, but received recognition from contemporaries and descendants. As Alexandre Benois wrote, “his paintings sing and amuse the soul… His clear and joyful talent must be appreciated and cherished”.