Kasatkin Nikolai (1859-1930)

NA Kasatkin for the first time in the history of Russian traditional painting created back in the early 1900s., A gallery of original-type workers and the revolutionary proletarians, for which he was appreciated and defended by the new Soviet government, was elevated to the patriarchs of the picturesque socialist realism, one of the first won the title (1923), "People's Artist of the Republic."

The son of a prominent Moscow engraver A. Kasatkin, he studied at the Moscow School of Painting (from 1873) in V. Perov and I. Pryanishnikova .
received in 1883, the highest award of the College - a large silver medal and the title of the artist's painting "The beggars on the church porch."

After graduating from college Kasatkina invited to work in a publishing house the largest Russian publisher Sytin, where the artist worked for nearly thirty years, participating in the creation of a "Russian History in pictures", the first desktop calendar, etc.

The artist, of course, had the greatest influence of Leo Tolstoy, familiarity with which occurred in the early 1880s. Warm friendships were bonded by mutual interest and attention to the creativity of each other, the social aspects of community life. Perhaps this can be explained and indispensable literary works Kasatkina stories.

Since 1891, the artist becomes a member of the Association of Traveling Art exhibitions and a permanent member of this association. It was during this period is determined by the main theme in the works Kasatkina - the life of the workers and the urban poor. He writes of "family business" (1891), "It is hard (Puffin)" (1892), "In the hall of the District Court" (1897, won a silver medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900), "The prisoner on a date" (1899 ), etc.

In 1894 he began teaching Kasatkina MUZHVZ, which lasted more than twenty years (until 1917). The artist enjoyed the love and respect of the students. Among his students later became prominent masters such as B. B. Johanson , Vladimir Meshkov, etc. In the years 1892-97., after several trips to the Donets Basin and the Urals, Kasatkin created the famous "miner" series of paintings, "Shahterka" (1894), "the miners. Changing" ( 1895), "Miner-tyagolytsik" (1896), "The Forge" (1897), "Ural worker" (1899), "In a working class family" (1890), etc.

The artist responds to the events of the revolution in 1905, having written a number of revolutionary-romantic works: "Alarm", "Work-action", "Last path spy", "selfless sacrifice of the revolution", "student", "After the search" (all 1905) . These and other works Kasatkina steel for a long time as models for artists - supporters of socialist realism.

In 1906 Kasatkin visited Finland, Norway and Sweden. In 1908-10. traveled to Italy and Turkey, and a lot of fruitful work. After the October Revolution Kasatkin actively involved in social and cultural activities: designed the massive celebrations, was an artist-instructor of Education's Sokolniki District Council (since 1918), the district has created an art studio for the workers, and taught.

In the 1920s. portraits, character types: "For the study" (1925), "Hero of the USSR Defense", "Komsomolskaya Pravda-pioneer leader", "Komsomolskaya Pravda-rabfakovka" (all the late 1920s). In 1930, giving explanations in the Museum of the Revolution for his new film "Carian tragedy," Kasatkin suddenly died. In the history of Soviet art has remained a legend about the artist, to create "how to", the artist - a symbol of socialist realism.