One of the applied types of easel painting is theatrical and decorative painting - sketches of costumes of characters and mise-en-scène.
Monumental painting - painting of buildings
Monumental painting cannot exist separately from the place where it is performed. This type of painting was very popular in the 16th-19th centuries, when majestic temples were built, and best artists painted their vaults. The most common type is fresco, painting with water-based paints on wet plaster.Painting on dry plaster - secco - was also common, but such works have survived less well to this day. The most famous monumental painting is the large-scale painting of the Sistine Chapel, in which Michelangelo took part. According to critics, the chapel's frescoes can be equated to the Eighth Wonder of the World.
The most ancient works of monumental painting are rock paintings of the first people.
Decorative painting - applied art
Decorative painting is closely related to decorative and applied arts. It plays rather a supporting role in decorating various objects. Decorative painting is a variety of patterns and ornaments that decorate household items, furniture, and architecture. The authors of this type of painting may be unknown - simple paintings of peasant houses and furniture also belong to this type.Miniature painting - cute little things
Initially, miniature painting represented book designs. Antique books were made with great care and were very expensive. To decorate them, special craftsmen were hired, who beautifully designed the title cards, covers, and headbands between chapters. Such publications were real works of art. There were several schools that adhered to strict canons of miniature painting.Later, miniatures began to be called any small-scale paintings. They were used as souvenirs and memorable gifts. Despite its small size, this type of painting required great precision and skill. The most popular materials for souvenir miniatures were bone, stone and metal plates.
Tip 2: What types of easels are there: basic and popular
Drawing is one of the most interesting areas in creativity. But in order to paint a picture, you need to choose the right brushes and paints, but also an easel.
For some people, creativity, namely drawing, is an integral part of life in the form of a hobby or professional activities. Artists and hobbyists attach special importance to the materials and devices with which they work. Since easels are an integral part of the creative process, there is a need to consider these auxiliary items in more detail.
So, at the moment there are three main types: tripod easels, vertical panel easels (stationary), and sketchbooks. Each type of easel has characteristic features. For example, tripods are very easy to assemble and use. Such an easel can always be disassembled, and when folded, this device takes up very little space.
At the same time, vertical panel easels are very convenient, having the functions of adjusting the height and angle of inclination, but they take up a lot of space due to their stationary nature. The principle of paper fastening or stretched canvas in these types of easels is practically unchanged. At the bottom there is a small panel for storing consumables: pencils, paints, brushes and more.
Sketchbooks can be used outdoors for drawings from nature. At the same time, when assembled, this device turns into a small suitcase, with which you can make long journeys to the place where the canvas is painted.
Most popular easels
Tripod easels are the most popular. This is due to their convenience and compactness. In addition, you can make such an easel yourself if you do not want to spend money on buying it.
For work in the studio or at home, easels-tables, that is, easels with a vertical panel, are often used. This type is convenient when working in one place, since its transportation is hampered by the inability to disassemble the object into smaller parts and then reassemble it. Moreover, each type of easel is intended for a specific intended use, but the tripod can rightfully be considered the most universal, since it can be used both for constant work in the studio and for working from nature in nature, of course, if it is not too large.
Sources:
- Classification of easels
The art of decorating surfaces with paints and a brush is called artistic painting. The very concept of painting is seriously different from painting, since it is part of the space conceived by the artist.
Artistic painting was initially applied to any affordable and easily obtained materials: leather, wood, natural fabrics, clay, etc. Skills were passed on from generation to generation by masters, and specific artistic techniques, which helped products. Over time, the most meaningful and expressive application of the ornament was chosen. In architecture, ceilings, vaults, walls, beams were decorated with painting, and in everyday life, decor was applied to household items.
The systematization of various types of painting was first started back in 1876 by Professor A.A. Isaev in his two-volume book entitled “Processes of the Moscow Province”. Artistic painting enterprises are currently developing their business to meet the demand in the markets of Russia and abroad.
Khokhloma painting
In the rich floral ornament The skill of fine brushwork that came from the monasteries was used. From there the secret was derived of how to paint dishes gold without using gold. Painting has not changed to this day and the process has been the same since ancient times to the present day. The tableware blank is turned from wood on a lathe, then primed with a specially prepared clay solution or artificial primers are used. The dishes are coated with paint based on tin or silver, less often - aluminum. They are painted according to the intended motif and dried in an oven, then varnished and hot dried again.
Since the product undergoes intensive heat treatment several times, the paints were chosen from those whose brightness was not affected by high temperatures. It's black, gold and cinnabar.
Gzhel porcelain
Gzhel is unique, since each artist, using classical and familiar motifs, creates the technique individually. The main role belongs to the experience of the master and the movement of his brush. At the same time, on the whiteness, from one stroke, harmonious transitions from dark blue to soft blue appear. Only one paint is used, cobalt, and the drawing is done very quickly, the first time.
Matryoshka
These figurines of different sizes, nested inside one another, originate from Japan. These dolls gained great popularity in 1900, after an exhibition in Paris. The main production took place in the village of Polkhovsky Maidan, which was famous for both painting and turners - after all, the shape of the nesting doll still had to be carved.
Polkhovskaya has distinctive features by which she can be recognized among others. She has a face painted in small strokes, and on her forehead there is a spruce rose flower. The color of the scarf contrasts with the color of the sundress, and from the back the matryoshka doll is 2/3 scarlet or green. The apron is oval and runs from the neck to the ground.
The most difficult to process, straw-encrusted matryoshka doll from Vyatka.
Almost every girl, if she free time not overloaded with studies or dating, has one or more hobbies. Some of them captivate her with their originality for a short time, others are companions for life.
Instructions
The most common type of women's hobby can be called all types of needlework: crocheting, macrame, sewing, embroidery. This hobby does not arise out of nowhere; it traditionally comes from mothers and grandmothers who engage in them in the presence of their daughters and granddaughters. The little girl becomes interested, and she asks adults to show her loops, knots, stitching or chain stitch. At first it doesn’t work out, and she may even give up her new hobby for a while, but after a few years nature will take its course, and now the teenage girl will sew her first jeans or knit a beret.
Not so time-consuming, leaving the evenings free for other activities, is floriculture. All women love flowers, and those grown by themselves are of the greatest interest. Monitoring the appearance of shoots, their increase in size and subsequent flowering is akin to motherhood, which is why it gives pleasure to many representatives of the fair sex. If you don’t have the patience to care for roses and violets, you can start with chlorophytum, or simple cacti.
The earliest hobbies that a young child develops include drawing and moving to music. If you have talent for them, then your undertakings will not be lost, but will develop into the ability to display external and inner world s through painting and dancing. If there is no talent, but the soul persistently demands the expression of all its impulses, then the girl becomes a good photographer. Her photographs most often feature relatives and friends, significant places and corners of nature that capture the imagination.
Another method to realize your potential is to make crafts from various materials. This includes clay modeling and soap making, carving and design. The latter can turn into a profession and become a good way to earn money. And carving can be called a variety of a common, but far from all-encompassing hobby - cooking. Almost every girl can cook the simplest porridge and soup, bake pizza from everything in the refrigerator, but only a few of them have the art of preparing original dishes.
And finally, the widespread passion of women of all ages and social categories- this is fortune telling. Most often on cards, but to achieve results they are also used, coffee grounds, palmistry and other methods of divination. Learning about the past and future never gets boring, and specializing in a particular type can turn a girl into a real master.
Round and flat, with a wooden handle and a plastic one, marten and pony. A variety of shapes and types of brushes helps the artist create masterpieces on canvas or paper. For example, a squirrel brush is used mainly for working with watercolor paint, and a linear brush is used for applying inscriptions.
Brush shapes
One of the most common and versatile brush shapes is round. The bundle of such a brush is fixed in a round clip, usually metal. Brushes can be different sizes. The small beam is used to create miniatures, and the large beam is used for large landscapes. A round brush produces a uniform line of equal thickness, although a skilled artist can vary this.
Flat brushes are good for working on large areas of a composition; they hold a lot of paint. The strokes with such a brush are smooth and wide.
A brush called " cat eye"has an oval or dome shape. This brush is very individual in use and can be used in the same way as a round or flat one.
A subtype of flat brushes are contour brushes; they have a similar shape, but the beam is shorter and, accordingly, more elastic. Such brushes are used for oil painting techniques; they are easy to make flat strokes and clear contours.
Type brushes have a long round brush with a thin, sharp tip, which allows you to make inscriptions and apply outlines. These brushes are used with liquid paints.
Retouching brushes are also a type of flat brush; their peculiarity is the tip cut at an angle. These brushes are used to create very thin strokes and a smooth and precise transition from one color to another. This is created thanks to the thin and sharp tip.
Linear brushes, as well as font brushes, have a long round shape and are used for applying inscriptions and creating long straight lines. Linear brushes are shorter than type brushes, but longer and thinner than round brushes.
In addition to painting, flute brushes are used for applying makeup, namely powder or blush. These soft brushes are designed for freehand painting with watercolors. They hold a lot of water, so they can draw long, continuous, uniform lines without interruption.
Fan brushes have a thin, fan-shaped tuft. They are used to create subtle color stretches, color transitions and contrasts.
Types of brushes
In addition to the shapes and sizes, there is a significant difference between the types of brushes, namely, what kind of hair the bundle is made of. The most common type of brush is the squirrel. Such brushes are made from processed squirrel tail hairs, since the tail contains the longest hair. Squirrel brushes are very soft and delicate, so they require special care. They are used to work with watercolor paint or other water-based paint.
Kolinsky brushes are made from processed kolinsky tail pile. These brushes are quite soft and at the same time elastic. That's why they are used
Painting is distinguished by a variety of genres and types. Each genre is limited to its own range of subjects: the image of a person (portrait), the surrounding world (landscape), etc.
Varieties (types) of painting differ in their purpose.
In this regard, there are several types of painting, which we will talk about today.
Easel painting
The most popular and known species painting – easel painting. It is called this way because it is performed on a machine - an easel. The base is wood, cardboard, paper, but most often canvas stretched on a stretcher. The easel painting is an independent work made in a certain genre. It has a richness of color.
Oil paints
Most often, easel painting is done with oil paints. You can use oil paints on canvas, wood, cardboard, paper, and metal.
Oil paints
Oil paints are suspensions of inorganic pigments and fillers in drying vegetable oils or drying oils or based on alkyd resins, sometimes with the addition of auxiliary substances. Used in painting or for painting wooden, metal and other surfaces.
V. Perov “Portrait of Dostoevsky” (1872). Oil on canvas
But a picturesque picture can also be created using tempera, gouache, pastels, and watercolors.
Watercolor
Watercolor paints
Watercolor (French Aquarelle - watery; Italian acquarello) is a painting technique that uses special watercolor paints. When dissolved in water, they form a transparent suspension of fine pigment, which creates the effect of lightness, airiness and subtle color transitions.
J. Turner “Firvaldstät Lake” (1802). Watercolor. Tate Britain (London)
Gouache
Gouache (French Gouache, Italian guazzo water paint, splash) is a type of adhesive water-soluble paint, denser and more matte than watercolor.
Gouache paints
Gouache paints are made from pigments and glue with the addition of white. The admixture of white gives the gouache a matte velvety quality, but when drying the colors become somewhat whitened (lightened), which the artist must take into account during the painting process. Using gouache paints you can cover dark tones with light ones.
Vincent Van Gogh "Corridor at Asulum" (black chalk and gouache on pink paper)
Pastel [e]
Pastel (from Latin pasta - dough) is an artistic material used in graphics and painting. Most often it comes in the form of crayons or rimless pencils, shaped like bars with a round or square cross-section. There are three types of pastels: dry, oil and wax.
I. Levitan “River Valley” (pastel)
Tempera
Tempera (Italian tempera, from the Latin temperare - to mix paints) - water-based paints prepared on the basis of dry powder pigments. The binder for tempera paints is the yolk of a chicken egg diluted with water or a whole egg.
Tempera paints are one of the oldest. Before the invention and spread of oil paints until the 15th-17th centuries. tempera paints were the main material for easel painting. They have been used for more than 3 thousand years. The famous paintings of the sarcophagi of the ancient Egyptian pharaohs were made with tempera paints. Tempera painting was mainly done by Byzantine masters. In Russia, the technique of tempera painting was dominant until the end of the 17th century.
R. Streltsov “Chamomiles and violets” (tempera)
Encaustic
Encaustic (from ancient Greek ἐγκαυστική - the art of burning) is a painting technique in which wax is the binder of paints. Painting is done with melted paints. Many early Christian icons were painted using this technique. Originated in Ancient Greece.
"Angel". Encaustic technique
We draw your attention to the fact that you can find another classification, according to which watercolor, gouache and other techniques using paper and water-based paints are classified as graphics. They combine the features of painting (richness of tone, construction of form and space with color) and graphics (the active role of paper in constructing the image, the absence of the specific relief of the brushstroke characteristic of a painting surface).
Monumental painting
Monumental painting is painting on architectural structures or other foundations. This is the oldest type of painting, known since the Paleolithic. Thanks to its stationarity and durability, numerous examples of it remain from almost all cultures that created developed architecture. The main techniques of monumental painting are fresco, secco, mosaic, stained glass.
Fresco
Fresco (from Italian fresco - fresh) - painting on wet plaster with water paints, one of the wall painting techniques. When dried, the lime contained in the plaster forms a thin transparent calcium film, making the fresco durable.
The fresco has a pleasant matte surface and is durable in indoor conditions.
Gelati Monastery (Georgia). Church Holy Mother of God. Fresco on the upper and southern side of the Arc de Triomphe
A secco
And secco (from Italian a secco - dry) is wall painting, performed, unlike frescoes, on hard, dried plaster, re-moistened. Paints are used, ground on vegetable glue, egg or mixed with lime. Secco allows you to paint a larger surface area in a working day than with fresco painting, but is not as durable a technique.
The a secco technique developed in medieval painting along with fresco and was especially widespread in Europe in the 17th-18th centuries.
Leonardo da Vinci "The Last Supper (1498). Technique a secco
Mosaic
Mosaic (French mosaïque, Italian mosaico from Latin (opus) musivum – (work dedicated to the muses) is decorative, applied and monumental art of various genres. Images in a mosaic are formed by arranging, setting and fixing multi-colored stones, smalt, ceramic tiles and other materials on the surface.
Mosaic panel "Cat"
Stained glass
Stained glass (French vitre - window glass, from Latin vitrum - glass) is a work of colored glass. Stained glass has been used in churches for a long time. During the Renaissance, stained glass existed as painting on glass.
Stained glass window of the Mezhsoyuzny Palace of Culture (Murmansk)
The types of painting also include diorama and panorama.
Diorama
The building of the diorama “Storm of Sapun Mountain on May 7, 1944” in Sevastopol
Diorama - ribbon-shaped, curved in a semicircle scenic painting with a foreground subject. The illusion of the viewer’s presence in natural space is created, which is achieved by a synthesis of artistic and technical means.
Dioramas are designed for artificial lighting and are located mainly in special pavilions. Most dioramas are dedicated to historical battles.
The most famous dioramas: “Storm of Sapun Mountain” (Sevastopol), “Defense of Sevastopol” (Sevastopol), “Battles for Rzhev” (Rzhev), “Breaking the Siege of Leningrad” (St. Petersburg), “Storm of Berlin” (Moscow), etc.
Panorama
In painting, a panorama is a picture with a circular view, in which a flat pictorial background is combined with a three-dimensional subject foreground. Panorama creates the illusion of real space surrounding the viewer in a full circle of the horizon. Panoramas are used mainly to depict events covering a large area and large number participants.
Panorama Museum "Battle of Borodino" (museum building)
In Russia, the most famous panoramas are the Panorama Museum “Battle of Borodino”, “Battle of Volochaev”, “The defeat of the Nazi troops at Stalingrad” in the Panorama Museum “ Battle of Stalingrad", "Defense of Sevastopol", panorama of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Franz Roubo. Panorama canvas “Battle of Borodino”
Theatrical and decorative painting
Scenery, costumes, makeup, props help to further reveal the content of the performance (film). The scenery gives an idea of the place and time of the action, and activates the viewer’s perception of what is happening on stage. The theater artist strives in sketches of costumes and makeup to acutely express the individual character of the characters, their social status, style of the era and much more.
In Russia, the flourishing of theatrical and decorative art occurred at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. At this time, outstanding artists M.A. began working in the theater. Vrubel, V.M. Vasnetsov, A.Ya. Golovin, L.S. Bakst, N.K. Roerich.
M. Vrubel “City of Lollipop”. Set design for the opera by N.A. Rimsky-Korsakov's "The Tale of Tsar Saltan" for the Russian Private Opera in Moscow. (1900)
Miniature
A miniature is a pictorial work of small forms. Particularly popular was portrait miniature - a portrait of a small format (from 1.5 to 20 cm), distinguished by the special subtlety of writing, a unique execution technique and the use of means inherent only to this pictorial form.
The types and formats of miniatures are very diverse: they were painted on parchment, paper, cardboard, ivory, metal and porcelain, using watercolor, gouache, special artistic enamels or oil paints. The author can inscribe the image, in accordance with his decision or at the request of the customer, into a circle, oval, rhombus, octagon, etc. A classic portrait miniature is considered to be a miniature made on a thin ivory plate.
Emperor Nicholas I. Fragment of a miniature by G. Morselli
There are several miniature techniques.
Lacquer miniature (Fedoskino)
Miniature with a portrait of Princess Zinaida Nikolaevna (Jusupov jewelry)
In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The process of development of European painting became more complicated. National schools were formed in France (J. de Latour, F. Champagne, N. Poussin, A. Watteau, J. B. S. Chardin, J. O. Fragonard, J. L. David), Italy (M. Caravaggio, D. Fetti, J. B. Tiepolo, J. M. Crespi, F. Guardi), Spain (El Greco, D. Velazquez, F. Zurbaran, B. E. Murillo, F. Goya), Flanders (P. P . Rubens, J. Jordaens, A. van Dyck, F. Snyders), Holland (F. Hals, Rembrandt, J. Wermer 
, J. van Ruisdael, G. Terborch, K. Fabricius), Great Britain (J. Reynolds, T. Gainsborough, W. Hogarth), Russia (F. S. Rokotov, D. G. Levitsky, V. L. Borovikovsky) . Painting proclaimed new social and civil ideals, turned to a more detailed and accurate depiction of real life in its movement and diversity, especially the everyday environment of a person (landscape, interior, household items); psychological problems deepened, the feeling of a conflictual relationship between the individual and the surrounding world was embodied. In the 17th century The system of genres expanded and clearly took shape. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Along with the flourishing of monumental and decorative painting (especially in the Baroque style), which existed in close unity with sculpture and architecture and created an emotional environment that actively affected people, easel painting played a major role. Various painting systems were formed, both having common stylistic features (dynamic Baroque painting with its characteristic open, spiral-shaped composition; Classicism painting with a clear, strict and clear design; Rococo painting with a play of exquisite nuances of color, light and faded tones), and not fit into any specific style framework. Striving to reproduce the colorfulness of the world, the light-air environment, many artists improved the system of tonal painting. This caused the individualization of technical techniques of multi-layer oil painting. The growth of easel art and the increased need for works designed for intimate contemplation led to the development of chamber, subtle and light painting techniques - pastels, watercolors, ink, and various types of portrait miniatures.
In the 19th century New national schools of realistic painting were emerging in Europe and America. The connections between painting in Europe and other parts of the world expanded, where the experience of European realistic painting received an original interpretation, often based on local ancient traditions (in India, China, Japan, and other countries); European painting was influenced by the art of the Far Eastern countries (mainly Japan and China), which was reflected in the renewal of techniques for the decorative and rhythmic organization of the pictorial plane. In the 19th century painting solved complex and pressing worldview problems and played an active role in public life; Sharp criticism of social reality became important in painting. Throughout the 19th century. in painting, the canons of academicism, far from life, and the abstract idealization of images were also cultivated; tendencies of naturalism arose. In the fight against the abstraction of late classicism and salon academicism, the painting of romanticism developed with its active interest in the dramatic events of history and modernity, the energy of pictorial language, the contrast of light and shadow, the richness of color (T. Gericault, E. Delacroix in France; F. O. Runge and K. D. Friedrich in Germany; in many ways O. A. Kiprensky, Sylvester Shchedrin, K. P. Bryullov, A. A. Ivanov in Russia). Realistic painting, based on direct observation of characteristic phenomena of reality, comes to a more complete, concretely reliable, visually convincing depiction of life (J. Constable in Great Britain; C. Corot, masters of the Barbizon school, O. Daumier in France; A.G. Venetsianov, P. A. Fedotov in Russia). During the rise of the revolutionary and national liberation movement in Europe, painting of democratic realism (G. Courbet, J. F. Millet in France; M. Munkacsi in Hungary, N. Grigorescu and I. Andreescu in Romania, A. Menzel, V. Leibl in Germany, etc.) showed the life and work of the people, their struggle for their rights, and addressed the most important events national history, created vivid images ordinary people and advanced public figures; In many countries, schools of national realistic landscape emerged. The paintings of the Itinerants and artists close to them, closely connected with the aesthetics of Russian revolutionary democrats - V. G. Perov, I. N. Kramskoy, I. E. Repin, V. I. Surikov, V. V. Vereshchagin, were distinguished by their social-critical acuity. I. I. Levitan.
He came to the artistic embodiment of the surrounding world in its naturalness and constant variability in the early 1870s. Impressionist painting (E. Manet, C. Monet, O. Renoir, C. Pissarro, A. Sisley, E. Degas in France), which updated the technique and methods of organizing the pictorial surface, revealing the beauty of pure color and textured effects. In the 19th century in Europe, easel oil painting dominated, its technique in many cases acquired an individual, free character, gradually losing its inherent strict systematicity (which was also facilitated by the spread of new factory-produced paints); the palette expanded (new pigments and binders were created); instead of dark colored soils at the beginning of the 19th century. White soils were reintroduced. Monumental and decorative painting, used in the 19th century. almost exclusively glue or oil paints fell into disrepair. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Attempts are being made to revive monumental painting and merge various types of painting with works of decorative and applied art and architecture into a single ensemble (mainly in “modern” art); technical means are being updated monumentally decorative painting, the silicate painting technique is being developed.
At the end of the XIX - XX centuries. the development of painting becomes especially complex and contradictory; Various realistic and modernist movements coexist and struggle. Inspired by ideals October Revolution 1917, armed with method socialist realism, painting is developing intensively in the USSR and other socialist countries. New schools of painting are emerging in the countries of Asia, Africa, Australia, and Latin America.
Realistic painting late XIX - XX centuries. is distinguished by the desire to understand and show the world in all its contradictions, to reveal the essence of the deep processes occurring in social reality, which sometimes do not have a sufficiently visual appearance; the reflection and interpretation of many phenomena of reality often acquired a subjective, symbolic character. Painting of the 20th century Along with the visually visible volumetric-spatial method of depiction, he widely uses new (as well as those dating back to antiquity), conventional principles of interpretation of the visible world. Already in the painting of post-impressionism (P. Cezanne, W. van Gogh, P. Gauguin, A. Toulouse-Lautrec) and partly in the painting of “modern”, features emerged that determined the characteristics of some movements of the 20th century. (active expression of the artist’s personal attitude to the world, emotionality and associativeness of color, which has little connection with natural colorful relationships, exaggerated forms, decorativeness). The world was interpreted in a new way in the art of Russian painters of the late 19th - early 20th centuries - in the paintings of V. A. Serov, M. A. Vrubel, K. A. Korovin.
In the 20th century reality is contradictory, and often deeply subjectively realized and translated into the paintings of the largest artists of capitalist countries: P. Picasso, A. Matisse, F. Léger, A. Marquet, A. Derain in France; D. Rivera, J.C. Orozco, D. Siqueiros in Mexico; R. Guttuso in Italy; J. Bellows, R. Kent in the USA. In paintings, wall paintings, and picturesque panels, a truthful understanding of the tragic contradictions of reality was expressed, often turning into an exposure of the deformities of the capitalist system. Associated with the aesthetic understanding of the new, “technical” era is the reflection of the pathos of the industrialization of life, the penetration into painting of geometric, “machine” forms, to which organic forms are often reduced, the search for those that correspond to the worldview modern man new forms that can be used in decorative arts, architecture and industry. Widespread in painting, mainly in capitalist countries, since the beginning of the 20th century. received various modernist movements, reflecting the general crisis of the culture of bourgeois society; however, modernist painting also indirectly reflects the “sick” problems of our time. In the paintings of many modernist movements(Fauvism, Cubism, Futurism, Dadaism, and later surrealism) individual more or less easily recognizable elements of the visible world are fragmented or geometrized, appear in unexpected, sometimes illogical combinations, giving rise to many associations, and merge with purely abstract forms. Further evolution Many of these movements led to a complete rejection of representation, to the emergence of abstract painting (see Abstract art), which marked the collapse of painting as a means of reflecting and understanding reality. Since the mid-60s. in Western Europe and America, painting sometimes becomes one of the elements of pop art.
In the 20th century The role of monumental and decorative painting, both figurative (for example, revolutionary democratic monumental painting in Mexico) and non-figurative, usually flat, in harmony with the geometrized forms of modern architecture, is increasing.
In the 20th century There is a growing interest in research in the field of painting techniques (including wax and tempera; new paints are being invented for monumental painting - silicone, on silicone resins, etc.), but oil painting still predominates.
Multinational soviet painting closely connected with communist ideology, with the principles of party spirit and nationality of art, it represents qualitatively new stage development of painting, which is determined by the triumph of the method of socialist realism. In the USSR, painting is developing in all union and autonomous republics, and new national schools of painting are emerging. Soviet painting is characterized by a keen sense of reality, the materiality of the world, and the spiritual richness of images. The desire to embrace socialist reality in all its complexity and completeness has led to the use of many genre forms that are filled with new content. Already from the 20s. The historical-revolutionary theme acquires special significance (canvases by M. B. Grekov, A. A. Deineka, K. S. Petrov-Vodkin, B. V. Ioganson, I. I. Brodsky, A. M. Gerasimov). Then patriotic paintings appear, telling about the heroic past of Russia, showing the historical drama of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-45, the spiritual fortitude of the Soviet man.
Portraits play a major role in the development of Soviet painting: collective images people from the people, participants in the revolutionary reorganization of life (A. E. Arkhipov, G. G. Rizhsky, etc.); psychological portraits, showing the inner world, the spiritual makeup of the Soviet person (M. V. Nesterov, S. V. Malyutin, P. D. Korin, etc.).
The typical way of life of Soviet people is reflected in genre painting, giving a poetically vivid image of new people and a new way of life. Soviet painting is characterized by large canvases imbued with the pathos of socialist construction (S. V. Gerasimov, A. A. Plastov, Yu. I. Pimenov, T. N. Yablonskaya, etc.). The aesthetic affirmation of the unique forms of life of the union and autonomous republics underlies the national schools that have developed in Soviet painting (M. S. Saryan, L. Gudiashvili, S. A. Chuikov, U. Tansykbaev, T. Salakhov, E. Iltner, M. A . Savitsky, A. Gudaitis, A. A. Shovkunenko, G. Aitiev, etc.), representing the components of a single artistic culture Soviet socialist society.
In landscape painting, as in other genres, national artistic traditions are combined with the search for something new, with a modern sense of nature. The lyrical line of Russian landscape painting (V.N. Baksheev, N.P. Krymov, N.M. Romadin, etc.) is complemented by the development of industrial landscape with its rapid rhythms, with motifs of transformed nature (B.N. Yakovlev, G.G . Nyssky). High level achieved still life painting (I. I. Mashkov, P. P. Konchalovsky, M. S. Saryan).
Evolution social functions painting is accompanied by the general development of pictorial culture. Within the boundaries of a single realistic method, Soviet painting achieves a variety of artistic forms, techniques, and individual styles. The wide scope of construction, the creation of large public buildings and memorial ensembles contributed to the development monumental and decorative painting (works by V. A. Favorsky, E. E. Lansere, P. D. Korin), the revival of the technique of tempera painting, frescoes and mosaics. In the 60s - early 80s. the mutual influence of monumental and easel painting has increased, the desire to make maximum use and enrich means of expression painting (see also Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and articles on Soviet Union republics).
Lit.: VII, vol. 1-6, M., 1956-66; IRI, vol. 1-13, M., 1953-69; K. Yuon, About painting, [M.-L.], 1937; D. I. Kiplik, Painting technique, M.-L., 1950; A. Kamensky, To the Spectator about Painting, M., 1959; B. Slansky, Painting technique, trans. from Czech., M., 1962; G. A. Nedoshivin, Conversations about painting, M., 1964; B. R. Vipper, Articles about art, M., 1970; Ward J., History and methods of ancient and modern painting, v. 1-4, L., 1913-21; Fosca F., La peinture, qu"est-ce que c"est, Porrentruy-Brux.-P., 1947; Venturi L., Painting and painters, Cleveland, 1963; Cogniat R., Histoire de la peinture, t. 1-2, P., 1964; Barron J. N., The language of painting, Cleveland, ; Nicolaus K., DuMont's Handbuch der Gemaldekunde, Köln, 1979.
). However, for the purposes of this article we will only consider object art.
Historically, all genres were divided into high and low. TO high genre or historical painting included works of a monumental nature, carrying some kind of morality, meaningful idea, demonstrating historical, military events related to religion, mythology or fiction.
TO low genre included everything connected with everyday life. These are still lifes, portraits, household painting, landscapes, animalism, images of naked people, etc.
Animalism (lat. animal - animal)
The animalistic genre arose in ancient times, when the first people painted predatory animals on the rocks. Gradually, this direction grew into an independent genre, implying an expressive depiction of any animals. Animalists usually have a great interest in the animal world, for example, they can be excellent equestrians, keep pets, or simply study their habits for a long time. As a result of the artist's intentions, animals can appear realistic or in the form of artistic images.
Among Russian artists, many were well versed in horses, for example, and. Thus, in Vasnetsov’s famous painting “Bogatyrs”, heroic horses are depicted with the greatest skill: the colors, behavior of the animals, bridles and their connection with the riders are carefully thought out. Serov did not like people and considered a horse in many ways better than a person, which is why he often depicted it in a variety of scenes. although he painted animals, he did not consider himself an animalist, so bears were his famous painting"Morning in pine forest” was created by the animalist K. Savitsky.
In tsarist times, portraits with pets, which were dear to man, became especially popular. For example, in the painting, Empress Catherine II appeared with her beloved dog. Animals were also present in the portraits of other Russian artists.
Examples of paintings by famous Russian artists in the everyday genre
History painting
This genre involves monumental paintings that are designed to convey to society a grandiose plan, some truth, morality, or demonstrate significant events. It includes works on historical, mythological, religious themes, folklore, as well as military scenes.
In ancient states, myths and legends were long considered events of the past, so they were often depicted on frescoes or vases. Later, artists began to separate the events that took place from fiction, which was expressed primarily in the image battle scenes. IN Ancient Rome, Egypt and Greece, scenes of heroic battles were often depicted on the shields of victorious warriors in order to demonstrate their triumph over the enemy.
In the Middle Ages, due to the dominance of church dogmas, religious themes prevailed; in the Renaissance, society turned to the past mainly for the purpose of glorifying its states and rulers, and since the 18th century, this genre has often been turned to for the purpose of educating youth. In Russia, the genre became widespread in the 19th century, when artists often tried to analyze the life of Russian society.
In the works of Russian artists, battle painting was presented, for example, and. He touched on mythological and religious subjects in his paintings. Historical painting predominated among, folklore - among.
Examples of paintings by famous Russian artists in the genre of historical painting
Still life (French nature - nature and morte - dead)
This genre of painting is associated with the depiction of inanimate objects. They can be flowers, fruits, dishes, game, kitchen utensils and other objects, from which the artist often creates a composition according to his plan.
The first still lifes appeared in ancient countries. IN Ancient Egypt It was customary to depict offerings to the gods in the form of various dishes. At the same time, the recognition of the object came first, so ancient artists did not particularly care about chiaroscuro or the texture of still life objects. In Ancient Greece and Rome, flowers and fruits were found in paintings and in houses for interior decoration, so they were depicted more authentically and picturesquely. The formation and flourishing of this genre occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries, when still lifes began to contain hidden religious and other meanings. At the same time, many varieties of them appeared, depending on the subject of the image (floral, fruit, scientist, etc.).
In Russia, still life painting flourished only in the 20th century, since before that it was used mainly for educational purposes. But this development was rapid and captured, including abstract art with all its directions. For example, he created beautiful flower compositions in, preferred, worked in, and often “revitalized” his still lifes, giving the viewer the impression that the dishes were about to fall off the table or that all the objects were about to start rotating.
The objects depicted by artists were, of course, influenced by their theoretical views or worldview and state of mind. Thus, these were objects depicted according to the principle of spherical perspective discovered by him, and expressionist still lifes amazed with their drama.
Many Russian artists used still life mainly for educational purposes. Thus, he not only honed his artistic skills, but also conducted many experiments, arranging objects in different ways, working with light and color. experimented with the shape and color of the line, sometimes moving away from realism into pure primitivism, sometimes mixing both styles.
Other artists combined in still lifes what they had previously depicted with their favorite things. For example, in the paintings you can find his favorite vase, sheet music and a portrait of his wife that he had previously created, and he depicted his favorite flowers from childhood.
Many other Russian artists worked in the same genre, for example, and others.
Examples of paintings by famous Russian artists in the still life genre
Nude (French nudite - nudity, abbreviated as nu)
This genre is intended to depict the beauty of the naked body and appeared before our era. IN ancient world great attention paid to physical development, since the survival of the entire human race depended on it. Thus, in Ancient Greece, athletes traditionally competed naked so that boys and young men could see their well-developed bodies and strive for the same physical perfection. Around the 7th-6th centuries. BC e. Nude male statues also appeared, personifying the physical power of a man. Female figures, on the contrary, always appeared before the audience in robes, since to expose female body was not accepted.
In subsequent eras, attitudes towards nudity changed. Thus, during Hellenism (from the end of the 6th century BC), endurance faded into the background, giving way to admiration of the male figure. At the same time, the first female nude figures began to appear. In the Baroque era, women with curvy figures were considered ideal; in Rococo times, sensuality became paramount, and in the 19th-20th centuries, paintings or sculptures with naked bodies (especially male ones) were often banned.
Russian artists have repeatedly turned to the nude genre in their works. So, these are dancers with theatrical attributes, these are posing girls or women in the center of monumental scenes. This has a lot of sensual women, including in couples, this has a whole series of paintings depicting naked women in various activities, and this has girls full of innocence. Some, for example, depicted completely naked men, although such paintings were not welcomed by the society of their time.
Examples of paintings by famous Russian artists in the nude genre
Landscape (French Paysage, from pays - terrain)
In this genre, the priority is the depiction of the natural or man-made environment: natural areas, views of cities, villages, monuments, etc. Depending on the chosen object, natural, industrial, marine, rural, lyrical and other landscapes are distinguished.
The first landscapes by ancient artists were discovered in rock art Neolithic era and were images of trees, rivers or lakes. Later, the natural motif was used to decorate the home. In the Middle Ages, the landscape was almost completely replaced by religious themes, and in the Renaissance, on the contrary, the harmonious relationship between man and nature came to the fore.
In Russia, landscape painting developed from the 18th century and was initially limited (landscapes, for example, were created in this style), but later a whole galaxy of talented Russian artists enriched this genre with techniques from different styles and movements. created the so-called low-key landscape, that is, instead of chasing spectacular views, he depicted the most intimate moments in Russian nature. and came to a lyrical landscape that amazed the audience with its subtly conveyed mood.
And this is an epic landscape, when the viewer is shown all the grandeur of the surrounding world. endlessly turned to antiquity, E. Volkov knew how to turn any discreet landscape into a poetic picture, amazed the viewer with his marvelous light in the landscapes, and could endlessly admire forest corners, parks, sunsets and convey this love to the viewer.
Each of the landscape painters concentrated his attention on the landscape that fascinated him especially strongly. Many artists could not ignore large-scale construction projects and painted many industrial and urban landscapes. Among them are works,
The essence of painting
The oldest rock paintings, according to scientists, were made about 40 thousand years ago. Art galleries of prehistoric times are caves with walls painted using natural dyes - clay, charcoal, chalk, etc. Such “museums” are found in Europe, Asia, America, Australia.
The drawings of ancient artists have all the characteristics of real works of fine art. You can feel the sharp gaze of the observer, the steady hand of the draftsman, and the expressiveness of color combinations. Genres of painting created an unimaginable number of years ago will be relevant throughout human history, and they are significant even now: images of humans and animals, scenes of peace and war...
The essence of fine art has also remained unchanged for many centuries: the creation of visual images that reflect the impression of the human creator from objective world and phenomena spiritual order, artistic chronicle historical events of different scales, a game of fantasy and imagination, based on work and talent. To solve such problems, artists have developed various styles and genres of painting over a long time. Their number is large, and their characteristics are determined by the creativity of specific masters.
Monumental and easel painting
The strength of the artistic impact of a painting depends on factors that very often do not have a clear definition. The size of a painting is one of the most conventional criteria when assessing the scale of a work of fine art. A postcard-sized watercolor can tell more about the world than multi-meter panels with thousands of characters.
The division of painting into monumental and easel does not speak of the greatness of the creative tasks the artist solves; it rather determines the method of exhibition. Frescoes on the walls of palaces and cathedrals, paintings of huge halls occupy an important place in the work of the titans of the Renaissance - the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo, is monumental in every sense. But who will say that the portrait of a Florentine woman named Mona Lisa, painted on a poplar board measuring 70 x 53 cm, is less significant for world art?
Paintings created on separate canvases, sheets, boards, which have “mobility”, are usually called works of easel painting. Monumental painting is always connected with architecture, with interior design, therefore, to see Leonardo’s fresco “The Last Supper” on the wall of the refectory of the monastery of Santa Maria delle Grazie, you will have to go to Milan.
Main genres of painting
Each new historical era gives rise to typical visible images, masters appear with a unique way of displaying them, so the number of “isms” in the history of art is enormous.
Genres of painting are defined in a slightly smaller number - the division of works fine arts depending on the topic that interested the artist-painter. Landscape, still life, portrait, narrative or figurative painting, abstraction are the most important genre areas of fine art.
Life of genres
Everything is in clear connection with the period of history, and genres too - they are born, mixed, changed or disappeared. For example, only specialists know such genres of painting of the 18th century as veduta, rossica or the earlier vanitas. In fact, these are just varieties of landscape, portrait and still life.
Veduta (Italian veduta - “view”) - a view of the city landscape with detailed detailing, born in Venice; the brightest master vedutist is Canaletto (1697-1768). Rossika is the name given to portraits created by Western European painters who came to St. Petersburg.
Vanitas is an allegorical still life (French: nature morte - “dead nature”), in the center of which there is always an image of a human skull. This name comes from the Latin word vanitas, meaning vanity, vanity.
Often the themes of paintings are isolated national character. For example, hua-nyao (“images of flowers and birds”) and its stylistic movements: mo-zhu (“ink-painted bamboo”) and mo-mei (“blooming plum, ink-painted”) are all genres Chinese painting having global significance. Their best examples can delight any viewer with their masterly precision of drawing and special spirituality, but they could only be born in the atmosphere ancient culture Celestial Empire.
Scenery
Translated from French, pays is a country, a locality. This is where the name of one of the most popular painting genres - landscape - comes from. Although the first attempts to convey the surrounding nature are found among rock paintings, and the masters of Japan and China reached unimaginable heights in depicting the sky, water, and plants long before our era, classic landscape can be considered a relatively young genre.
This is due to technological subtleties. The ability to go out with a sketchbook and paints in tubes in the open air - to paint from nature in natural light - had an impact on all genres of painting. You can encounter examples of unprecedented flowering of the landscape when studying the work of the Impressionists. It was the painting of a sunrise on a river near Le Havre, painted by Claude Monet (1840-1926) - “Impression” - that gave its name to a movement in painting that radically changed the view of the goals and means of art.
But later history also preserves the names of great landscape painters. If in icons and paintings of the Middle Ages nature is a schematic and flat background for the main image, then since the early Renaissance, landscape has been an active means of conversation with the viewer. Giorgione (“The Thunderstorm”), Titian (“Flight into Egypt”), El Greco (“View of Toledo”) - in the paintings of these masters, views of nature become the main content of the canvas, and in the landscapes of Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1525-1569) understanding of place of humans in the surrounding world reaches a cosmic scale.
In Russian painting, the masterpieces of landscape masters are well known. “Morning in a Pine Forest” by I. I. Shishkin, “Above Eternal Peace” by I. I. Levitan, “Moonlit Night on the Dnieper” by A. I. Kuindzhi, “The Rooks Have Arrived” by A. K. Savrasov and many other paintings - not just beautiful views or different weather conditions. Like music, they can evoke new thoughts, strong emotions and feelings in the viewer, and lead to lofty generalizations and truths.
Types of landscape: urban, marine painting
Urban landscape (veduta, later industrial) are genres of painting with examples of active adherents both among artists and among lovers of this art direction. How can you not admire “View of the City of Delft” by Jan Vermeer (1632-1675)?!
The water element has always fascinated people, especially artists. Marinas, that is, varieties of paintings where main theme is the sea, began to separate from ordinary landscapes from the beginning of the 17th century in Holland. At first these were simply “portraits of ships,” but then the sea itself became the main object that fascinated both realists and romantics. It began to complement other genres of painting. Examples of the use of the marine theme can be found by looking at the religious and mythological paintings of Rembrandt, Dutch battle painters, Delacroix and the Impressionists. The great master marine painter was the Englishman William Turner (1775-1851).
Never cheated marine theme I.K. Aivazovsky (1817-1900), who became the greatest artist-poet of the sea. “The Ninth Wave”, “Black Sea” and more than 6 thousand paintings are still unsurpassed examples of marinas.
Portrait
The image of the external appearance of a specific, existing or existing person, and through appearance - the expression of his inner content - this is how one can determine the essence of one of the most important pictorial genres. This essence remained, although fashion changed, new painting styles appeared and outdated ones became a thing of the past, because the main thing remained individuality, the uniqueness of the individual. At the same time, the portrait genre does not have iron boundaries, it can be an element of narrative and figurative paintings and has many genre subtypes.
Portrait of a great man is a historical genre in painting. “How is this?” the reader will ask. A hero who has an external and internal resemblance to a specific person is endowed with an environment corresponding to the “high” genre. Other subtypes of portraiture include costumed (mythological, allegorical), typical, family, and group portraits.
One of greatest masterpieces, which for three and a half centuries has not fully revealed its mysteries, is Rembrandt’s “Night Watch”. This painting is a group portrait of a military police detachment, where each character has specific name and character. They enter into an interaction that gives birth to a story that excites anyone who begins to peer into the faces of the people of the 17th century.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1608-1669) is also known as the author of numerous self-portraits, from which one can trace the artist’s fate, full of tragic blows and brief happy periods. In many of them one can see everyday genre in painting, if you attach importance to deliberately simple surroundings and clothing. But the master’s genius fills self-portraits with cosmic content. This genre variety is full of examples of the greatest peaks of skill and talent, because who better than the author knows the person being portrayed in this case?
Still life
Another of the most popular genres is the expression of individual and social understanding of the world through the depiction of its substantive content. For a true artist, the choice of still life components is important down to the smallest detail - this is where a fascinating story begins, complemented purely artistic means: composition, design, color, etc. Stylistic originality is expressed especially clearly in the still life genre: it involves carefully thought-out work on a still nature with selected lighting, etc.
Having begun its history as an integral part of religious and genre compositions, still life quickly became a valuable genre in its own right. Dutch still life (steel-life - « quiet life") is a special page in the history of art. Luxurious compositions of flowers and food or ascetic allegories of an intellectual nature, “tricks”... Yes, Dutch still life XVII century there are established subspecies.
Masterpieces of this genre can be found in the works of artists of all significant styles and movements. Among them are academic decorative paintings by I. F. Khrutsky (1810-1885), deep and meaningful productions by Cezanne (1839-1906) and the Impressionists, “Sunflowers” by Van Gogh and the abundant “Moscow Food” by I. I. Mashkov (1881-1944 ) from "Jack of Diamonds", figurative searches of the Cubists and Andy Warhol's can of soup.
High and low kinds of painting
During the period of classicism, the division into high and low genres in painting was consolidated by the French Academy of Fine Arts. In the hierarchy, which all leading art academies gradually began to adhere to, the main one was declared to be the historical genre - the Grand genre. It included not only images of battles and other events of the past, but also paintings on allegorical and literary subjects, as well as mythological genre painting. It was precisely such topics that were considered worthy for real masters of fine art.
The petit genre - “low genre” - included (in descending order): portrait, everyday genre in painting, landscape, seascapes, images of animals (animal painting) and still life.
Old and new genres
Canvases on historical topic, mainly depicting military battles, multi-figure compositions on religious and mythological stories were the result of training in many art academies until the end of the 19th century. Paintings such as “The Last Day of Pompeii” by K. P. Bryullov (1799-1852) were a global event; they amazed with the scope of their concept and the skill of their implementation.
The academic division into genres was opposed by those who opened new horizons - the impressionists. It was they who created canvases on which scenes from ordinary life, scenes of work and leisure of ordinary townspeople and peasants acquired the significance of an object of high art.
Later, masters appeared who did not need subjects or even objects to express their ideas real world, and paintings by abstract artists that do not contain material objects or even references to them can be classified as a separate genre type.
Style and genre diversity
A true artist is always looking for his own style, his own face, his own palette. Often, to define painting styles, art historians have to invent new terms. But the correct application of these concepts and the correct genre classification cannot outweigh the novelty and originality of artistic talent, the significance of each artist’s unique contribution to world culture, to the development of understanding the world with the help of visual images.