Pokhitonov Ivan Pavlovich (1850-1923)

Landscapes IP Pohitonova appreciated all the major Russian artists of the second half of XIX - early XX century: I. Kramskoy , I. Repin , V. Polenov , K. A. Sawicki , V. Vasnetsov , V. Serov , etc.

But widely known in Russia it was not and still is not. But in France, it is much better to know. He exhibited his works in the Salon, and the extent of its success is the fact that Parisian paintings dealers vying Pohitonova offered a contract on the most favorable terms.

Pokhitonov came from a family of military men. His father was a Ukrainian by birth, his mother - Serbian. In 1871, he and his mother and sick sister went abroad, and as it turned out - for a long time. At first he stayed there because of his weak lungs, then - due to family circumstances (there was a family, a son was born). But every summer he traveled to Russia, worked on location in his native place. Then he bought an estate in Minsk province and thought to stay there forever, but the revolution and civil war forced him to leave the country in 1919.

Pokhitonov began self-taught. In Paris, he studied with landscape painter A. Bogolyubov , studied painting at Barbizon, Corot, impressionists. Constructiveness, loose brushwork, amazing fidelity and clarity of tone and color relationships make it the most French of Russian landscape painters ("Early Spring. Poe. Washerwomen on the banks of Gawa", 1885, "La Panne. Beach," "Tru-Luet. Autumn Evening, "" Tru-Luet. Early Spring, "all 1895" Entrance to Yasnaya Polyana ", 1905;" Washerwomen by a pond. Zhabovschizna ", 1900's, etc.).

The French admired the harmony and clarity of his landscapes, the ability to convey the illusion of objective form, virtuoso technique ("washerwomen", 1890, "Snow in the Po", 1890, "Tru-Luet. Winter. View from the apartment of the artist", 1895; "Winter. Zhabovschizna", 1900's, etc.). His landscapes can be called a thumbnail. He wrote on the tablets of small size (preferred lemon or mahogany), the very long and carefully prepared them for painting. Wrote thin brushes, using a magnifying glass. At the end of the half wet colorful surface polished fish bone, achieving smoothness and shine.

Paints his landscapes are shining now, like enamel. French critics compared Pohitonova with "small Dutch" with the famous at the time miniaturist E. Meyssone. Pohitonova originality, its difference from the others was that he was able to combine masterful technique of miniature painting with the living, the immediate feeling of nature, plein air searches. If SH.-F. Daubigny, and Monet were floating down the rivers of France in the boats, the workshops, the Pokhitonov traveled the roads of France in specially made for him a carriage-shop with overhead light. In addition to landscapes Pokhitonov wrote miniature genre scenes, still lifes, portraits (one of the best is "Portrait of Ivan Turgenev," 1882).

Got-talent Pohitonova same official recognition at home: in 1904, the Academy of Arts has made him a full member, and gave the title of ... painter of battle-pieces (in 1881 he was commissioned by the Russian government 9 panels depicting places in Bulgaria where the battle took place Russian-Turkish war).