An impressive picture, isn't it? She frightens and fascinates. A man fights a demon in his arms. Or trying to defeat his own Shadow. We do not see his face, only the distorted snout of a hellish creature grappling with him with a round and convex black eye facing us, in which a spark of horror and bloodthirsty madness dances.
It is not so easy to withstand this gaze of the advancing Chaos, remembering the increasing frequency of spontaneous acts of individual terror, carrying away many human lives, wild wars, accompanied by the most brutal extermination of civilians, muddy and crafty speeches of politicians, the pernicious atmosphere of general lies and hatred that is created and maintained by world means mass media. Over the past few years, the world has become much more dangerous and unpredictable. Something very bad is happening to all of us. But what exactly? And how to counter this, if at all possible?
Let's try to figure it out. In this note I will talk not only about painting. But about painting - first of all. Therefore, I return to the picture presented.
No, this is not expressionism. This is the best thing ever socialist realism from a classic of the genre, a representative of the “severe style”, laureate of the Order of Lenin and the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, folk artist USSR Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev (1925 - 2012).
Painting "Heat" (1987) was written by Korzhev during the “perestroika” period and undoubtedly reflects the artist’s view of the processes that were then taking place in the country, society and the inner world of each individual person.
Turning to more early works artist, we can understand who he is, this man fighting evil spirits. Here is the written one in 1960 the third, final part of the triptych "Communists" (the central part of this triptych is famous masterpiece Korzhev - "Raising the Banner"). Full title of this painting "Communists: Homer (Workers' Workshop).
Before us are the heroes of a new, unprecedented world on Earth, based on the principles of social justice and the triumph of the bright human mind. Yesterday's fighters and commanders of the Red Army, which overcame tsarism, the White Guard and foreign intervention in a harsh struggle, are passionate about creating a fundamentally different cultural reality, free from obscurantism imposed by the caste of masters, but based on the great humanistic traditions of human civilization.
One can assess the socio-political events of that turning point in different ways, but the intellectual asceticism and spiritual impulse of such people were certainly wonderful.
Only they were given very little time; the next hard time of war arrived - the Great Patriotic War.
The Soviet people, at the cost of enormous losses and hardships, withstood this terrible test. What faith animated them? This will never be understood by modern propagandists and political strategists, who feed on oligarchic bounty, speculating on their immortal glory. Inner world the people who wore quilted jackets at that time was incomparably deeper and more interesting than the flat worldview of modern “vatniks” who wore T-shirts with colorful flags, Putin and loud “patriotic” slogans.
These were completely different people.
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Picture "Before the Long Road" (1976) perfectly complement the words of Korzhev himself, which he said in 2001 in an interview with the correspondent of the newspaper “Zavtra” Andrei Fefelov: “There is such an established term - “sixties”. But for me, “sixties” are not Yevtushenko and Voznesensky. These are, first of all, people who emerged from the flames of war. They carried within themselves a new idea of the universe, of life, of art. The whole the generation came from the war with a passionate dream of a peaceful life, a thirst for knowledge, and a thirst for work. It was this military generation that formed the spirit of the era, which was later picked up by the “rotten intelligentsia” and soon dissipated. But then it was about a new person, full of creative energy. , which radically changed the way we look at things."
The post-war world was indeed different. Waking up from a nightmare, he instinctively reached out to life and creativity. This world could afford to love and dream. It was so in Europe, and so it was with us. The picture conveys this mood "The Artist" (1961).
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Yes, these people had a passionate dream. But the aforementioned “rotten intelligentsia”, or, more simply put, the disgusting Soviet philistinism, managed to deal with this dream in their own way.
As soon as the Civil War ended, Mayakovsky warned:
Marx looked and looked from the wall...
And suddenly
opened his mouth
yes how he screams:
“The threads of philistinism entangled the revolution.
Philistine life is worse than Wrangel.
Quicker
turn the heads of the canaries -
so that communism
I wasn’t beaten by the canaries!”
By the seventies of the last century, canaries became so fat that they turned into monsters.
Face-to-face dates - in the same 1976 When the painting “Before the Long Road” was painted, Korzhev created his first gloomy grotesque, which turned out to be prophetic. The artist unmistakably saw the mug of the coming boor. The picture is called "Blue Light".
Did you recognize the monster? Did you notice the date? The performer and the “maestro” at the piano in this case are just mirrors reflecting the spiritual image of their fans. Korzhev understood everything even then - the high ideals of communism would be trampled underfoot by a brainless herd of co-operatives and black marketeers. The Russian Icarus, who conquered outer space for the first time in human history, is already falling down. Much later, Viktor Tsoi will sing about him:
He doesn't know the word "yes" and the word "no"
He remembers neither ranks nor names,
And able to reach the stars
Without thinking that this is a dream,
And fall scorched by a star called the Sun.
And Korzhev will finish the picture in 1980 "Yegorka the Flyer".
Then, amid the noise and din of the Moscow Olympics, the hopeless tragedy that emanated from this canvas was felt, most likely, by a few.
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The hero is defeated, and with him the idea of storming the heavens and subordinating the laws of existence to human will perishes and becomes dust. There is no longer a need for the consolidation of social efforts, which is so hateful to every man in the street. Now the average person can live for himself. It soon becomes clear that for this it is absolutely not necessary to be a person, or even a person in general.
People somehow disappear unnoticed, it’s unclear where they go. Their place is taken by ugly creatures - either devils or mutants. Korzhev will call them “turliks”.
The Turliks will honor their ancestors - people - in their own way. And even perform certain rituals in their honor. For example, like in this painting “Skull of an Ancestor” (1985).
Russian Goya is what Korzhev is sometimes called, but I do not agree with this definition. Korzhev’s, like everyone else’s outstanding master, his own unique style of painting. Korzhev is Korzhev. Rather, we should talk here about cultural reminiscences. Here is another work on a similar plot, but completely different - "Skull of the Ancestors" (1991).
I wonder what the Turliks think about when contemplating these skulls of their ancestors?
Turliks probably strive to be like people and care about their beauty. They simply do not realize that they have reached that stage of internal grinding, at which intellectual and spiritual squalor begins to leave a very noticeable imprint on their appearance, and this imprint cannot be hidden by anyone. plastic surgery, nor cosmetics. No matter what creams or ointments you use, chicken brains and rat nature deserve appropriate legs and a tail. "The Old Coquette" (1985).
The people who miraculously survived among the mutants, of course, are trying to talk to them in the hope of bringing some sense into them or at least finding some kind of common platform for mutual understanding. However, it seems that the artist does not advise entering into philosophical discussions with evil spirits.
"Dispute 1" (1991).
What hopeless irony! In response to your attempts to explain the meaning of the teachings of Buddha or Christ, the pig-like creature, without listening to you, will begin to soulfully and confusingly outline the foundations of his own worldview, which is based on the topography of his native barn and the idea that more food is usually poured into the neighboring trough. He has his own, but very small truth, outside of which nothing else exists for him. So you won't achieve any result. But the meaning of the phrase about the pointlessness of scattering beads in front of such an interlocutor will become even more obvious to you.
Some Diogenes, who is a cynic, also has a hard time - this is not Alexander the Great in front of him, this patient of Dr. Moreau simply will not understand the humor if you tell him “Move away, don’t block the sun.” He wants to insist on his bestial truth, and there is no doubt that in the end he will succeed.
"Debatt 2" (1991).
Moreover, a simple Russian peasant, who has been drinking heavily for a long time, cannot win in such a dispute. But how characteristic, how recognizable to the point of shuddering disgust is this gopnik gesture of a nonhuman. How many of these “talking dogs” have each of us seen in our lifetime!
A dog must have an owner, and there is an owner - a black gentleman with a newspaper, an eternal agent of all kinds of intelligence services, a human function, a meaningless conductor of the will of the world oligarchic bastard.
The accuracy of observations and the level of philosophical generalization here are truly amazing. This picture represents an unmistakable diagnosis made by the artist to our sick society, affected by vile and shameful ailments.
"Turlik the Dog" (1992).
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Despite their frightening appearance, turliks are also afraid. And they feel lonely.
"Turlik with a tree" (1994)
However, we should not feel sorry for them. Because they definitely won’t spare us. They feed on us. They just eat the remaining people. Eaten alive. Subtly, but every day. Korzhev depicted them for us "Feast".
Anyway, enough of the turliks. We already encounter them all the time. If you miss them, just go outside or watch the news.
Korzhev did not dwell on the topic of mutants. Here's what he said about it (quotes from the mentioned 2001 interview): “I stopped at the moment when the works began to become politicized and lose their general, deeper meaning. There was a danger of a lightweight reaction to what was happening. Pamphlets are not my business, I am weakening in this function. I spent a lot of effort, in 1993 I wrote several dozen works different sizes on the topic of the rebirth of creatures, but then I realized that it’s not my business. Painting suggests a different semantic format."
And another very important thing: "I have clearly delineated the circle of my interests. The area of politics is not interesting to me. The people who determine the course of affairs in the country, as Exupery put it, are deeply unsympathetic to me. Those prosperous circles that have now entered the arena are not interesting to me, and as an artist I do not see the slightest There is no point in exploring this part of society. But I am interested in people who, on the contrary, fall out of this circle." Extra people"- today this is quite a wide circle. People are rejected, as if thrown out of life and unclaimed by the current era... Their fate, their internal struggle is interesting to me. For me they represent a genuine object of art. I recently saw a story on television. They found it in Sverdlovsk original way repayment of citizens' rent arrears. Those who could not pay were put to work as janitors. They show us how a candidate of science sweeps. Man with two higher education sorts out boxes near a trash container. He says: “It’s very good - all day in the air”... People like that are interesting to me. I am also interested in the soldiers who are fighting in Chechnya now. They are thrown to the sidelines by society. Our society is structured in such a way that no one except their loved ones shows interest in the fate of these soldiers.
No, lyricism is not my thing. I don’t want to write unhappy, pitiable people. I'm interested in people who resist. Personalities who should be respected for their posture, their extraordinary stamina."
And Korzhev showed such people. One of best works his extensive biblical cycle is called "Deprived of Paradise" (1998).
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Deserted land and menacing sky. Just like then, at the very beginning. Only now everything is different. Looking at this picture, you gradually understand that these are Adam and Eve on the contrary - not the first, but the last people on Earth. Or so - the last ones who did not give up.
In the biblical cycle of paintings, Korzhev depicted almost all stages of Christ’s earthly journey, except for one - the resurrection.
This is a choice on a personal level. But there is also a society from which, according to the classic expression, art cannot be free. Society also needs to say something.
Geliy Mikhailovich will say. In 2005 an eighty-year-old man, he completes work on one of his masterpieces - the painting "Hostages (Living Barrier)".
The plot of the film, dating back to the Great Patriotic War, is simple and terrible - the Nazi invaders drove away the surviving remnants of the population of a town dilapidated during the fighting in order to present these people as a human shield in front of the advancing units of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. As a result, our troops performing a combat mission will have to shoot at their fellow citizens.
However, Korzhev would not be Korzhev if he limited himself to external dramatic effect. The deep and complex symbolic series of this painting contains the artist’s understanding of the current state of the Russian people and, more broadly, of all humanity.
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Following the principles that he spoke about in an interview, Korzhev does not humiliate his characters with pity. There is absolutely no sentimentality here. The human figures are painted in a harsh realistic manner, in the best traditions of the “severe style”. This is not the verisimilitude of the photograph, but the highest truth psychological and everyday authenticity, the power of generalization that I have already noted earlier, inherent in the works of Korzhev and forcing one to remember Mantegna and Bruegel.
This ordinary people, caught in the millstones of war - women, children, old people, the wounded. Simple, ugly, emaciated, but alive and different. Suppressed by natural fear, but finding inner strength within themselves that allows them to hold on. These internal forces, which straighten a person in the face of inevitable death, and do not allow him to turn into a reptile, are actually what interest Korzhev. The artist clearly sees that soon we will all need these powers.
In the foreground of the composition, the figure of a priest attracts attention, school teacher and girls in pioneer ties.
A real priest, a believer, no match for most of the current brothers in robes, although today such people are also rarely seen. He knows that he will appear before God, and he worries not for himself, but for those who are about to die without repentance. Especially for children. Therefore, he casts a disapproving glance at the teacher, a representative of a secular humanistic worldview, around whom the schoolchildren are huddled. The dispute between the Church and the Enlightenment continues even in the last minutes.
The teacher is also real, and he has his own faith, the unyielding and stern faith of an atheist. This belief is based on the fact that the bright human mind will sooner or later triumph over prejudice and mutual hatred. During his life, the teacher did everything he could for the victory of reason. He is calm because he has fulfilled his duty and has nothing to reproach himself with.
A girl in a pioneer tie, symbolizing, as it seems to me, the Soviet Dream, at the same time, just a girl. She doesn't believe in inevitability. Because that doesn't happen in the fairy tales she read. The teacher said that there is no God, but the fairy tales said nothing about God. But a miracle always happened there. And a miracle must happen. She is waiting for this miracle.
All this psychological reality is presented by Korzhev with amazing restraint, testifying to the impeccable taste of the master, without a shadow of melodrama and sugary tenderness, simply as a fact. Frankly, this approach to art evokes my most sincere respect.
And real admiration comes from Korzhev the philosopher, who created an accurate, detailed metaphor for a historical moment that continues to this day.
In the center of the group occupying top part composition, the powerful figure of an old blacksmith in an apron stands out - the archetype of the Russian people. The background is occupied by occupiers. Also an archetype. And these are not necessarily Germans. These are fascists - this is how our consciousness reads them this image. Korzhev’s painting symbolically depicts we are today - Russian Soviet people, taken hostage by world oligarchic fascism.
You cannot endlessly console yourself with the false patriotic rhetoric of the current government and ostentatious saber-rattling. Fans of Nicholas II and the White Guard, ideological Vlasovites and Krasnovites, who fiercely hate everything Soviet, will always be spokesmen for the interests of the nouveau riche, former black marketeers, underground hucksters and speculators who criminally took possession of the people's property and are now dictating their own rules to us. This whole gang of Turliks is dependent on Western financial corporations and operates under their control.
Currently, hiding behind protective traditionalist phraseology, they are preparing to mercilessly suppress any pockets of popular protest, one after another adopting cannibalistic anti-democratic laws, the purpose of which is total control over citizens, as well as creating specific structures in law enforcement agencies and detachments of right-wing radical stormtroopers under the guise of " Cossacks." Bonfires of books are not yet burning in the streets, but that time is already approaching.
Similar processes are now happening all over the world. Inspired by intelligence services paid by the oligarchs, “spontaneous” terrorist acts, interethnic and interreligious clashes will inevitably require legislative restrictions on a number of civil and personal freedoms in Western countries, the emergence of official cyber control cannot be ruled out. I have no doubt that in a very short time in the civilized states of Europe and America, democracy will be replaced by quasi-fascist and then openly fascist regimes.
Everything is clear here, the caste of oligarchs needs to somehow control the proliferating humanity, and tough regimes are much cheaper and more effective than rotten democracies. Of course, these regimes will treat their neighbors without much tenderness - being ideological twins, Bandera and Vlasov, as is known, do not consider each other brothers. But a war against all oligarchs will suit everyone very well. First, wars solve the problem of overpopulation. Secondly, they are the engine of the economy.
So nothing personal, just business. If you didn’t want socialism, you get oligarchic fascism and total war. A holy place is never empty.
Is there anything we can do? Good question. Can the hostages depicted in Korzhev’s painting do anything?
Of course, we can and should vote against the party in power in the elections. While we have this opportunity. But in general, all we can do is preserve and pass on knowledge. This is a seemingly hopeless, but very important matter. This is precisely where I see the meaning of Korzhev’s prophecy.
There is another semantic layer in the picture under consideration. Look at the figure of the enemy officer in the upper right corner. Unlike the living people in the foreground, he is smart, even elegant and looks like a creature from another world or a mannequin - a staunch tin soldier.
No, this is not death. Death is dirty and disgusting, but nothingness is self-sufficient and elegant in its invulnerability, since it is devoid of any qualities. This is nothingness.
In the picture we see humanity taken hostage by non-existence in the face of the coming future.
If the future comes, humanity will perish, at least in its current form. If there is no future, non-existence will win, turning us into mutants. I still don't know how to resolve this philosophical paradox.
But something must remain.
Korzhev believed that an idea is stronger than non-existence. This is evidenced by the following paintings from the “Skeletons” series, which actually represent the Master’s creative testament.
"Victory of the Living and the Dead" (2001).
If the living fail, the dead will come to their aid in the battle against the evil spirits.
In the next picture, the artist depicted himself in this formation.
He continued to work to make the music of the metaphysical revolution sound.
"Mournful Duet" (2006).
They say that the Soviet Union could not resist because it was ahead of its time. It is suggested that in two to three hundred years humanity will make use of the Soviet experience and return to the communist type of social structure. Unless, of course, he dies in a global war unleashed by the oligarchs.
May be. But stupidity, greed and betrayal have always existed and will not go away unless we help them.
Music sounds through nothingness. In an abandoned park, a small skeleton in a pioneer tie plays wake-up call. The living and the dead rush together for the final assault.
The real revolution takes place in consciousness.
Remember the main thing - do not give up!
"Bugler" (2008).
This image is clickable, you can see the picture in higher resolution.
UPD: An important addition to this post is a poem, largely inspired by Korzhev’s painting and concretizing my understanding of the current socio-political situation:
Geliy Korzhev "Conversation", 1989
Moscow museums are closed on Mondays. But this does not mean that the public does not have the opportunity to become acquainted with beauty. The editors launched a website especially for Mondays new section“10 Unknowns”, in which we introduce you to ten works of world art from the collection of Moscow museums, united by one theme. Print out our guide and feel free to take it to the museum starting Tuesday.
The Tretyakov Gallery presented a monographic exhibition of Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev, the last great Russian realist of the 20th century. Korzhev is one of the most powerful figures in Russian art, a complex and contradictory personality. A representative of the post-war generation, he quickly burst into art scene in the late 1950s and became one of the leaders of the legendary sixties.
Heliy Korzhev "Lovers", 1959
Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev (Chuvelev) was born in Moscow on July 7, 1925 in the family of a landscape architect. His main teacher was Sergei Vasilyevich Gerasimov, a professor at the Surikov Institute, a Russian impressionist and one of the founders of socialist release in Soviet art. This meeting is on long years predetermined both the themes of Korzhev’s works and his painting style. But the history of the art of socialist realism and the whole country has developed in such a way that, being one of the most famous painters 1960–1980s and working intensively until the last days of his life, Korzhev turned out to be an irrelevant and almost unknown author for several generations of viewers and professionals.
Geliy Korzhev "Raising the Banner", 1957–1960
Korzhev's triptych "Communists", dedicated to the Great October revolution and consisting of the paintings "The Internationale", "Homer" and "Raising the Banner", became important phenomenon in history Soviet painting. The last of them depicts a nameless revolutionary fighter raising a red banner from a cobblestone street. It is noteworthy that Korzhev does not depict any specific events or historical figures in his paintings. All his heroes are generalized characters, in in a certain sense personifying the entire people and reproducing typical scenes from everyday life.
Geliy Korzhev "Traces of War", 1963–1965
Art critics call Geliy Korzhev “the artist of Russian misfortune” and consider him a representative of the harsh style, but he himself said about this: “The harsh style was started by Petrov-Vodkin and Deineka, not us!” This is, of course, connected with the themes of his paintings: the poverty of everyday life, the hardships of war, peasant rudeness, which he portrayed with incredible straightforwardness. The characters in his paintings do not become heroes. He even presents the theme of the Great Patriotic War not through exploits and victories, but through portraits of nameless soldiers, who are presented with ruthless directness: mutilated and rude.
Geliy Korzhev "Mother", 1964–1967
Geliy Korzhev never took official orders: according to the agreements he concluded with the Union of Artists, he painted not leaders, but paintings on various topics, which became possible only during the thaw of the 1960s. “In creativity, I value freedom most of all. Freedom is to write what I want, and the way I feel and can,” said Korzhev. Portraits of ordinary people became a pictorial and social experiment for him.
Geliy Korzhev "Clouds of 1945", 1980–1985
"Clouds 1945" is Korzhev's programmatic work. The painting depicts an elderly woman and a man who lost a leg in the war. But the main thing in the picture is the social subtext and the silence that hangs in the air on a hot spring or summer afternoon and so amazes people accustomed to constant shelling and bombing.
Heliy Korzhev "Annunciation", 1987
An important direction in Korzhev’s work was the appeal to biblical and gospel subjects
He wrote his “Bible Cycle” for a long time, leaving all official positions after the death of his parents in 1986. “There are enemies, there are friends, but there is no politics,” he said about the subjects of his paintings. Korzhev took ten years to paint the painting “The Annunciation.” And although it seemed to keep up with the times and ideas, it remained not understood by the viewer: for the first time this cycle was presented not in Russia, but in the USA in 2007.
Geliy Korzhev "Conversation", 1989
Geliy Korzhev "Conversation", 1989
"Conversation" is one of the few works where the master worked with a portrait of Lenin. In this case, he used this image in a metaphorical and symbolic sense: Lenin is depicted together with an emaciated blind old man, who, on the one hand, personifies a starving people, and on the other, turns out to be some kind of ethereal force, defining tragic fate everything, or holy fools who predict imminent death.
Geliy Korzhev "Turliks No. 2: In the hairdresser", 1991
Horror, confusion, blood and the terrible reality of the 1990s - all this was reflected in the series "Turliks", dedicated to fictional monsters, inspired by paintings Francisco Goya and Hieronymus Bosch. This is how Geliy Korzhev saw his time. His “Turliks” cause nausea and rejection, sometimes also from recognition of some characters, situations, and current subtext. During the artist's lifetime, the cycle was presented in the Moscow gallery "Regina".
Geliy Korzhev "Triumphator", 1996
It’s difficult to appreciate now, but Korzhev quite boldly violated and destroyed the canons of Russian art, which has a very narrow understanding of realism. But his later surrealist works were definitely more daring than the works of the Soviet period.
Geliy Korzhev "Deprived of Paradise", 1998
In the mid-1980s, the artist resumed active work on the philosophical biblical cycle of paintings, which began in the late 1960s. This work continued until the death of Geliy Mikhailovich on August 27, 2012. A posthumous exhibition of the biblical cycle, which the author himself began to prepare during his lifetime, was held at the Institute of Russian Realistic Art in 2012.
Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev born in Moscow in 1925 in the family of an architect. After graduating from the Moscow Art Institute named after Surikov, Korzhev teaches, illustrates books, writes numerous sketches - he is looking for his own path.
In 1954, Korzhev graduated painting “In the days of war”. It depicts artist in his studio, next to a still blank canvas, before starting work. The picture conveys the condition well young artist, feeling like a participant in the national struggle. This talented, serious work immediately attracted attention.
However, subsequent work Korzhev "Autumn", “We Left”, “Morning” at the first moment seem unexpected and disappointing - they are much weaker than the first.
This genre works, painted directly from life. Korzhev needed them to master professional skills, the lack of which he painfully felt, preventing him from talking about what worried him, conveying his thoughts and feelings. This was a necessary transitional stage in the artist’s work, which did not pass without a trace. The result was reflected later in pictures of great civic power: "Lovers"(1959), where the theme of personal happiness is resolved in inextricable connection with the fate of the country, in the triptych “Communists” (1960), in the series “Scorched by the Fire of War”.
When in 1960 in Moscow at the exhibition “ Soviet Russia"appeared Korzhev triptych “Communists”, he became artistic event, which not a single visitor passed by. But why? What is the strength of this work? Haven't each of us seen enough? paintings, serious on the topic, professionally written and leaving the viewer completely indifferent? In Korzhev’s triptych, there was a sincere, strong belief in what he was talking about. The artist here affirms his attitude to the world, his ideal of a person.
Each part of the triptych painting “Communists” has an independent, deep, symbolic meaning. common topic connects all three parts. In the center - "Raiser of the Banner".
Pavement, rails, a hatch, two dead people and... a man raising a banner that had fallen from the hands of the dead man. Before us is only an episode of a street battle, but the full intensity of this battle among iron and stone is felt here.
The picture is full of dynamics - the standard bearer has just fallen and his comrade-in-arms immediately begins to straighten up, rising to his full height. The artist speaks of the fighter’s stern fearlessness, his readiness to continue the fight, and asserts that it is impossible to frighten or stop the rebellious people.
One of the side parts of the triptych - "International"(1957 - 1958). - a true hymn to courage and perseverance Soviet man. Before us are unarmed people surrounded by enemies. The rifles were abandoned because they ran out of ammunition. Of the whole detachment, only two of them remained. They stand back to back - the standard bearer and the trumpeter playing the Internationale. The sun is beating down mercilessly. Hard brown earth underfoot, spent cartridges around, bodies of the dead and these two figures in the center, standing tall, ready to die without flinching, and before death, challenging the enemy with their courage.
The third part of the triptych is called "Homer" or "Working Studio"(1958-1960). Here is captured what the struggle was for - for the sake of a straightened, creative life, full of spiritual meaning. Just ended Civil War. And the man at the sculpture machine has not yet had time to change his military clothes - he is wearing windings, a leather jacket, and next to him lies a Budennovka with a red star. He sculpts a bust of the ancient Greek storyteller Homer. How deep and concentrated this man is, comprehending the basics of sculptural skill. And we believe - he will master it.
In 1968, Honored artist RSFSR Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev was elected chairman of the Union of Artists of the Russian Federation.
I. Rolnik, according to the materials of the magazine “Family and School”, 1969
I was born in Moscow in 1925.
1925
— Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev was born on July 7 in Moscow (Pyatnitskaya St., building 43)
in the family of architect Mikhail Petrovich Korzhev and Serafima Mikhailovna Korzheva.
My father is a park architect who put a lot of effort into landscaping Moscow.
Mikhail Petrovich Korzhev (1897-1986) was born in Kaluga - an architect of the Soviet avant-garde, one of the founders of Soviet landscape architecture. Almost all boulevards, parks and other large monuments of landscape architecture in Moscow (Central Park of Culture and Leisure, Main Botanical Garden, Izmailovsky Park, Lefortovo Park, Water Parterre in Khimki, the Moscow State University park ensemble on the Lenin Hills, etc.) were created with the participation of Mikhail Petrovich Korzhev, where he acted either as a co-author or as a project manager. Mikhail Petrovich was one of the first “green architects” Soviet Union, having received the title “Don Quixote of Landscape” in professional circles.
Mom is a teacher at one of the Moscow schools, where she worked for more than forty years.
Serafima Mikhailovna Korzheva, nee Chuveleva (-1896-1986), was born in Moscow, taught Russian language and literature at the gymnasium. She raised three children: Helia,
Vette and Eldin.
Vetta Mikhailovna Korzheva (1931-2002) graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University
with honors, worked as an economist in construction trusts.
Eldina Mikhailovna Korzheva (1932-2011) graduated from the Faculty of Philosophy of Moscow State University
with honors, worked at the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
1929 — the Korzhev family moved to one of the first cooperative houses at 1st Zachatievsky Lane, building 13.
1933 - entered primary school and visited the children's studio at the State Museum visual arts on the street Volkhonka.
From the age of ten he studied in kindergartens art studios Moscow.
1936 - studied in the art studio at the House artistic education Frunzensky district on Bolshaya Pirogovskaya street under the guidance of student V.A. Serov and K.F. Yuona Antonina Petrovna Sergeeva.
In 1939 he was admitted to the Moscow Secondary Art School, in the third grade. At the art school, professional training began with teacher-artists. HereAt the same time, a creative friendship arose among the students, a friendship that continues to this day.
1939 - on the advice of A.S. Sergeev passed the entrance exams to the newly opened Moscow Secondary Art School (MSHS).
The Moscow Art School was created on the initiative of artists I.E. Grabar, K.F. Yuona, S.V. Gerasimov in order to increase the level of education of the younger generation in the profession. Before the war, the school was located on Kalyaevskaya and then on Pereyaslavskaya streets.
Based on the exam results, Geliy Korzhev was admitted to third grade. Among the first intake at the Moscow Art School were V.F. Stozharov, L.A. Shitov, A.P. Tkachev, V.I. Ivanov, V.Z. Purygin, A.S. Papikyan, K.V. Bakhteeva, P.P. Ossovsky et al.
Special subjects at the school were taught by artists V.V. Pochitalov, M.V. Dobroserdov, A.P. Shorchev, S.M. Mikhailovsky. N.A. was appointed director. Karenberg.
On the afternoon of June 22, my friend and I got togetherDima Krasnopevtsev to go to the Tretyakov Gallery. I was sitting this morningin my father’s office and drew “The Spanish Flu”. It was a sketch of Aunt Nyura, whom I decided to turn into a passionate Spanish woman. Here's what's behind itI was caught up in my class by Dima’s call: “War!”...
1941 — signed up for sniper training courses and went to field training near Smolensk. As the fighting approached, the course students returned to Moscow.
During the war, the school moved to Bashkiria and was located in the large village of Voskresenskoye. The two years spent by school students in the village, among nature, long defined the creative face of the school. We, city kids, left for two years without museums and exhibitions, saw that beauty is in nature, in the ordinary people who surrounded us.
1941 - at the insistence of teachers, on September 25, together with the last group of teachers and students, the Moscow Art School was evacuated to Bashkiria, the village of Voskresenskoye. In Voskresensky, teachers gradually established the life and activities of the school.
In 1944 he graduated from school and in the same year he entered the Art Institute. Surikov at the painting department. Many excellent artist-teachers worked at the institute then. My teachers were S.V. Gerasimov, N.X. Maksimov and V.V. Pochitalov. And although living conditions were difficult, studies went on very intensively. Front-line soldiers who had returned from the war began to join the group of former art school students who became students. They, people who went through war and serious trials, brought with them a burning thirst for knowledge.
1944 - the school returned to Moscow, where a reporting exhibition was held in the halls of the “All-Artist”, as a result of which all the students of the school were accepted into the Moscow Art Institute (MHI), now the Moscow State Academic Art Institute named after V.I. Surikov. From the 3rd year of the institute he studied in the workshop of S.V. Gerasimova.
1945 — while studying at the institute, together with classmates, he worked in the Pushkin Museum, dismantling the rescued Soviet army masterpieces of the Dresden Gallery.
Kira Vladimirovna Bakhteeva (1923-2007) studied at the Moscow Art School from 1939 to 1944. Student at Moscow Art Institute from 1944 to 1946. Since 1947, she studied at the acting department of GITIS and graduated in 1953. Member of the Union of Artists since 1964.
In 1950 I graduated from the institute, receiving the title of artist-painter. The first independent steps are always difficult. I had to find my topic, my language and just myself. It was necessary to learn how to earn money for a living so as not to interfere with the development of creativity. I understood that my knowledge and skills were still very limited and in order to develop I needed to participate in exhibitions. I first participated in a student exhibition in 1941. There, next to older artists and your comrades, you better understand your shortcomings and your capabilities. Soon youth exhibitions began to be organized in Moscow, which became a second school. At these exhibitions we gained experience and confidence.
1950 — graduated from Moscow State Art Institute named after. Surikov. Graduate work"Young Architects" with a "good" rating. Qualified as a painter.
I started working as a teacher quite early. My teacher S.V. In 1951, Gerasimov invited me to teach painting at the Stroganov School for junior courses. And this work was useful for me. By teaching others, I learned myself. He finished his teaching career as the head of the department monumental painting in 1984.
1951 — received an invitation from S.V. Gerasimov to work at the Moscow Higher Art and Industrial School (MVHPU), formerly Stroganov, as a senior teacher, where he taught until 1958. Worked in the brigade of P.P. Sokolov-Skali on an artistic panel for the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.
1952 — together with P.P. Ossovsky illustrated the book by A.P. Gaidar “Hot Stone”, including “The Tale of a Military Secret, of Malchish-Kibalchish and His Firm Word”, for the publishing house “Detgiz”. He performed illustrations for a number of other publishing houses.
1954 — at the Exhibition of works by young Moscow artists from March 24 to April 25 in the Exhibition Hall of the Union of Artists of the USSR, the artist’s first completed painting “In the Days of War” was presented.
He was accepted as a member of the Moscow Union of Artists, bypassing the mandatory candidate experience. Recommendations to the Union were given by his teacher S.V. Gerasimov and P.P. Sokolov-Skalya. S.V. Gerasimov wrote in the recommendations: “Young and very talented artist G. Korzhev has a strong drawing and painting. He is very professional in his craft. He teaches painting at the Stroganov School. At the Exhibition of Young Moscow Artists his painting “In the Days of War” is at a very high level.”
He took an active part in the life of the Ministry of Agriculture, in organizing and holding exhibitions
young artists (1954, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959). Youth exhibitions were given
a start in life for many artists: V.F. Stozharov, V.N. Gavrilov, Tkachev brothers, T.T. Salakhov, I.A. Popov, P.P. Ossovsky, V.I. Ivanov, E.I. Zverkov, brothers Tutunov, I.V. Golitsin, V.M. Sidorov, brothers Nikonov, brothers Smolin, D.D. Zhilinsky and others.
1955 — On January 20, the All-Union Art Exhibition opened at the State Tretyakov Gallery(Tretyakov Gallery), where the painting “In the Days of War” was exhibited.
The post-war years were the time when artists of my generation came of age. The war introduced amendments to the concept of “socialist realism”. There was much more truth in the art of those years. The wave of praise began to subside, and depictions of the lives of ordinary people began to dominate exhibitions.
1956 — from February 15 to March 15, as part of the Second Exhibition of works by young artists of Moscow and the Moscow region, the paintings “Left Away,” “Arrived from Construction,” and “Autumn” were exhibited.
He began work on the paintings “Morning” and “Typist”.
With a group of artists he made his first foreign trip to Italy.
1957 — from April 21 to May 20, the paintings “Morning” and “Typist” were exhibited at the Third Exhibition of works by young artists of Moscow and the Moscow region.
From July 20 to August 20, he took part in the Exhibition of works by young artists of the Soviet Union for the VI World Festival of Youth and Students in Moscow.
From July 30 to August 20, the painting “Morning” was exhibited at the International Exhibition of Fine and Applied Arts in Central Park culture and recreation (CPKiO) named after. A.M. Gorky.
From November 5 to March 16, 1958, he took part in the All-Union Art Exhibition dedicated to the 40th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
Made a creative trip to Syria and Lebanon.
1958 — from June 19 to July 28, the paintings “The International” (the right part of the future triptych “Communists”) and “Rains” were exhibited at the Fourth Exhibition of Works by Young Artists of Moscow.
Elected a member of the Board of the Moscow Branch of the Union of Artists (MOUSH) of the RSFSR, where he served until 1976.
Took part in the All-Union art exhibition “40 years of the Komsomol”.
1959 - at the Fifth Exhibition of works by young Moscow artists as part of the RSFSR Arts Week at the Central Park of Culture and Culture named after. A.M. Gorky's painting "Lovers" was exhibited.
B.V. Joganson in the article “ New picture Korzhev" wrote that G. Korzhev is an artist of thought, an artist of deep mood. “In the new work - “Lovers” - Geliy Korzhev is faithful to a deep, serious view of life and human destinies. The picture is convincing. The form of painting itself is high enough to understand what the artist wants to say.”
Made a creative trip to France.
1960 — finished work on the triptych “Communists”.
At the First Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” the triptych “Communists” was exhibited for the first time, as well as the painting “Lovers”.
On June 21, the First Founding Congress of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR opened. G. Korzhev was elected Secretary of the Board of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR (until 1968).
Took part in the All-Union art exhibition dedicated to the XXII Congress of the CPSU.
Made a creative trip to the UK.
1961 - awarded the Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts of the USSR for the triptych “Communists”. The triptych “Communists” was nominated for the Lenin Prize.
Finished work on the painting “The Artist”.
The triptych “Communists” and the painting “The Artist” were exhibited at the All-Union Art Exhibition.
Participated in a joint exhibition with A.P. Bubnov in Poland (Krakow, Warsaw).
1962 — the painting “The Artist” was exhibited at the 31st Venice Biennale.
Participated in the exhibition “30 years of Moscow Union of Artists” at the Central Exhibition Hall with the painting “On the Road”. The exhibition was visited by members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee, headed by N.S. Khrushchev.
He began work on the polyptych “Scorched by the Fire of War.”
I purchased a hut in the village of Ryumnikovo, Yaroslavl region.
1963 — took part in the meeting N.S. Khrushchev with the creative intelligentsia.
He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the VI convocation (1963-1967).
Awarded the title “Honored Artist of the RSFSR.”
1964 — was elected a corresponding member of the Academy of Arts at the XXI session of the USSR Academy of Arts.
He was awarded a Certificate of Honor from the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the Azerbaijan SSR.
He worked on the painting “Mother” from the series “Scorched by the Fire of War”.
He was invited to teach at the Department of Monumental Art of the Moscow Higher Art Pedagogical University.
At the zonal exhibition of works by Moscow artists “Moscow - the capital of our Motherland”, which opened at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall, the triptych “Scorched by the Fire of War” was exhibited: “Street Singer”, “Mother”, “Traces of War”.
Many exhibitions - republican, all-Union, foreign, large and small - became places for the formation and development of my creativity. Failures alternated with successes and alternated again. And it must be said that an unsuccessful performance at the exhibition helped the development of creativity much more than success.
1965 — participated in the Second Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” at the Central Exhibition Hall with the triptych “Scorched by the Fire of War”: “Street Singer”, “Mother”, “Traces of War”.
The triptych “Scorched by the Fire of War” was exhibited: “Street Singer”, “Mother”,
“Traces of War” - at the Seventh Exhibition of works by members of the USSR Academy of Arts.
Participated in the All-Union exhibition “Guardian of Peace”.
He headed the department of monumental painting at the Moscow Higher Art and Art Pedagogical University.
1966 — On October 11, he became a laureate of the State Prize of the RSFSR named after I.E. Repin for the triptych “Communists”.
The paintings “In the Days of War”, “Lovers”, “The Artist”, “Traces of War” and the triptych “Communists” were exhibited at the Eighth Exhibition of works by members of the USSR Academy of Arts.
He was awarded the academic title of professor.
1967 — At the Third Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” he presented the polyptych “Scorched by the Fire of War”: “Traces of War”, “Mother”, “Old Wounds”, “Barrier”, “Seeing Away”.
Finished work on the painting “Old Wounds”.
The polyptych “Scorched by the fire of war” was exhibited: “Traces of war”, “Mother”,
“Old Wounds”, “Barrier”, “Seeing Off” - at the All-Union Anniversary Art Festival
exhibition "50 years of Soviet power".
He became a member of the Committee for State Prizes of the RSFSR in the field of literature and art.
1968 - At the II Congress of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR, he was elected Chairman of the Board.
By the decision of the Presidium of the USSR Academy of Arts, he was appointed head of the Creative Painting Workshop of the USSR Academy of Arts (N.E. Zaitsev, O.P. Filatchev, T.G. Nazarenko, I.I. Sidelnikov, E.A. Korneev, etc. worked in the workshop).
Made a creative trip to the Netherlands.
1969 — the works “Barrier”, “Old Wounds”, “Seeing Off” were exhibited at the Ninth Exhibition of works by members of the USSR Academy of Arts.
Was sent by the Union of Artists of the USSR to Poland.
1970 — was elected a full member of the USSR Academy of Arts.
Took part in the All-Union art exhibition “25 years of the Victory of the Soviet Union in the Great Patriotic War».
Took part in the All-Union exhibition dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin.
Made creative trips to Italy and Spain.
1971 - was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
I started working on the painting “Doomed”.
1972 — took part in the exhibition “Five Soviet Artists” together with D.D. Zhilinsky, E.I. Zverkov, V.I. Ivanov and P.P. Ossovsky, which took place in Rome, Milan, Turin, Bologna and Palermo.
In May, he gave a speech at the funeral of A.A. Plastova in the village of Prislonikha, Ulyanovsk region.
Took part in the All-Union exhibition “USSR - Our Motherland”, dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the formation of the USSR (Moscow, Chisinau, Kyiv, Odessa, Baku).
He was awarded the honorary title "People's Artist of the RSFSR".
1973 — participated in the IV Congress of Artists of the USSR.
Participated in the exhibition “Five Soviet Artists” in Bulgaria (Sofia, Pazardzhik), Czechoslovak SSR (Prague, Bratislava), GDR (Karl-Marx-Stadt) until 1975 inclusive.
Took part in an exhibition of works by members of the USSR Academy of Arts.
Grandson Ivan Korzhev was born.
All members of my family are artists, and together we form a small union, where there are almost all specialties: painters, sculptors, monumentalists, applied artists, designers. There are no schedules, but the little grandson is growing and there is hope that he will fill this gap. This, of course, is a joke, but it’s joyful that art will live in our family when the older representatives are no longer there.
1974 - paintings “In the Days of War”, “Lovers”, “Artist”, “Traces of War” and the triptych “Communists” were exhibited at the Anniversary Exhibition of works by members of the USSR Academy of Arts for the 25th anniversary of the transformation of the All-Russian Academy of Arts into the USSR Academy of Arts.
1975 - began work on the painting “Conversation”.
He developed a series of sketches for paintings, among which was a sketch for the painting “Conversation” for the government building at the suggestion of Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the RSFSR V.I. Kochemasova. The government of the RSFSR refused to accept the author's interpretation of the plots and images in G. Korzhev's sketches. On the recommendation of G. Korzhev, A.A. was invited to carry out the state order. Mylnikov, who together with his students created the ceremonial tapestries.
Celebrated his 50th anniversary in the village of Ryumnikovo. A.M. came to congratulate the hero of the day. Gritsai, T.T. Salakhov, E.G. Bragovsky, A.S. Papikyan, N.P. Grishin et al.
He was elected as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of the 9th convocation and a member of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR.
Took part in the International Exhibition of Artists from Socialist Countries, dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Great Victory, held in Moscow at the Manege Central Exhibition Hall.
At the Fifth Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” the painting “Doomed” was exhibited. Awarded a diploma.
He took part in an exhibition of works by Moscow artists dedicated to the 25th Congress of the CPSU, with the canvas “Doomed”.
1976 — began work on the painting “Egorka the Flyer.”
The publishing house “Soviet Artist” released the album “G.M. Korzhev: The Artist and Time".
He finished work on the painting “Overturned” and demonstrated it at an exhibition of members of the USSR Academy of Arts.
Opened and held the IV Congress of Artists of the RSFSR.
He refused re-election to the position of Chairman of the Board of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR and recommended S.P. Tkachev for this position.
Took part in the IV Congress of the USSR Union of Artists.
Took part in organizing the exhibition A.A. Plastova in Manege (Moscow).
The paintings “Doomed” and “Overturned” were exhibited at the All-Union art exhibition “Glory to Labor!”
Begins development of the “Turliks” cycle.
I also devoted a lot of time to public work in exhibition committees, commissions, etc., and from 1968 to 1976 I was chairman of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR. The work was difficult and did not go well with creativity. But over these eight years, we managed to assemble a team of completely new young artists, which was the fact of the arrival of new ideas and methods in the development of our art. Many new names and works appeared at our exhibitions.
1977 — took an active part in holding the exhibition A.A. Plastova in Leningrad.
He began work on the painting “Don Quixote and Sancho Panza”.
He worked at the Creative Dacha of the USSR Academy of Arts (Abamelek-Lazarev Villa in Rome).
He was awarded a diploma from the All-Union art exhibition “On the Lenin Path”, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution.
The paintings “Homer (Working Studio)” and “Overturned” were exhibited at the Republican art exhibition “60 years of the Great October Revolution”.
1979 — awarded the honorary title “People’s Artist of the USSR.”
1980 — completed work on the paintings “Yegorka the Flyer” and “Assault”.
I started creating the painting “Clouds 1945”.
The painting “Yegorka the Flyer” was exhibited at the Sixth Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” at the Central Exhibition Hall.
Presented the triptych “Communists” and the painting “Farewell” at the All-Union art exhibition dedicated to the 110th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin.
1981 — became a member of the committee for preparing the anniversary of A.A. Ivanova.
Delivered a keynote speech on the work of A.A. Ivanova at the gala
meeting at the Bolshoi Theater.
1983 — made a creative trip to India and Nepal.
1985
- awarded for great contribution to the development of fine arts
Order of Lenin.
At the Seventh Republican Art Exhibition “Soviet Russia” the still life “Tupe and Pots” was exhibited.
1986 — completed his teaching career at the Moscow Higher Art School.
He was awarded the Gold Medal named after M.B. Grekov for the series of works “Scorched
fire of war" and "Clouds of 1945".
The artist's mother died in May.
At the All-Union art exhibition “We are building communism” the paintings “Conversation”, “Don Quixote”, “Tureen and Pots” were exhibited.
The artist's father died in December.
He began work on the “Biblical” series of paintings.
1987 — participated in the exhibition of the creative association “Moskvorechye”.
At the XV exhibition of members of the USSR Academy of Arts, the paintings “Don Quixote”, “Conversation”, “Clouds of 1945”, “Bones Brought from the Forest”, “Tureen and Pots” were exhibited.
He was awarded the title of laureate of the USSR State Prize for the films “Conversation”, “Clouds of 1945”, “Don Quixote”.
The painting “Traces of War” was exhibited at the joint Russian-German exhibition “Fear and Hope. Peace and war through the eyes of artists" (Hamburg - Munich -
Moscow - Leningrad) until 1988 inclusive.
Made a creative trip to Cyprus.
1988 — the publishing house “Artist of the RSFSR” published a book by A.Ya. Basyrov “The history of the creation of one work. G.M. Korzhev. Triptych “Communists”.
1991 - refused to be elected president of the USSR Academy of Arts.
1992 — finished work on the paintings “Mutants” and “Additional Lesson”.
1993
— took part in the Eighth Republican Art Exhibition
“Soviet Russia” with the paintings “Mutants” and “In Memory of Danae”.
Grandson Arseny Tishin was born.
Started working on the painting “Triumphants”.
The artist’s personal exhibition was held in the private gallery “Regina” in Moscow
“Heliy Korzhev. Mutants”, where works from the “Turliks” series and the painting “Don Quixote” (1985-1990) were exhibited.
1994
— took part in the exhibition “Russian Art for 100 Years”
in Taipei (Taiwan).
1995 - awarded the Order of Friendship. He refused to receive the order.
1996 — collaboration with collector Ray Johnson (USA) began.
1997
- continued the cycle “About Don Quixote” with work on the paintings “Dulcinea”
and the knight" and "Don Quixote and the monk".
I started creating the painting “Autumn of the Ancestors”.
He continued the “Household” series with work on the films “Get Up, Ivan!”, “The Tenant”, “The Prodigal Son”.
Grandson Peter Tishin was born.
1998
— the funeral of People's Artist of the USSR A.M. took place. Gritsaya —
close friend and senior mentor G.M. Korzheva.
He completed work on the films “Deprived of Paradise” and “For Three.”
1999 — at the IX All-Russian Art Exhibition “Russia” in the Manege the paintings “Don Quixote and Sancho” (1995-1998), “Dulcinea and the Knight” (1997-1998), “Don Quixote and the Monk” (1997-1998) were exhibited.
He finished work on the canvases “In the Shadow of the Cross” and “Adam Andreevich and Eva Petrovna.”
2000 — E.V. Zaitsev published the album “Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev” at the Passim publishing house for the 75th anniversary of the artist’s birth.
From April 28 to October 1, paintings from the series “Scorched by the Fire of War” were exhibited at the exhibition “For Life on Earth” at the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
The paintings “Annunciation” and “Judas” were exhibited at the All-Russian art exhibition “...To Your Name...”, dedicated to the 2000th anniversary of the Nativity of Christ.
2001 — last time took part in the session of the Russian Academy of Arts.
He created the canvas “Victory of the Living and the Dead (In Memory of the Fallen).”
It's been many years since I picked up a pencil and brush. Many works were created. A lot of work left the workshop. The trail of some has been lost. There remains hope that somewhere they are alive and serving people. There were many joys and sorrows. And as always, the dream is ahead, and as always, inaccessible.
2002 — the publishing house “New Hermitage - One” has released a monograph album by V.S. Manin "Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev".
2003 - canvases " Female portrait"(1948) and "Nude Model" (1948) are exhibited at the exhibition "Ways of Russian Impressionism" in the State Tretyakov Gallery on Krymsky Val.
Became a laureate of the M.A. Prize. Sholokhov "for his great contribution to the development of domestic and world culture."
At the exhibition “Berlin - Moscow”, held at the international exhibition complex Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin, the paintings “Raising the Banner”, “Traces of War”, “Mother”, “Old Wounds”, and the still life “Hammer and Sickle” were presented.
2004 — participated in the X All-Russian art exhibition “Russia”.
At the exhibition “Moscow - Berlin”, held in the State Tretyakov Gallery, the paintings “Raising the Banner”, “Traces of War”, “Mother”, “Old Wounds”, and the still life “Hammer and Sickle” were exhibited.
The painting “The Artist” was exhibited at the exhibition “Warsaw - Moscow. 1900-2000" in the National Gallery of Art "Zachęta" (Warsaw, Poland).
2005 — the triptych “Communists” was exhibited at the exhibition “Russia!” at the Salomon Guggenheim Museum (New York, USA).
The painting “Hostages of War” was exhibited at the International Art Exhibition of the Union of Artists of Russia “VICTORY”, dedicated to the 60th anniversary of the Victory
in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945.
The painting “The Artist” is presented at the exhibition “Moscow - Warsaw. 1900-2000" in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
2006 — an article by V.P. was published in the magazine “Artist”. Sysoev "Social drama in the works of Geliy Korzhev."
Finished work on the painting “Deprived of Parental Rights.”
At the exhibition at the State Russian Museum (SRM) “Time of Change. Art 1960-1985 in the Soviet Union” the paintings “Traces of War”, “Conversation”, “Raising the Banner” and “The International” were exhibited.
2007 — his wife Kira died in June.
Finished work on the paintings “The Landfill” and “The Petitioner”.
The personal exhibition “Raising the Banner” has opened:
The Art of Geli Korzhev" at the Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis (USA)
with dedication to the recently deceased Kira Korzheva.
2008
- at the All-Russian art exhibition "Fatherland"
V Central house artist (Central House of Artists) exhibited the paintings “Still Life.
In the pantry", "Near the stove", "In the closet" from the collection of the Union of Artists
Russia.
It was held jointly with the sculptor V.V. Tishin exhibition at the Moscow House of Sculptors.
2009 — participated in the exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists with the paintings “Chulan”, “Apple Savior”, “Village Shop”.
At the XI All-Russian art exhibition "Russia" in the Central House of Artists were exhibited
paintings “Mournful Duet” and “Dumping Ground”.
2010
— took part in the exhibition of the Union of Russian Artists
with the painting “Displaced People, 1942”.
Collaboration began with collector A.N. Ananyev.
2011 — a personal exhibition “The Art of Helium Korzhev” took place at the “Fine Art” gallery (Moscow).
Took part in the opening of the private museum “Institute of Russian Realism”
Art" (IRRI) in Moscow.
He created the painting “The Prophet”.
2012
— finished work on the paintings “The Last Hours on Earth”
and "Winner".
The exhibition “Without Barriers. Russian art 1985-2000",
on which the painting “Rise, Ivan!” was exhibited.
The posthumous personal exhibition “The Bible through the Eyes of a Socialist Realist” opened in IRRI (Moscow).
Art is the order of the outgoing sentry to the incoming sentry. We have lost many wonderful sentries of our native culture. And today we are on the clock, and this means a lot, and soon we will need to hand over the post, and we need to hand it over with honor and dignity.
2013 - was installed on the artist’s grave tombstone, the authors of which are daughter Irina Gelievna and grandson Ivan Vladimirovich Korzhev.
2014 — at the XII All-Russian Art Exhibition “Russia” in the Central House of Artists the paintings “King’s Decree” and “Don Quixote” were exhibited.
On the initiative and with the direct participation of the artist’s family, the Foundation for Cultural and historical heritage Gelia Korzheva.
2015 — at the State Russian Museum, at the exhibition “New Storytellers in Russian Art of the XX-XXI Centuries,” the paintings “Lovers” and “Rise, Ivan!” were exhibited.
2016 — personal exhibition in the State Tretyakov Gallery.
Art was born in the fight against death. A person wants to live forever, and even more spiritually than physically. And this struggle for immortality gave birth to art. Leave your thoughts and feelings to your descendants, tell about time and yourself, give birth to something more durable and living than yourself, and thereby continue to live next to your grandchildren.
The section was compiled with the participation of student G.M. Korzheva N.V. Kolupaeva
A large exhibition of Heliy Korzhev is taking place in the State Tretyakov Gallery building on Krymsky Val.
Geliy Mikhailovich Korzhev was born on July 7, 1925 in Moscow. He studied at the Moscow State Academy of Arts named after V.I. Surikov (1944-1950). He taught at the Moscow Higher Art and Art Pedagogical University named after S. G. Stroganov. Professor (1966). Chairman of the Board of the Union of Artists of the RSFSR (1968-1975). Died in 2012.
All I remembered about him before the exhibition were two paintings from the old Tretyakov Gallery.
Farewell (1967)
Raising the Banner
Already in these paintings the whole artist, the features of his style and thinking are visible. The plot, the event is given large piece, close-up. Minimum of extraneous parts. At the same time, the artist’s gloomy mood is noticeable.
Here is a picture with a soldier and a woman: why is it “Seeing Off” and not “Meeting”? Or a man raising a banner from the hands of a fallen comrade - it is clear that he, too, is about to be killed.
They like to call Geliy Korzhev a socialist realist. It has always been difficult for me to understand what they mean by this, but previously it was obligatory to be a representative of socialist realism, but now it is considered shameful.
I would define realism in art by contradiction: it is not abstractionism, not cubism, not surrealism, etc. Moreover, this is a painting or sculpture, and not, for example, an installation made from garbage, which is now in every big museum in the world, and in The State Tretyakov Gallery is on the first floor of the building on Krymsky Val in the department of new arrivals. However, this is already old stuff. Yes, and biting people’s legs is also old-fashioned. I don’t even know what the newest trend in art is now.
Thus, everything that was written before the 20th century is realism. Of course, we can say that a realist must reflect exclusively the surrounding reality, i.e. choose everyday scenes. But an artist is either a realist or not. And if today he painted a portrait of a neighbor, tomorrow - a still life of food, and the day after tomorrow a painting on biblical story, then what is he: a realist here, but not there anymore? It turns out to be some kind of nonsense. And didn’t, for example, the impressionists write everyday scenes, ordinary objects, landscapes? Yes, that’s all they did. The question is how they did it.
Well, socialist realism, as we were taught in school, is realism facing the future. For the communist doctrine, the future was certainly bright, communist. This, in my opinion, is where Korzhev had problems: he doesn’t see a bright future.
If Korzhev’s paintings hanging in the permanent exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery were written on a heroic theme: one goes to the front, the other fights on the barricades, then at the exhibition you can see paintings with a completely different mood.
Here is a picture about Victory. Yes, we won, but at too high a cost.
Clouds. 1945 (1985) 
Even the picture about love looks sad.
"Lovers". 
It is natural for an artist to paint something beautiful: lovers should be young, passionate, but here two middle-aged people have moved away from human eyes: they probably have nowhere to meet except in nature. Maybe they have families? Or are they shy about children?
"Old wounds"
By the way, don’t you think these are the same characters as in “Lovers”?
And please note, there is no varnishing of reality, which is what socialist realism has often been accused of. We see the poor tired people for whom life is difficult.
This picture looks more fun. But I didn't find what it is. All that remains is to believe the blogger who posted it as a painting by Korzhev. 
But paintings with realistic subjects do not occupy the main place at the exhibition. Here is a typical picture
Egorka the Flyer (1976)
They say that such an incident actually happened. “In 1695, April 30, a man on guard shouted on Ivanovo Square and said the sovereign’s word for himself, and was brought to the Streletsky Prikaz and questioned, and during the questioning he said that, having made wings, he would fly like a crane. By royal decree, the proposal was accepted.
He made himself wings from mica, spending 18 rubles on it. The head of the Streletsky order, boyar Troekurov, with his comrades and other curious persons, left the order and began to watch the man fly. Having arranged the wings, the man crossed himself as usual and began to inflate the bellows, he wanted to fly, but did not rise, he said that he had made the wings heavy. The boyar got angry at him. The man beat his forehead to make his wings irshen (a type of suede), for which another 5 rubles were spent. And I didn’t fly on those. For that, he was punished - to be beaten with batogs, to take off his shirt, and to add money to him by selling all his property" (I.E. Zabelin. History of Moscow)
But that was an adult man, and here is a teenager, and he did not fly, but this one died. And this picture is not just a paraphrase of the story of “Icarus” - it’s about us, about the Soviet people who flew towards communism and crashed.
The Don Quixote series makes a great impression. These pictures are similar to book illustrations. Here again there are continuous large frames.
Alas, Don Quixote is absolutely insane and very old. The fight against evil is doomed. 
Korzhev also painted paintings on biblical themes. For some reason, this especially bothers critics: a socialist realist paints Christ! What, a socialist realist is not a person and cannot speak out on an eternal topic?
Korzhev sees bible stories as if they actually happened.
His Adam and Eve are a married couple who have no one but each other, and who have no one else to rely on except each other.
Expelled from Paradise (Adam and Eve)
Autumn of the Progenitors (Adam and Eve) 
"Annunciation".
Mary was afraid of the angel and her fate. However, Korzhev was not the first to depict this event in this way.
"Be gone, Satan."
And only Satan’s leg and sleeve were captured in the frame.
Carrying the cross 
Crucifixion
Descent from the Cross 
Lamentation of Christ 
"Father and son".
How to understand this picture? Who is the father of Christ? God of hosts or St. Joseph - husband of the Virgin Mary? Who's in the picture?
"Judas".
As you can see, Korzhev strives to reflect the most important thing. To depict a hanged man, it is enough to show the legs that do not reach the ground. The head is already superfluous. 
As we see, Korzhev described in great detail New Testament. But he does not have the Resurrection - the main thing in Christianity.
Despite his love for biblical and literary themes, Korzhev also writes sharply social pictures.
His position is clear.
Communism is dead 
Next to the skeleton is the artist himself.
Hostages (Living Barrier) (2001-2004)
For some reason the picture is interpreted as a picture of the past. But it seems to me that it was written about today. Yes, there are enemies there in fascist uniforms, but fascism has not gone away.
"Get up, Ivan"
And the defender of the Russian people is hopelessly drunk. 
And he no longer understands that his drinking buddies are dead
As you can see, there is both a generalization and a caricature here. But absolutely realistic image drunkenness and degradation.
What will be next? And then people mutate and turn into Turliks.
Turliks are disgusting, scary and funny at the same time. On the one hand, they have everything like people: men drink bitters, women flirt. They even have their own philosophers. But all this is a caricature of normal people.
"Triumph"
"Feast".
Who do Turliks eat? However, we are also one of cow and sheep babies. 
"Philosophers" 
"Struggle"
"Ancestor's Skull"
Do you see? Turliks originated from people. 
Here is another version of this picture 
Some of Korzhev's paintings are painted in several versions, and it is difficult to say which is better.
"Mutants" 
"Meditation" 
"Russian man argues with a non-human" 
"Blue Light" (1976)
Don't you think this is Pugacheva? He knew! 
"Old Coquette" 
"Turlik behind the tree." For some reason I feel sorry for this: he is so lonely. 
Finally, still lifes
But even in a still life, an artist can reflect his civic position.
"Dump" 
Communism has been thrown into the trash heap, and in return they are offering something archaic: a double-headed eagle and bast shoes. 
Overall, I am pleased that the interest in Soviet artists is reborn. At one time they were written off in a landfill, and from the Soviet period they were left to Deineka, Kabakov and Bruskin. There were also exhibitions by Tyshler and Sternberg, but they still stand at the turn of the era.
And now the exhibitions have come one after another. There was Erik Bulatov, Salakhov, Pivovarov, and now Korzhev. Yes, and Gerasimov is exhibited in the Historical Museum. The process has begun.