Maljavin Philip A. (1869-1940)

FA Maljavin born into a large peasant family. At sixteen, the young man went to Mount Athos Orthodox monastery of St. Panteleimon, and nearly six years as a novice, he worked in the monastery's icon-painting workshop.

In 1891, the work of self-taught artist saw sculptor VA Beklemishev, who visited Mount Athos. He invited Malyavina in St. Petersburg, settled at home. In 1892, a former monastery painter joined a volunteer at the Painting Department of the Academy of Arts. After the reform of the Academy of Arts in 1894, when it opened a workshop I. Repin , Maljavin became his disciple.

The earliest work Malyavina - portraits of peasants ("Peasant Girl with a stocking", 1895, "Old Woman", 1898) and fellow students by artist Repin's studio ( Grabar , KA Somov , A Ostroumova ) - brought him fame. Cloths young academics acquired for the gallery Pavel Tretyakov, the newspaper wrote about them.

Very soon, the artist began to perform and spectacular custom portraits. This furor has produced a picture of Malyavina "Laughter" (1899). Written as a contest entry, she portrayed the Russian women dressed in red on a green meadow. Unusually bright color, wide, sprawling brushwork aroused the interest and fierce debate. Arts Council of Professors rejected the picture, and the title of artist Malyavin was given for a series of portraits.

However, sent in 1900 to the World Exhibition in Paris "Laughter" was awarded a gold medal and a year later purchased by Venetian Museum of Modern Art. In foreign and the next meeting was a large canvas the artist - "Three women" (1901-02), it was purchased by the Luxembourg Museum in Paris. The 1900s. were the heyday of talent Malyavina, at which time he produced his best work: "Baba in yellow", "Babe" (both 1903), "Two girls" (1910) and others Peasant in bright colorful outfits - the main characters works Malyavina.

To the traditional Russian folk art artist approached the topic in its own way, emphasizing the powerful natural origin in female characters, giving them a monumentality. Malyavina bold painting with its conventional backgrounds, large figures, shallow space and unusually sonorous color - highlighted decorative. But at the beginning of the XX century. it is often regarded as a kind of challenge.

The painting "Whirlwind" shown in 1906 at the exhibition of the "World of Art", was perceived by contemporaries in direct connection with the revolutionary mood of the era. It should be noted that in the pictures Malyavina the first time since the ancient iconography rang out in full force red. In 1900 he purchased the estate Maljavin near Ryazan and settled there with his family.