Rural landscapes have become traditional for Russian painting since the mid-19th century. Many artists depicted rural views on their canvases: Alexey Venetsianov, who created a whole school for gifted children in his estate, where he taught them to paint from nature, Vasily Polenov, Alexei Savrasov, Arkhip Kuindzhi, and many others. Nowadays, their paintings depicting scenes of village life and nature can be seen in almost all Russian museums.
Soviet-era villages were not particularly romantic, but many artists put their own feelings about the places depicted and even their own childhood memories into rural landscapes. Therefore, such paintings often carried peace and a sense of lightness.
The Volzhsk Art Gallery houses “Ukrainian Landscape” by Alexander Kosolapov. In the foreground, the artist depicted a pond and a small piece of land. The water reflects houses and trees on the other shore. It is clean and transparent and is very close to the houses — perhaps, the artist depicted a river overflow in early spring.
The predominance of green and dark blue hues in the color palette, as well as the trees in the background bending under gusts of wind, suggest impending bad weather. Large, sprawling strokes enhance the sense of anxiety, active movement. But at the same time, Kosolapov managed to preserve the cheerful mood of the painting: the walls of houses are warmly illuminated by the sun, and red roofs contrast with the bright summer greenery of trees.
Alexander Kosolapov was born in 1929 in Moscow. He graduated from the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute and later from the studio school of the Gorky Moscow Academic Art Theater.
Kosolapov worked in the Stanislavsky and Mayakovsky theaters, and in 1957, he became an illustrator at the publishing houses Soviet Writer, Detgiz, Molodaya Gvardiya and others. He participated in many exhibitions of paintings and graphics. In 2001, Kosolapov joined the painting department of the Moscow Union of Artists.
Still lifes and landscapes constitute a large part of Kosolapov’s artwork. His paintings are housed by many museums of the Russian Federation and can be found in private collections in the CIS countries and abroad.
Soviet-era villages were not particularly romantic, but many artists put their own feelings about the places depicted and even their own childhood memories into rural landscapes. Therefore, such paintings often carried peace and a sense of lightness.
The Volzhsk Art Gallery houses “Ukrainian Landscape” by Alexander Kosolapov. In the foreground, the artist depicted a pond and a small piece of land. The water reflects houses and trees on the other shore. It is clean and transparent and is very close to the houses — perhaps, the artist depicted a river overflow in early spring.
The predominance of green and dark blue hues in the color palette, as well as the trees in the background bending under gusts of wind, suggest impending bad weather. Large, sprawling strokes enhance the sense of anxiety, active movement. But at the same time, Kosolapov managed to preserve the cheerful mood of the painting: the walls of houses are warmly illuminated by the sun, and red roofs contrast with the bright summer greenery of trees.
Alexander Kosolapov was born in 1929 in Moscow. He graduated from the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute and later from the studio school of the Gorky Moscow Academic Art Theater.
Kosolapov worked in the Stanislavsky and Mayakovsky theaters, and in 1957, he became an illustrator at the publishing houses Soviet Writer, Detgiz, Molodaya Gvardiya and others. He participated in many exhibitions of paintings and graphics. In 2001, Kosolapov joined the painting department of the Moscow Union of Artists.
Still lifes and landscapes constitute a large part of Kosolapov’s artwork. His paintings are housed by many museums of the Russian Federation and can be found in private collections in the CIS countries and abroad.
