Magic watercolor by Arthur Fonvizin. Russian artists

Artur Vladimirovich Fonvizin, also known under the pseudonym Arthur von Wiesen (1883-1973) - artist, worked mainly in technology.
Arthur Fonvizin was born on January 11, 1883 (old style December 30, 1882) c.
Since 1900, A.V. Fonvizin studied in, where he quickly entered two student groups at the same time - under the conditional guidance and under the guidance.
It is widely believed that Fonvizin was expelled together with and from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture in 1904, after joint participation in a certain "forbidden" exhibition - in fact, everything was "a little" wrong. Larionov and Fonvizin arranged an unauthorized display of their works in the classroom, which Sergey Sudeikin actively began to comment on, for which he received from Fonvizin, who was probably dissatisfied with the nature of the comments, in the nose.
Arthur Fonvizin was the only one of this trinity who was then expelled from the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and the reason for the exclusion was not an imaginary exhibition, but his physical aggression towards a comrade. After the shameful expulsion from the school, Fonvizin continued to engage in creative activities, both jointly and with Mikhail Larionov. At that time he signed his works with the pseudonym "Arthur von Wiesen".
From 1906 to 1910, Arthur Fonvizin lived, worked and studied in - he sent his paintings to Moscow, where Mikhail Larionov was engaged in their implementation. Occasionally, Arthur von Wiesen himself came to, or, to take part in the opening of an exhibition. During one of these trips, Fonvizin joined art associations and.
In 1910, Fonvizin returned to Moscow, began to take part in exhibitions of the association, without plunging into their ideological activities. In 1912, Fonvizin rudely severed all relations with Mikhail Larinov, not wanting to associate his work with avant-garde artists.
Around the same time, Arthur Fonvizin became close friends with the artist Konstantin Zefirov - friends worked together for a long time, and in 1918 Fonvizin even married Zefirov's own sister.
After that, the artist Artur Vladimirovich Fonvizin began to engage in art at a high state level: he received good teaching posts, led the proletarian art studios and others like that. He was a member of art associations, and.
In the late 1930s in

Watercolor is perhaps the most artistic technique. The hand must be precise, the movements are virtuoso, complete concentration-living "now" - an artist walking on a tightrope cannot be mistaken. This is probably why the main theme of Fonvizin's work was the circus and ballet, which also live in real time, “now” on the stage - and “then” nothing can be corrected.

It takes a lot of precision so that, to the music at the right moment, the horse jumped over the barrier and landed accurately. The artist managed to tame water and paint - he knows exactly where each drop will flow, so it's even surprising: how can you make trained water?

Arthur Fonvizin.

Descended from Ostsee Germans (at first he signed his works "von Wiesen").

He studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture together with M. Larionov and S. Sudeikin. Together with them, he was expelled from there for trying to "subvert the old art."

In 1904 he went to study in Munich, where he became friends with Konstantin Zefirov.

"Blue Rose", "Jack of Diamonds", "World of Art", "Makovets" - Fonvizin was a member of almost all significant art associations in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century.

1937 - personal exhibition at the State Museum of Fine Arts ...

And in 1937 - the defeat for "formalism" (in the same year the Museum became named after Pushkin).

Why was such a harmless artist defeated (respectively, depriving orders for illustrations)? No cubism, no expressionism, no dismemberment-analysis of form - pure joy, freshness and health! After all, no politics! But he got it for being apolitical. For enjoying a color, a spot, a virtuoso line, and not “fighting for something” - or, conversely, against something. For being just an artist.

Freedom is not forgiven anywhere, never to anyone. Let us recall Matisse, who at about the same time was hounded by the “free French criticism” for painting women and flowers. Instead of reacting to the "inhuman time", write surrealism, anguish and melancholy.

Fonvizin's critics were outraged: the Soviet people cannot like such an unprincipled art, moreover, made in a frivolous watercolor technique! He was even accused of writing without a preliminary pencil sketch. And he did not know in advance where he would go. I “typed” color right at the work itself, turning it into a palette - here and there I left a blank sheet of paper, somewhere I painted with a brush ...

In the 30s, Fonvizin was the embodiment of the Silver Age, surprisingly delayed, retaining his "out of this world" despite all the harsh realities of the world. "The world caught me, but did not catch me."

"World of Art" - Fonvizin forever kept the separation from real life, characteristic of the members of this association. Like his student friend Sergei Sudeikin, he turns art into an aristocratic game, into pure music of colors ..

Music is the most ideal art. Fonvizin's watercolors are musical in their form and have no more relation to reality than the Russian romance.

Fonvizin was very fond of romance - with exaggerated passions and languor - and imbued his works with its conventional atmosphere.

Alexander Labas:

“Artur Vladimirovich belonged to an older generation than me. But he always retained freshness, youth and spontaneity in himself. One cannot help but understand when you see his wonderful works, large watercolor sheets, brilliantly executed by a real artist. Artur Vladimirovich for many years lived and worked in cramped conditions, but it was then in the second half of the 30s that his creative upsurge was especially noticeable, when a series of excellent large watercolor portraits began to appear - Ulanova, and after her ballerinas, actresses, one portrait goes after the other and one is better than the other. It was for these portraits that they crushed him, they glued him a formalist tag. "

Arthur Fonvizin devoted himself to ballet and circus - arts, formal in their essence - but painted portraits of living people. Therefore, a slight taste of formalism remains outside the brackets: after all, Salome is not so shortly connected - and the artist who plays her (who lives in a small room, goes to the theater to work, puts on her makeup, and then takes off her makeup):

However, a woman always plays - in front of the viewer, in front of a mirror - she hones her shape in order to be as attractive as possible. And Fonvizin read this form of her very well - he writes a woman the way she dreams of seeing herself:

The women saved him - when, during the war, Fonvizin, as a German, was expelled from Moscow to Kazakhstan, the great actresses immediately achieved his return.

In 1944, the artist commissioned the Drama Theater (now the Mayakovsky Theater) a series of portraits of the theater artists.

After the war, he exhibited quite a lot (for a Soviet artist)

Larionov, who left for Paris, wrote to Fonvizin: “Watercolors are pampering! Think about what you will live on? " And, admittedly, Larionov was right - having written a huge number of watercolors in his life, Fonvizin could hardly make ends meet.

But everything ended well .. At 70 he moved from a communal apartment to a separate apartment, and at 85 he was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker.

Now, not a single antique auction can do without his works.

Here are the memories of Galina Streletskaya about the post-war years of her life.

There is no important information here, but there is an atmosphere, which is more important:

“In 1948, Alla Mikhailovna Belyakova met Fonvizin and persuaded him to teach watercolor to a group of architects.

Alla Belyakova became “the most beloved student”, and my mother, Elena Chaus, “the most diligent student”. This is what the master called them.

Watercolor lessons were held at our home, in a communal apartment on Gogolevsky Boulevard. I especially remember the first lesson. The ladies came, dressed as if they were to a theater, and were so worried as if they were waiting for a prince from a fairy tale. And so he entered, an elderly uncle with cheerful, laughing eyes, with a dancing gait walked up to the ladies, looked around, saw me, a five-year-old girl with a huge bow, came up and said (without stroking the head, which I could not stand): “Oh! what curls! We must write. "

In the classroom with Fonvizin, the ladies painted portraits and still lifes, which the maestro had previously created for a long time, dancing and singing as always. I was spinning around, and everything seemed to me some kind of nonsense - a vase like this or a vase like that. Who cares!

Coming up with compositions, Artur Vladimirovich worked like a magician and magician. Objects for still lifes were collected throughout the apartment, many of them had a well-known origin: Gardner, Kuznetsov, Meissen ... And these were not just watercolor lessons, but also knowledge of the art world. I remember how Artur Vladimirovich talked about the master Holbein, an artist of the classical stage of the German Renaissance.

A gramophone was usually "present" in the classroom. They played records - more often romances loved by Arthur Vladimirovich:

Slowly open the gate

And enter the quiet garden like a shadow.

Do not forget, a darker cape,

Put the lace on the head.

And that was great!

After class, grandmother Galina Kronidovna flooded our famous tiled stove, set the table, set tea, pie with vyzhiga, pies with meat, cabbage, jam, and everyone, led by Fonvizin, sat down at the table. Firewood crackled in the stove, malachite tiles gleamed. And all this was reflected in the mirror. Artur Vladimirovich was somehow transformed and his other talent was revealed - a storyteller.

My mother was friends with Natalia Osipovna, the wife of Artur Vladimirovich, a charming woman with an absolutely amazing smile. I loved going to the Fonvizins, congratulating the maestro on his birthday, December 30th. Natalya Osipovna showed me graceful little dolls made by Artur Vladimirovich as models for illustrations of fairy tales. Over the years, I realized that Artur Vladimirovich could create such a painting only with a child's perception of the world.

Once Robert Rafailovich Falk came to our class, and sometimes his mother and Belyakova also studied. Falk saw our portraits by Fonvizin and said thoughtfully: "Arthur's watercolors are an improvisation in verse."

Method A. V. Fonvizin

The considered method of watercolor painting is named after the wonderful artist Artur Vladimirovich Fonvizin, who worked in an amazing, unique manner. And although there is an opinion that Fonvizin is traditional in his works, it can most likely be attributed to the fact that the artist did not use whitewash, did not mix gouache with watercolors, that is, he was traditional in pure watercolors.
The rest of his work is deeply individual in nature.
It would be for this reason not to consider his method of watercolor painting, if not for the many followers, or rather imitators among subsequent generations of artists, especially modern young watercolorists.
Some artists and art historians believe that Fonvizin painted his watercolors on a wet surface of paper. This is not true. The artist does not work on pre-moistened paper when he is wholly dependent on the whims of paint spreading on wet paper.
Memories of the artist's contemporaries, his models, who watched the work of the master have been preserved. You can carefully look, and more than once, at his work in the Tretyakov Gallery and at various exhibitions.
A.V. Fonvizin wrote on Whatman sheets of GOZNAK handmade with a small grain, attaching the paper to the tablet with buttons, a trace of which remained on the work.
It seems that the author did not make a preparatory drawing with a pencil, but began to draw with a thin tip of a brush, outlining only minor contours of what was being depicted, as evidenced by the unfinished work.
Among other things, this incompleteness rather gives the impression of a special brevity inherent in his works. Then, having collected a large amount of water and paint with a large brush, he gently rubbed it into the surface of the paper, adding other colors to obtain the necessary complex tone, that is, a kind of palette was obtained at the work itself. With great skill, the artist manipulated wide color streaks with a brush, alternating between dark and light areas, sometimes leaving the paper almost untouched.
In some places, the artist introduced color accents on the dried surface of the previous layer, sometimes very insignificant, almost dots, in order to emphasize the shape or color spot. In portraits, eyes and lips are most often accentuated.
In some works, one can see how the artist, taking an active color, which at first glance stands out from the general tone of the sheet, applied a wide brushstroke to its surface with a tremulous movement of the brush.
In his later works, A. V. Fonvizin slightly blurred some color areas, combining them with clear fills, and also superimposed several layers of color on top of each other. However, his works do not give the impression of multi-layered watercolors, they retain amazing freshness, transparency and luminosity.
In conclusion, I would like to add the following. Considering the watercolors of modern young artists who are passionate about the work of A.V. Fonvizin, I want to believe that they will ultimately be able to imitate a great master, rather formal, to come to a deep understanding of his work and, using the artist's basic, fundamental approaches to watercolors, create their own unique work.

Method A. V. Fonvizin

The considered method of watercolor painting is named after the wonderful artist Artur Vladimirovich Fonvizin, who worked in an amazing, unique manner. And although there is an opinion that Fonvizin is traditional in his works, it can most likely be attributed to the fact that the artist did not use whitewash, did not mix gouache with watercolors, that is, he was traditional in pure watercolors.
The rest of his work is deeply individual in nature.
It would be for this reason not to consider his method of watercolor painting, if not for the many followers, or rather imitators among subsequent generations of artists, especially modern young watercolorists.
Some artists and art historians believe that Fonvizin painted his watercolors on a wet surface of paper. This is not true. The artist does not work on pre-moistened paper when he is wholly dependent on the whims of paint spreading on wet paper.
Memories of the artist's contemporaries, his models, who watched the work of the master have been preserved. You can carefully look, and more than once, at his work in the Tretyakov Gallery and at various exhibitions.
A.V. Fonvizin wrote on Whatman sheets of GOZNAK handmade with a small grain, attaching the paper to the tablet with buttons, a trace of which remained on the work.
It seems that the author did not make a preparatory drawing with a pencil, but began to draw with a thin tip of a brush, outlining only minor contours of what was being depicted, as evidenced by the unfinished work.
Among other things, this incompleteness rather gives the impression of a special brevity inherent in his works. Then, having collected a large amount of water and paint with a large brush, he gently rubbed it into the surface of the paper, adding other colors to obtain the necessary complex tone, that is, a kind of palette was obtained at the work itself. With great skill, the artist manipulated wide color streaks with a brush, alternating between dark and light areas, sometimes leaving the paper almost untouched.
In some places, the artist introduced color accents on the dried surface of the previous layer, sometimes very insignificant, almost dots, in order to emphasize the shape or color spot. In portraits, the eyes and lips are most often accentuated.
In some works, one can see how the artist, taking an active color, which at first glance stands out from the general tone of the sheet, applied a wide brushstroke to its surface with a tremulous movement of the brush.
In his later works, A. V. Fonvizin slightly blurred some color areas, combining them with clear fills, and also superimposed several layers of color on top of each other. However, his works do not give the impression of multi-layered watercolors, they retain amazing freshness, transparency and luminosity.
In conclusion, I would like to add the following. Considering the watercolors of modern young artists who are passionate about the work of A.V. Fonvizin, I want to believe that they will ultimately be able to imitate a great master, rather formal, to come to a deep understanding of his work and, using the artist's basic, fundamental approaches to watercolors, create their own unique work.

Artist A.V. Fonvizin (1882-1973) belongs to the older generation of Soviet painters. Educated at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, in private academies in Munich, the artist A.V. Fonvizin dedicated his talent, which he mastered to perfection.

A.V. Fonvizin "Composition with the figure of Christ" 1904

Watercolor is a complex technique that reveals its secrets only to great masters, only in their hands it turns into great art. Among them is Artur Vladimirovich Fonvizin. Watercolor is a chamber technique. Therefore, in the work of the artist A.V. Fonvizin is dominated by portrait, still life, and also - the theme of the circus, the impressions of which he retained from early childhood.

A.V. Fonvizin "In the circus" 1931

The atmosphere of "theatricality", something unusual, mysterious, the impression of a stopped fleetingness is always felt not only in the sheets from the "Circus" series, but in all the works of A.V. Fonvizin.

A.V. Fonvizin "Bride" 1902

After the brilliant flowering of watercolor in the first half of the 19th century, after its second rise at the end of the 19th century, A.V. Fonvizin again revived the art of watercolor portrait, but not in its old usual forms, which were demonstrated by others, but introduced completely new techniques into this art. Innovative approaches to painting allowed A.V. Fonvizin to become one of the most active members of the Union of Symbolist artists created in 1907.

A.V. Fonvizin "Portrait of a Son" 1940

He created a large series of theatrical portraits, including a portrait of the Maly Theater actress D.V. Zerkalova. Fonvizin's portraits are usually large format, painted in pure watercolors, without any admixture of white. Looking at these sheets, the viewer seems to be immersed in the element of painting. He clearly sees how paint flows along the sheet, how one color merges into another, and how a plastic form is molded from this seemingly color chaos by the artist's skillful hand, an artistic image is born.

A.V. Fonvizin "Portrait of the Maly Theater actress D.V. Zerkalova as Yulia Tugina from the play by A.N. Ostrovsky "The Last Victim" 1906

A.V. Fonvizin usually finds one aspect in the character of the person being portrayed, which becomes the key to solving the image.

The portrait of Zerkalova, painted with a wide, spreading brushstroke, built on the finest transitions of pearl colors, surprises with its refined artistry. Full of poetry and fragile femininity, the portrait is fraught with a sense of inner drama, hidden sadness.