The Nizhny Tagil Museum of Fine Arts houses the still life “Shells and Apples” by Yevgeny Lanceray.
Yevgeny Yevgenyevich Lanceray was born in Pavlovsk in 1875. He came from the artistic dynasty of the Lanceray-Benois. The intellectual and creative atmosphere in their house shaped the artistic views and preferences of the talented young boy. He was also influenced by the circle of his uncle, the artist and art critic Alexander Nikolayevich Benois, and later the most prominent representatives of the Mir iskusstva (World of Art) group, including Walter Nouvel, Léon Bakst, and Konstantin Somov.
In 1892, the seventeen-year-old Lanceray dropped out of high school and entered the School of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts. Four years later, the artist continued his studies in Paris. In 1903, he became closely associated with the Mir iskusstva group. Yevgeny Lanceray was an incredibly versatile artist: he created satirical drawings, was an artist at the lapidary works in Peterhof and Yekaterinburg, worked at the Imperial Glass and Porcelain Factories, and painted murals. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, he worked as a scenic designer, draftsman, and painter. His versatile activities earned him recognition. In 1912, Lanceray was awarded the title of an academician of painting, and in 1916, he was elected a full member of the Academy of Arts.
Before the Russian Revolution of 1917, Lanceray and his family spent over a year in the small estate of Ust-Krestishche, Kursk Governorate. The artist’s voluntary seclusion was largely determined by his discontent with the situation in the Russian Empire: the war, the questionable decisions of the government, and the looming crisis. In 1917, the artist continued to work hard while living in the countryside.
Among many of the artist’s works of that time, the still life “Shells and Apples” stands out as a painting expressing his joyful hopes for a harmonious future. Painted during a tumultuous period in Russian history, this is one of the artist’s best works. A master of historical painting, Yevgeny Lanceray rarely turned to the genre of still life. “Still Life. Shells and Apples” was one of his first works in this genre. It is clearly inspired by the Mir iskusstva group. Each object is valuable and worthy of admiration — this may seem like escapism, but in fact, it manifests the philosophical attitude toward the beauty and harmony of the world.
