N. Krymov [antikvár]

Nikolai Krymov is a prominent figure in (he history of Russian and Soviet pictorial art. He is better known as a painter of landscapes, but liis interests embraced also graphic art and stage design. It was Krymov's good fortune to meet with success early: it is not often that a picture by a second-ycar student of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture finds its way into the famous Tretyakov Gallery, but this is what actually happened to one of his early paintings, a small sketch titled Snow-laden Roois. It was bought in 1906 by the well-known landscape artist Apollinary Vasnetsov; and, following the recommendation of Valentin Serov, who was then one of the Gallery's trustees, it was added in 1907 to that great collection of Russian painting. Nikolai Krymov was born in Moscow in 1884 into the family of an artist. Piotr Krymov taught drawing as Moscow high schools and was portraitist in his own right. He had in his time graduated from the class of Prof. Zaryanko, a well-known tutor at the Academy of Fine Arts, and in his younger years had been on friendly terms with the Russian landscape masters Shishkin and Sav-rasov. His own favourite genre, however, had always been portraiture. Piotr Krymov noticed early his younger son's gift, manifested in an extraordinary drawing skill. Together they would often set out for long walks in the countryside, drawing and sketching. This was the first introduction to art of the future painter. After Nikolai Krymov finished high school, father began coaching sen for entry examinations to the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, which he passed with distinction in 1904, recognized as one of the most promising newcomers. Giving instruction at the School in those years were quite a few brilliant and highly esteemed teachers. Master of the life class was Leonid Pasternak; also teaching there was Abram Arkhipov. The portraiture class was under Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin; the landscape class was taught by Apollinary Vasnetsov. Having enrolled at the School, Krymov found himself in the midst of a large group of aspiring artists, all eager for creative endeavour. Numerous exhibitions held at the time stimulated heated disputes over the destiny of art, over the choice of an artistic career. Krymov very soon revealed his bent for and admiration of the latest trends in art. Krymov's work of this early, student period stands out for its diversity: painting mostly in oil, he nevertheless did many water-colours, drawings. magazine illustrations and tried his hand at stage design. His interest in the landscape, however, was pre-eminent. Twilight and Landscape with the Moon (1904), Summer Night (1905), Moonlit Night (1905)—these are the early-stage paintings in vihich the artist attempted to convey the beautiful stillness of the falling dusk, stressing the expressive and fanciful outlines of the trees. What he sought in nature and succeeded in recreating on canvas were the romantic nuances; accordingly, Krymov enveloped these landscapes in a soft blue mist, weaving the dark tree silhouettes into an ornament that gently encircled reflection of the moon on the water (Moonlit Night). These early landscapes instantly revealed his colouristic flare, but they clearly lacked an independent painterly vision. Krymov's paintings displayed at the 1904 exhibition of the School's student works were singled out by the art critics. These works at once revealed the range of the young painter's artistic interests and predilections, especially his involvement with the works of Borisov-Musatov and Kuznetzov. His subsequent works, depicting snow-laden house roofs and cosy courtyards: Winter (1906), Sunny Day (1906), March Frosts (1906), Bullfinches (1907), Approaching Spring (1907), established him as a keen observer of nature who selected motifs with predominantly romantic features. And so Krymov's early experiments point to a very significant feature of his art — an interplay of the romantic tendency with the nature-based principle of intense and close observation. These can be seen in a singular fusion in his well-known canvas Approaching Spring, where Krymov achieved far more than just another poetic study from nature. As he took in the surrounding reality, he never let out of sight his ultimate goal of a generalized landscape image, a synthesis of what he was able to discern in nature. The painting was quite a success at the 1907 Blue Rose exhibition. Krymov's association with this art group and participation in its exhibitions was not fortuitous: it was prompted by the changes that were taking piece in his work. The participants in the Blue Rose exhibitions all shared a striving towards emotive expressiveness; they emphasized in their pictures the sphere of spiritual experiences, a preoccupation with the stirrings of the human soul. They strove for beauty and refinement of painterly means, towards an interpretation of colour as "an expression of subtle psychological experiences on the symbolic and decorative plane". The Blue Rose brought together brilliant but temperamentally and creatively differ-