Entertaining art history: stories. Entertaining art history: subjects Vasnetsov poem of seven fairy tales

The presentation on the essay by NS Sher "Pictures-fairy tales" is made on 16 slides for the lesson of literary reading in grade 4. The material of the manual fully takes into account the age characteristics of students, the requirements of the program for the lesson. With the help of the presentation, students will get acquainted with the work of the great Russian artist V.M. Vasnetsov, with paintings-fairy tales from the cycle "Poem of Seven Tales". They will have the opportunity to learn how to properly consider (paying attention to details) and analyze pictures. The presentation uses a game "Auction of paintings" (slide number 9). It acts as an entertaining form of presenting material and testing knowledge. This contributes to the development of cognitive activity of younger students, a greater interest in this type of activity. Game progress. Children are invited to choose a button with a number from 1 to 7 (according to the number of pictures). Following, with the help of a hyperlink, a description of a picture from the cycle "Poem of Seven Tales" appears. According to the description, the children discuss and name the picture in question. This form of work arouses interest in the fairy-tale images depicted in the paintings of the great artist, contributes to the enrichment of children's speech with new words (reproduction, sketch, plot, artistic image, genre). The game "Auction of fairy tales" is recommended to be conducted in a group form, giving the children time to discuss the description of the picture (which can be read by both the teacher and the student). This interactive material can be used in the lessons of literary reading, the surrounding world, the Russian language, and fine arts. Also, the presentation "Artist-Storyteller" can be successfully applied in extracurricular activities. The use of this presentation will arouse interest in the work of the great Russian artist Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov.

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Slide captions:

"Poem of Seven Tales" Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov

Princess Frog

Sleeping princess

Princess Nesmeyana

Koschei the Deathless

Sivka - Burka

Carpet plane

Auction of paintings. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Looking at this picture, as if you hear the sounds of music. Sounds are cheerful, high, clear. The musicians only have time to pluck the strings. Gusli, balalaikas, domra, horn - a whole orchestra of folk instruments. A fairytale princess is dancing in the center. Her movements are beautiful and free. Light colors of a painted tower, swans on a pond, a peasant round dance on a lawn - everything lives in beauty and harmony.

The princess is sleeping on a high bed in a brocade sundress and a gold crown, she threw back her white hand. The girl dropped her head on the ancient book and is also asleep. The young ladies are sleeping, the hay girls are sleeping, the court jester is sleeping. But the red poppies did not fade, the spruce forests did not dry up, the birches turned green. Nature is alive.

This picture depicts a good fellow on a white heroic horse. Now his horse will jump to the window of the painted high tower of the beautiful Princess.

How disgusting is the heroine of this picture, flying in a mortar through the forest. Her grin is terrible, sinewy hands and an ugly bone leg are dangerous. The forest is bewitched. He is hostile to little Ivanushka, who is carried away by the old woman.

This painting depicts a dark dungeon. Forged chests stand against the walls. But there is no way out for the beautiful princess. The hooked hands, the toothless sunken mouth, sinister eyes are terrible ...

This picture shows a beautiful painted tower with twisted columns. There are many people in it: the musicians and jesters and storytellers are different. In the center of the hall is the throne on which the princess sits. And she does not listen to anyone, and does not look, immersed in her thoughts.

Ivan Tsarevich flies high in the sky. He firmly holds in his hands a cage with the Firebird, which brings happiness to people. Far below, forests, fields, rivers - an ancient beautiful land.

V. Vasnetsov. Sleeping princess, 1900-1926. Fragment | Photo: artchive.ru

Probably none of the Russian artists of the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. did not cause such controversial reviews about his work as Viktor Vasnetsov: he was either admired and called a truly folk artist, or accused of "retrograde and obscurantism." In 1905, he renounced the title of professor at the Academy of Arts in protest against the students' enthusiasm for politics rather than painting. During the revolutionary years Vasnetsov created his most magical series of paintings "Poem of Seven Tales"... In it, he tried to capture that lost old Russia, the person of which he considered himself.

V. Vasnetsov. The Frog Princess, 1901-1918 | Photo: artchive.ru

Viktor Vasnetsov was born into the family of a village priest in the Vyatka province, he grew up in a peasant environment and from childhood was immersed in the atmosphere of the primordial Russian folk culture. His first drawings were illustrations for proverbs. For him, folklore was the embodiment of the true essence and spiritual image of the entire people. “I have always been convinced that fairy tales, songs, epics reflect the whole image of the people, internal and external, with the past and the present, and maybe the future,” said the artist.

V. Vasnetsov. Tsarevna Nesmeyana, 1916-1926 | Photo: artchive.ru

V. Vasnetsov. Flying carpet, 1919-1926 | Photo: artchive.ru

Back in the 1860s. there was a surge of interest in folklore both in science and in art: it was during this period that fundamental historical research appeared, collections of oral folk art were published. Repin, Maksimov, Surikov wrote on historical themes, but Vasnetsov was the first among artists to turn to epic and fairy-tale themes. He created a whole series of works about "old Russia", which he contrasted in the revolutionary years to modern Russia, which he called "non-Rus", with a small letter.

V. Vasnetsov. Sivka-burka, 1919-1926 | Photo: artchive.ru

The painter turned to the folk epic in the 1880s, and from 1900 until the end of his days (especially intensively in 1917-1918) Vasnetsov worked on the cycle of paintings "Poem of Seven Fairy Tales". It includes 7 canvases: "The Sleeping Princess", "Baba Yaga", "The Frog Princess", "Kashchei the Immortal", "Princess Nesmeyana", "Sivka Burka" and "Airplane Carpet". In these fabulous plots, the artist was looking for the embodiment of the main features of the national character of his people, among which he singled out spiritual purity, courage and patriotism.

V. Vasnetsov. Baba Yaga, 1917 | Photo: artchive.ru

Vasnetsov's fairy-tale works were for him not an illustration of oral folk art, but "an act of poetic insight into the core of life, closed from people by the veil of reality." The artist did not accept the revolution and suffered as he watched the "old Russia" irrevocably disappear. Fairy tales were a kind of internal emigration for him. He poeticized antiquity, saw in it an ideal, the existence of which, in his opinion, had been forgotten by his contemporaries. Meanwhile, art magazines called Vasnetsov "a dilapidated retrograde and obscurantist."

V. Vasnetsov. Kashchei the Immortal, 1917-1926 | Photo: artchive.ru

Contemporary critics find in The Poem of Seven Tales a note of concern for Russia and its future. For example, the artist interpreted the fairy tale plot of The Sleeping Princess in a new way, hinting at the events of his contemporary reality. The girl sleeps on the Pigeon Book, famous for its prophetic predictions. And in this context, the image of the “sleeping princess” looks like a metaphor for the Russian state. Many critics agree that the main heroine of the "Poem of Seven Tales" was Russia - intoxicated and bewitched. And all its inhabitants fell asleep and do not know what is happening around.

House-Museum of V. Vasnetsov in Moscow | Photo: muzeyka.ru

He wrote “The Poem of Seven Tales” not to order, but for himself, it was his outlet and a way to isolate himself from the outside world. All the paintings have remained in the artist's studio, in his Moscow house, which resembles an old Russian tower (the people called it that - "little tower"). This house was built according to his sketches, F. Chaliapin said that it was "something between a peasant hut and an ancient princely mansion." In 1953, the Vasnetsov House-Museum was opened here. In addition to paintings and drawings, there is a collection of ancient objects and icons, which the artist collected all his life.

In the house-museum of V. Vasnetsov in Moscow | Photo: profi-news.ru

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
Self-portrait 1873
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there were many artists in Russian art who developed the so-called neo-Russian style, which, in essence, was one of the variations of Art Nouveau.

Viktor Vasnetsov (with some reservations) can also be attributed to this category of artists.

The theme of Russian fairy tales, or rather, Russian folklore, has appeared in his work since the early 1880s. Before that, he was quite typical of the artist of his generation, a master of critical realism. For example, his first painting, shown at the exhibition of the Itinerants, was "Tea drinking in a tavern".

Tea drinking in the tavern (In the tavern) 1874
canvas, oil
Vyatka Regional Art Museum named after V.M. and A.M. Vasnetsov

However, he already had the groundwork for working on canvases of the historical genre (and the "fairy-tale" and "epic" paintings belong precisely to the historical genre of painting), since at the Academy Vasnetsov received a silver medal for the sketch "Christ and Pilate before the People."

The first canvas of the corresponding genre was "After the Battle of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsy", shown in 1880 at the VIII Traveling Exhibition. It was still not quite a fairy tale, or rather not a fairy tale at all, since on the one hand Vasnetsov used the motives of "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" as a plot, but on the other hand, Prince Igor's campaign was a completely real historical event.

After the slaughter of Igor Svyatoslavich with the Polovtsi
On a plot from "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" 1880
canvas, oil
205 x 390 cm

The painting, which depicts at least a dozen corpses, albeit quite pretty, dressed in artistically executed armor or draped in exquisite oriental fabrics, and who took a completely picturesque death without a single drop of blood, caused very ambiguous judgments in society. Kramskoy, Repin and Chistyakov admired, Myasoedov stamped his feet and demanded to remove the "carrion" from the exhibition. But in general, I suppose the audience was left at a loss, and the answer to the question "what was it?" nobody could give. Well, Vasnetsov went further.

Alyonushka 1881
canvas, oil
178 x 121 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

A year later, "Alyonushka" appeared, then "The Knight at the Crossroads", "Ivan Tsarevich on the Gray Wolf" and "Bogatyrs". Why Vasnetsov so abruptly changed the direction in art and moved from critical realism to some not the most realistic folklore historicism could not be explained either by his contemporaries or by today's researchers of his work. Quite plausible versions were put forward enough: the artist's move to Moscow and rapprochement with Mamontov's circle ("Alyonushka" was written in Abramtsevo), the desire to return to some spiritual sources of the Russian people (critics wrote about the connection in Vasnetsov's paintings between the "Russian fairy tale and the Russian faith") especially since Vasnetsov was from a priest's family.

Bogatyrs 1881-1898
canvas, oil
295.3 x 446 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

From 1900 until the end of his life (until 1926), and especially intensively, starting in 1917, Vasnetsov wrote a cycle of seven fairy-tale pictures, a kind of apotheosis of his creative and ideological views. This was the Poem of Seven Tales.

Koschei the Immortal. 1927-1926
canvas, oil
House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov

The Poem of Seven Tales by Viktor Vasnetsov includes pictures:
- "The Sleeping Princess";
- "Princess Frog";
- "Tsarevna-Nesmeyana";
- "Carpet plane";
- "Sivka-burka";
- "Baba Yaga";
-"Koschei the Deathless".

Princess Nesmeyana 1914-1926
canvas, oil
House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov

Undoubtedly, one of the sources of inspiration for Viktor Vasnetsov (in addition to childhood memories and impressions and certain ideological considerations about the fate of the Russian people) for the creation of the "Poem of Seven Tales" was the famous "Russian Folk Tales", a collection compiled by A. N. Afanasyev and published first edition in 1855-63, and the second, revised in 1873. It was a significant event in Russian cultural life of that time, which had a significant impact on many areas of Russian humanities (for example, Afanasyev made the first attempt in world history to classify fairy tales). But ordinary readers, to whom Viktor Vasnetsov belonged, could not fail to seize the wealth of Russian folklore.

Folk Russian sakzki A. N. Afanasyev

Now we often forget that folk tales (not literary ones created by writers for a specific readership, namely folk ones) were not at all intended for children's reading. For children, Afanasyev released a separate collection of specially selected and adapted fairy tales, and even of them the censors did not let all of them go to print, believing some of the stories to be dangerous for the fragile child's psyche or harmful from the point of view of education.

Sleeping princess 1900-1926
canvas, oil
214 x 452 cm

In fairy tales published for an adult audience, there are indeed a lot of violence, erotic motives, and so unloved by the 19th century censorship of free thinking. And if you carefully examine the paintings of Vasnetsov from the "Poem of Seven Tales", then you can understand that his paintings are also very far from the blissful illustrations from children's books.

The Frog Princess 1901-1918
canvas, oil
House-Museum of V.M. Vasnetsov

His Baba Yaga or Koschey the Immortal can provide a young viewer with nightmares for a long time. So fabulous, or rather, pagan Russia seems to be a rather gloomy country. It may well be that Vasnetsov subconsciously depicted pre-Christian Russia in his paintings as a rich country, but barbaric and lawless. It seems to me that researchers in vain admire the nationality of these canvases and attribute this admiration to the artist. Most likely, he is trying to convince the audience that paganism is savagery, and civilization is possible only in the Christian world.

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov
(1848-1926)
"Poem of Seven Tales"
Viktor Vasnetsov

Probably not one of the Russian artists of the turn of the 19th century. did not cause such controversial reviews about his
creativity, like Viktor Vasnetsov: he was then admired and
was called a true folk artist, then accused of
"Retrograde and obscurantism." In 1905 he renounced the title
professors of the Academy of Arts in protest against
hobbies of students are more about politics than
painting.
During the revolutionary years, Vasnetsov created his most
a magical series of paintings "Poem of Seven Tales". In it he
tried to capture that lost old Russia, man
which he considered himself.

Viktor Vasnetsov was born into a rural family
priest in the Vyatka province, he grew up in a peasant
environment and from childhood was immersed in the atmosphere of the primordially Russian
folk culture. His first drawings were
illustrations for proverbs.
Folklore for him was the embodiment of the true
essence and spiritual image of the whole people. “I've always been
convinced that fairy tales, songs, epics do not affect the whole
integral image of the people, internal and external, with the past and
the present, and perhaps the future, ”said the artist.

From 1900 until the end of his days Vasnetsov
worked on a cycle of paintings "The Poem of Seven Tales". Into it
included 7 paintings: "The Sleeping Princess", "Baba Yaga", "The Princess", "Kashchei the Immortal", "Princess Nesmeyana",
"Sivka-burka" and "Carpet-plane".
In these fabulous plots, the artist was looking for
the embodiment of the main features of the national character
of his people, among whom he singled out spiritual purity,
courage and patriotism.
Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
Self-portrait 1873
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

At the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, there were many artists in Russian art who developed the so-called neo-Russian style, which, in essence, was one of the variations of Art Nouveau.

Viktor Vasnetsov (with some reservations) can also be attributed to this category of artists.