Mate Vasily (1856-1917)

, 1856, near the city of Eydkunen, East Prussia in 1917, Petrograd

Creativity V. Mate marks both the top and the final stage in the development of Russian of engravings. Favorite and most talented pupil L. A. Seryakov , which he bequeathed to his tools, Mate worked in woodcut and etching.

Art education he received at first in the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1870-75) and then in the classroom engraving Petersburg Academy of Arts (1875-80), headed by F. I. Jordan . As a pensioner of the Academy of Arts from 1880 to 1884 Mate improved his skills in Paris with the famous etcher Gaillard and ksilografa A. Pannemakera.

Master of engravings. He worked mainly in woodcut and etching techniques. Artfully copying paintings and drawings originals Mate has always sought to bring them to their individual perceptions and new stylistic nuances.

During his life, Mate performed a huge number of the reproductive sheets. Only in etching their 278, and 225 of them - portraits. But the greatest success he has achieved in the field of black-and-white woodcuts, a virtuoso imitation paintings and drawings originals. "A particular success enjoyed his facsimile pencil drawings, a technique which he gave marvelous illusion to simulate not only touch, but lapping finger and shading, the nature of lead pencil, Italian or sanguine," - wrote about the artist I. Grabar . Mate himself belonged to the engraver's work creatively and not just reduce it to a repetition of the original. "Engraver not have copyist boring, and the creator of a new world of images, where the picture of the artist translates it into their own language, gives new shades." And again: "Engraver moves into gravure copy your personality, which is always combined with the inspiration of the author-artist creates a new work, full of life and such a charm, which will evaluate and the author of the picture."

However, the time of engravings has already passed. She could not compete with the photomechanical printing processes, rapidly developing in Russia in the 1890s. Best Mate woodcuts dated back to the second half of 1880 - beginning of 1890. This is such masterpieces as playing "Boyar Morozova" (c. 1887), V. Surikov picture sent by Mate himself a painter, and a few sheets of sketches I. Repin "Cossacks." Especially good head "Laughing Zaporozhets" (1892), which was not included in the final version of Repin's picture.

Since 1899 Mate goes with woodcuts by the technique of etching, which, in his opinion, gave great opportunities for creative interpretation of the original. The best of his works in this area are rightly considered portraits. Moreover, the depth of interpretation of images and masterful performance are the images of MP Belyayev and Pavel Tretyakov (1894, with the famous portrait by Ilya Repin).

Was of great importance for the development of engraving in Russia and teaching mate at the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stieglitz (1884-1909), as a professor of engraving at the Academy of Fine Arts (1894 - 1917), finally, at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (since 1911 ), where he started his own.
Mate disciples were later famous engravers such as A. P., grapes and Lebedev , I. Pavlov, PA Shillingovsky, etc. In addition, different engraving techniques taught Mate I. Repin , V. A.Serova , MI Levitan , B. Kustodiev , K. Somov , E. Lansere , L. Bakst , to Juon .