The works of different genres by artist Afanasy Osipov are featured in the funds of the National Art Museum of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Osipov is a painter, academician of the Russian Academy of Arts, People’s Artist of the USSR, winner of the Ilya Repin State Prize of the Russian Federation. He was born on February 28, 1928 in Gorny Ulus in Yakutia. After finishing school and technical school, Osipov went to Moscow where he entered the Moscow secondary art school at the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov, and then entered the institute itself. The artist participated in many all-union and foreign exhibitions.
A contemporary artist and poet Natalia Kharlampieva spoke about the artist: “I was surprised and admired not only this. In his perception of the world, everything was harmonious, and everything had its place, such as good, evil, envy, gratitude, and the ability to be the first or trudge at the end. He took life philosophically both without judging anyone and without offending anyone. In the valley of his life, love and talent bloomed. Life boomed in all its splendor, and the peaks of the mountains sparkled, thus reminding of honor and dignity.”
In the mid-sixties, Afanasy Osipov turned to a new topic, i.e. sports. There were paintings on which the painter depicted athletes, as well as scenes from competitions and training. The monumental solemnity of the compositions, clear rhythm, and decorative colors define the style of Osipov’s paintings dedicated to sports. One of their first paintings of this period was the painting ‘Yakut Wrestlers’. On it, the painter depicted famous Yakut wrestlers at that time, namely: Vasily Rumyantsev, Nikolay Neustroev, Petr Popov, Alkiviad Ivanov, Alexey Ermolaev, and Petr Alekseev. The color accent of the painting is a carpet with Yakut ornaments.
In 1968, the painting was shown at the All-Union Art Exhibition ‘Physical Culture and Sports in the Visual Arts’ in Moscow. The day before, in 1967, three athletes from Yakutia took part in the 21st Olympic Games in Montreal. Pavel Pinigin became the champion of the Games, and Roman Dmitriev and Alexander Ivanov became silver medalists.
A contemporary artist and poet Natalia Kharlampieva spoke about the artist: “I was surprised and admired not only this. In his perception of the world, everything was harmonious, and everything had its place, such as good, evil, envy, gratitude, and the ability to be the first or trudge at the end. He took life philosophically both without judging anyone and without offending anyone. In the valley of his life, love and talent bloomed. Life boomed in all its splendor, and the peaks of the mountains sparkled, thus reminding of honor and dignity.”
In the mid-sixties, Afanasy Osipov turned to a new topic, i.e. sports. There were paintings on which the painter depicted athletes, as well as scenes from competitions and training. The monumental solemnity of the compositions, clear rhythm, and decorative colors define the style of Osipov’s paintings dedicated to sports. One of their first paintings of this period was the painting ‘Yakut Wrestlers’. On it, the painter depicted famous Yakut wrestlers at that time, namely: Vasily Rumyantsev, Nikolay Neustroev, Petr Popov, Alkiviad Ivanov, Alexey Ermolaev, and Petr Alekseev. The color accent of the painting is a carpet with Yakut ornaments.
In 1968, the painting was shown at the All-Union Art Exhibition ‘Physical Culture and Sports in the Visual Arts’ in Moscow. The day before, in 1967, three athletes from Yakutia took part in the 21st Olympic Games in Montreal. Pavel Pinigin became the champion of the Games, and Roman Dmitriev and Alexander Ivanov became silver medalists.
