Unit 8. Tretyakov gallery

5.8.1 Text

The State Tretyakov Gallery is one of the best-known picture galleries in Russia. It takes its name from its founder Pavel Tretyakov, a Moscow merchant and art connoisseur.

In the mid-19^th century, Tretyakov began to collect Russian paintings. He visited all the exhibitions and art studios and bought the best pictures of contemporary artists. He was especially fond of the works of the Peredvizhniki (or Wanderers) — the artists who belonged to the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions. Little by little Tretyakov extended his range of interest and began to collect earlier Russian paintings. More than once he had to add wings to his house in Lavrushinsky Pereulok, because his collection grew larger and larger.

In 1881 Pavel Tretyakov opened his collection to the public. 11 years later he donated it to the city of Moscow. Since then the gallery has received hundreds of pictures from other museums and private collections.

The Tretyakov Gallery reflects the whole history of Russian art, from the 11^th century to the present day.

It has a rich collection of old Russian icons. The world-famous icon is “The Trinity”, painted in the early 15^th century by Andrei Rublev.

The gallery contains halls devoted to the magnificent works of such 18^th-century celebrities as Rokotov, Levitsky, Borovikovsky, Shchedrin.

The first half of the 19^th century is represented by brilliant paintings by Bryullov, Tropinin, Ivanov, Venetsianov. The second half of the 19^th century is especially well represented. The gallery has the best collection of the Peredvizhniki, such as Kramskoy, Perov, Ghe, Yaroshenko, Myasoyedov, and others. Linked with the Peredvizhniki are such great names in Russian art as Surikov, Repin, Vereshchagin, Vasnetsov, Levitan. There you can see historical paintings, portraits, still-lifes, landscapes, seascapes, etc.

Further on we find the cream of turn-of-the century Russian art: Serov, Vrubel, Kustodiev...

Canvases of modern painters are housed in the new building situated on Krymskaya Naberezhnaya (Crimean Embankment).

The Tretyakov Gallery is not only Russia's biggest and most important museum of Russian Art. It's also a research, cultural and educational centre.

5.8.2 Vocabulary. Pronounce the following words

the State Tretyakov Gallery - Государственная Третьяковская галерея

the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions - Товарищество передвижных выставок

The Trinity - Троица

merchant - купец

connoisseur - знаток

studio - студия

contemporary - современный

little by little - мало-помалу, понемногу

to extend - расширить

range of interest - круг интересов

wing - крыло, флигель, пристройка к дому

to open to the public - открыть для посетителей

to donate - преподносить в качестве дара, передавать в дар

private collection - частная коллекция

to reflect - отражать

icon - икона

to contain - содержать

to devote to - посвящать (чему-либо, кому-либо)

magnificent - великолепный

celebrity - знаменитость

to represent - представлять

to link - связывать

portrait - портрет

still-life - натюрморт (мн. число still-lifes)

landscape - пейзаж

seascape - морской пейзаж

further on - далее

cream - цвет, "сливки", самое лучшее

turn-of-the century - начало века

canvas - холст, полотно

to house - помещать, размещать

research - научно-исследовательский

5.8.3 Questions. Answer the questions upon the text

1 When did Pavel Tretyakov begin to collect Russian paintings?

2 Whose works was he especially fond of?

3 What do you know about the Peredvizhniki?

4 Where did Tretyakov keep his collection?

5 When did he open his collection to the public?

6 What did Tretyakov do with his collection?

7 Who was The Trinity painted by?

8 Do you know any other famous icon-painters?

9 What 18^th century portrait-painters do you know?

10 Why is the second half of the 19^th century especially well represented at the Gallery?

11 What great Russian names are linked with the Peredvizhniki?

12 What turn-of-the-century Russian artists do you know?

13 Where are canvases of modern painters housed?

14 When did you last go to the Tretyakov Gallery?

15 Who are your favourite Russian painters?

5.8.4 Read and learn the dialogue by heart

5.8.4.1 Dialogue

- Have you ever been to Tretyakov Gallery?

- Yes, I have.

- What can you say about the monument in front of the gallery?

- There is a monument to Pavel Tretyakov, one of the two brothers-businessmen. They organized exhibitions of Russian art, built a special house for such occasions. They had a good taste for art and they used to buy some pieces of art. Russian painters, sculptures considered the Tretyakov proposals to be very creditable. The Tretyakov brothers were real Muscovites. They made another wonderful gift to the city of Moscow – a passage between two streets in the business part of the city. There is a memorial plaque on the wall of one of Moscow houses telling about it.

- What can you say about the gallery collections?

- There are collections of Russian icons, portraits, genre scenes and so on.

- Which painting do you like best of all?

- I can’t say. I like Vasnetsov’s paintings illustrating Russian fairytales. I like Surikov’s paintings because they are close to me. But I take a real delight in Kuingy paintings. They are so unusual and yet realistic.

- What other art museums in Moscow do you know?

- I can say about the Museum of Fine Arts in Volhonka Street. It was Marina Tsvetayeva’s father, the Moscow University professor who organized it as an educational museum for the university students. But later it grew into a great museum of foreign arts. Nowadays the Museum of Fine Arts is the pride of the city of Moscow and the whole Russia as well as Tretyakov Gallery is.

5.8.4.2 Dialogue

- Do you know names of other Russia’s pianists?

- Yes, I do.

- What are they?

- Nicolai Petrov is one of them. By the way, he is related to the famous singer of the Bolshoi Theatre Ivan Petrov.

- Do you visit conservatoire?

- Yes, I do, but not very often.

- Do you play any instrument?

- No, I do not.

- Do you know any composer’s names?

- Certainly. They are Chopin, Schumann, Bach, Debussy and so on.

- But all of them are foreign composers. Do you know any Russian composers?

- Of course, I do. I’m fond of Russian opera music. I enjoy visiting Bolshoi Theatre. I look forward to listening to opera “Hovanschina” by Musorgski. It’s a pity the Rimski-Korsakov opera “Snow-Maiden” is not performed in Bolshoi Theatre nowadays.

- But there are a lot of ballets staged now.

- My mum is a great admirer of ballet.

5.8.5 Text. Valentin Serov

One of my favourite artists is Valentin Serov. When I first saw his famous pictures — the Girl with Peaches and the Girl in the Sunlight — in the Tretyakov Gallery, frankly speaking, I wasn't too impressed. The girls seemed quite ordinary and I couldn't understand what was so special about these portraits.

Some years later I happened to be in Abramtsevo, where these two pictures had been painted. It's a very beautiful place. Abramtsevo belonged to Savva Mamontov, a well known patron of arts. Our guide told us about the people who had been invited there. It seemed that all artists, actors and writers of that period had stayed at Abramtsevo or at least visited it.

When I went to the Tretyakov Gallery after that and looked at the Girl with Peaches again, I suddenly remembered that day in Abramtsevo, and for the first time I noticed the play of light and shade in the picture, the atmosphere of a sunny summer day.

It's surprising that Serov painted this picture when he was only 22 years old. I read somewhere that at the time he had not seen the works of French Impressionists, who tried to catch the sunlight and the air and transfer it to the canvas. But he managed to do it perfectly.

Serov was born in 1865. His father was a well-known composer and the boy grew up in the atmosphere of creative activity. His first art teacher was Repin, who noticed that the boy could catch the likeness of a model often more quickly and surely than older artists.

Later Serov studied at the Academy of Fine Arts and graduated from it
when he was 20. ,

For several years he taught at Moscow School of Painting Sculpture and Architecture. But teaching did not interfere with his painting. Probably now he would be called a workaholic. He painted almost 700 canvases, though, unfortunately, his life was not very long — he died in 1911.

He was a brilliant landscape painter, he created genre scenes, but he is mostly remembered as a portraitist. The list of his portraits reads as "who-is-who" in Russian culture of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries. He painted Savva Mamontov, Konstantin Korovin, Ilya Repin, Isaak Levitan, Nikolai Leskov, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, the great actress Yermolova... The list can be continued. And practically all his portraits are excellent from the technical point of view — the colours, the composition, but there is more than that they show people's personality.

5.8.6 Vocabulary. Pronounce the following words

Valentin Serov - Валентин Серов

Tretyakov Gallery - Третьяковская галерея

Abramtsevo - Абрамцево

Savva Mamontov - Савва Мамонтов

Girl with Peaches - Девочка с персиками

Girl in the Sunlight - Девушка, освещенная солнцем

Academy of Fine Arts - Академия изящных искусств

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - Московское училище живописи, ваяния и зодчества

frankly speaking - откровенно говоря

to be impressed - быть под впечатлением

ordinary - обыкновенный

special - особенный

to belong - принадлежать

patron of arts - покровитель искусств

guide - гид, экскурсовод

atmosphere - атмосфера

Impressionist - импрессионист

to transfer - переносить

canvas - полотно

composer - композитор

creative activity - творческая деятельность

likeness - сходство

to interfere with - мешать

workaholic - трудоголик

landscape painter - пейзажист

genre scene - жанровая сцена

portraitist - портретист

reads as - читается как

"who-is-who" - "кто есть кто"

from the technical point of view - с точки зрения техники

personality - личность, характер

5.8.7 Questions. Answer the questions upon the text

1 What is Abramtsevo famous for?

2 Who did Savva Mamontov invite to Abramtsevo?

3 When was Valentin Serov born?

4 Who was his first teacher?

5 Where did Serov study?

6 How old was he when he painted the Girl with Peaches?

7 How many canvases did he paint?

8 What kind of pictures did Serov paint?

9 Can you name any of his famous portraits?

10 Who is your favourite painter?

11 Have you ever been to the Tretyakov Gallery?

12 What kind of pictures do you prefer — portraits, landscapes, genre scenes?

13 Somebody said that when an artist creates a portrait it is not a portrait of his sitter, but a portrait of the artist himself. Do you agree?

5.8.8 Text. Isaac Levitan

Isaac Ilyich Levitan, the great Russian artist, became the first painter of the Russian scenery, who revealed all its beauty. He is a real poet of the Russian countryside. He continued and developed the traditions of painters of the Russian realistic school -— Savrasov, Polenov, Serov. Levitan found significant meaning and poetry in what would seem the most everyday subjects.

He is a very individual sort of painter. You can't but appreciate his paintings, because there is something in his landscapes that reflects our own moods.

He deeply felt what he wished to express and his brush transferred these feelings to the canvas. It is interesting to note that a master of landscape, he never introduced figures into it. Though if you look at the Autumn Day in Sokolniki - everything seems to bring out the loneliness of the figure in the centre: the trees losing their leaves, the remote, indifferent sky, the path going off into the distance. But the fact is that it was not Levitan who painted the figure. It was Checkov's brother Nicolai who did it.

His travels over the Volga region influenced Levitan's art, the impression made on him by the great Russian river was unforgettable. For his life and painting he chose Plyoss — a small beautiful town on the Volga. His paintings Evening, Golden Plyoss, After Rain reflect his love for nature.

Last summer I visited Plyoss and saw the places where the great pictures were painted. Many people admire his pictures Deep Waters, Evening Bells, Springtime, The Last Snow and, of course, his famous Golden Autumn. All his paintings are very emotional, lyrical and realistic.

In the closing years of his life Levitan made several journeys abroad to France, Italy and Germany where he painted a number of landscapes, although his best works of the period were devoted to Russia. He was only 40 when he died in 1900.

Levitan's influence on the painters of lyrical landscapes was great. Levitan's feeling for nature, his great love for his native land, his ability to reveal and depict the poetry of the Russian land have won his paintings the love and gratitude of people.

5.8.9 Vocabulary. Pronounce the following words

Isaac Ilyich Levitan - Исаак Ильич Левитан (1860-1900)

Savrasov - Саврасов А.К. (русский живописец передвижник)

Polenov - Поленов В.Д. (русский живописец, передвижник)

Serov - Серов В.А. (русский живописец, передвижник)

Plyoss - Плес (город на берегу Волги)

scenery - пейзаж

to reveal - открывать, обнаруживать

countryside - сельская местность

to develop - развивать, совершенствовать

realistic - реалистический

significant - важный, значительный

individual - индивидуальный, особенный, оригинальный

you can't but - нельзя не...

to appreciate - ценить

landscape - пейзаж

to reflect - отражать

mood - настроение

to express - выражать, отражать

brush - кисть

to transfer - переносить

canvas - холст, полотно

to introduce - вводить, представлять, вносить

figure - фигура

to bring out - выявлять, обнаруживать

loneliness - одиночество

remote - отдаленный

indifferent - безразличный, равнодушный, холодный

to influence - влиять

to make an impression on – производить впечатление на

unforgettable - незабываемый

to admire - восхищаться

emotional - эмоциональный, волнующий

lyrical - лирический

closing years - последние годы (жизни)

journey - поездка, путешествие

abroad - за границей, за границу

although - хотя

to devote to - посвящать (кому-либо, чему-либо)

to depict - изображать, рисовать

gratitude - благодарность

5.8.10 Questions. Answer the questions upon the text

1 What is Levitan famous for?

2 Levitan is a very individual sort of painter. Can you prove it?

3 What traditions did Levitan continue and develop?

4 What place did Levitan choose for his life and painting?

5 Did the Volga influence his art?

6 How old was Levitan when he died?

7 Why do so many people like his pictures?

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