Nikolai Sysoev began his artistic career by drawing. He devoted a lot of time to this craft while at the institute, studying in the evenings with a group of like-minded artists and drawing sketches on trips. Sysoev’s drawings are interesting in that, despite appearing to be a preparatory stage or a sketch, they are actually a completely finished work.
The black and white drawing M.M. Sysoev was drawn in 1938 in the artist’s native village of Slanskoye. Sysoev graduated from art school in the spring of 1938. His graduate assignment was the picture In Stages. Four months later, without taking any entrance exams, he enrolled in the Moscow State Academy Art Institute (now named after Vasily Surikov). He spent the summer of 1938 near his hometown and painted portraits of his fellow villagers, who later helped him work on his monumental painting Collectivization.
The drawing depicts a person with the same surname as the artist. Sysoev is the most common surname in the village of Slanskoye. It is not known whether this man was a relative of the artist or not. The museum collection has several drawings depicting peasants from the village of Slanskoye. In this picture, just like, for example, in the black and white drawing Sukhoverkhov, the main focus is on the men’s faces. Using multidirectional lines and shading, the artist created dimensions by skilfully aligning light and shadow. But the most striking part of the drawing is the subject’s mood. Sysoev never took a formal approach to the man being portrayed. The artist’s gaze penetrated the soul and brought out those elusive features that may not always be immediately noticed.
In addition to diligently studying drawing at the institute, Sysoev continued practicing at the portrait workshop of Igor Grabar and Nikolai Ulyanov in Samarkand, where the institute was evacuated to during the war. Sysoev received numerous valuable instructions and tutorials from them over a short period. This practice afforded him the opportunity to hone the skills he had acquired earlier. This is where he met the artist Nina Skorubskaya, who would later become his wife.
The black and white drawing M.M. Sysoev was drawn in 1938 in the artist’s native village of Slanskoye. Sysoev graduated from art school in the spring of 1938. His graduate assignment was the picture In Stages. Four months later, without taking any entrance exams, he enrolled in the Moscow State Academy Art Institute (now named after Vasily Surikov). He spent the summer of 1938 near his hometown and painted portraits of his fellow villagers, who later helped him work on his monumental painting Collectivization.
The drawing depicts a person with the same surname as the artist. Sysoev is the most common surname in the village of Slanskoye. It is not known whether this man was a relative of the artist or not. The museum collection has several drawings depicting peasants from the village of Slanskoye. In this picture, just like, for example, in the black and white drawing Sukhoverkhov, the main focus is on the men’s faces. Using multidirectional lines and shading, the artist created dimensions by skilfully aligning light and shadow. But the most striking part of the drawing is the subject’s mood. Sysoev never took a formal approach to the man being portrayed. The artist’s gaze penetrated the soul and brought out those elusive features that may not always be immediately noticed.
In addition to diligently studying drawing at the institute, Sysoev continued practicing at the portrait workshop of Igor Grabar and Nikolai Ulyanov in Samarkand, where the institute was evacuated to during the war. Sysoev received numerous valuable instructions and tutorials from them over a short period. This practice afforded him the opportunity to hone the skills he had acquired earlier. This is where he met the artist Nina Skorubskaya, who would later become his wife.
