Yaroshenko, Nikolai Alexandrovich (1846-1898)

A N. Yaroshenko - one of the most common and at the same time distinctive figures in the Wanderers. It was he who, after the death of J. N. Archaeology (1887) was to become the ideological leader of the Association of Traveling Art. "He was a great liberal, intellectual, artist and soldier, retired general - wrote about him YD Minchenkov. - Yaroshenko was a dad at the Wanderers, and were afraid of him."

Yaroshenko was educated military engineer, but, feeling the compulsion to create, to painting and having to that vocation, began attending the School of Drawing at OPH, where he studied with J. N. Archaeology , and then became a volunteer at the Academy of Arts (1867-74). In terms of personal acquaintances of the artist were outstanding representatives of populist intellectuals - writers GI Uspensky, VGKorolenko, VM Garshin and other urgent problem of Russian reality of those years that worried them, are reflected in the work of Yaroshenko.

The artist's name became famous in connection with the creation of their pictures "Fireman" (1878). The first among Russian painters Yaroshenko presented the image of a factory worker, showing him not only a victim of exhausting toil, but also a new powerful social force. Two fragments at once riveting the attention of the painting: the huge work-worn hands fireman and eyes with a question reproach fixed on the viewer.

Starting with "a stoker" Yaroshenko creates a series of works depicting various social types of his time: the revolutionary intelligentsia ("The Prisoner", 1878, "The old and the young," 1881), the advanced students: young people ("Student", 1881, "girl students" 1883). In these works, the artist tries to present a generalized image of the new generation - the thinking, purposeful, active. Significant place in the work is a portrait of Yaroshenko. Characteristically, his models are always the people who are close to him spiritually (portraits of artists INKramskoy , 1876; V.M.Maksimova , 1878; I.K.Zaytseva, 1886 NN Ge , 1890; G. Writers Uspensky, 1884, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, 1886, A. Pleshcheeva, 1887; VGKorolenko, 1898, etc.). Portraying them, passing their hard inner life, the artist reveals and your peace of mind.

The best in the portrait gallery Yaroshenko is "Portrait of the Actress PA Strepetova" (1884). In the image created by the artist, comes to the fore is not a famous actress, which Kramskoy said that she might be "not only interesting but also pretty great," and the simple Russian woman with a stern, a little sad face and expression of suffering in his eyes. She just absorbed the traits of characters Ostrovsky, who perfectly embodied on stage. Among the genre works Yaroshenko became the most famous painting "Life is Everywhere" (1888). With genuine warmth artist tells the story of a short light moment in the life of the prisoners, prison inmates train. In mellowed the faces of these people feeding pigeons congregate through the bars, in the sad shape of a young mother on the first plan provides the basic meaning of the work - to show high humanity in people who have been rejected by society. Subtle lyricism infused genre paintings Yaroshenko 1880-90-ies. - "On a swing" (1888), "In a warmer climate" (1890), "Songs of the Past" (1894). The last years of his life devoted Yaroshenko trip to the Urals, where the coal mines looking for prototypes conceived scenes from the life of the workers. However, sudden death has not given the plans come true artist.