10 facts about the artist Boris Kustodiev

Born into the family of a clergyman

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev was born on February 23 (March 7), 1878, in Astrakhan. His father, Mikhail Lukich Kustodiev, was a collegiate secretary and a teacher at a theological seminary. The father died when Kustodiev was one year old, and his mother had to raise and support four children on her own. The boy grew up amid Astrakhan's fairs and folk festivities, which later became the foundation of his joyful artistic style.

Boris Mikhailovich Kustodiev in his youth.

Was Ilya Repin's best student

Kustodiev studied icon painting at the theological seminary, and in 1889 he visited an exhibition of the Peredvizhniki (Itinerants) in Astrakhan and became seriously interested in painting. The young artist began taking lessons from Pavel Vlasov, a pupil of Vasily Perov and Pavel Chistyakov. The teacher recommended that the talented student continue his studies in the capital. Because of his young age, Kustodiev did not get into the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, but he was admitted to the Higher Art School at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. In 1898 he was accepted into Ilya Repin's studio. The renowned painter appreciated Kustodiev's abilities and entrusted him and his fellow student Ivan Kulikov to take part in the work on the large-scale canvas "The Ceremonial Session of the State Council."

Ceremonial Session of the State Council on May 7, 1901, in honor of the centennial

Lived and worked in the "Terem"

In 1905 Kustodiev bought a plot in the Kostroma Governorate from the Polenov family — distant relatives of the artist Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov. Kustodiev built a house-studio on the plot in the neo-Russian style, which he called the "Terem." The house was designed by Kustodiev's friends from the Academy of Arts — painter Dmitry Stellechky and architect Yuri Stravinsky. It was in the "Terem" that he painted portraits of his wife and children and his famous "Self-portrait (On the Hunt)." The family lived in the house until 1915. When Kustodiev lost the ability to move, he donated the "Terem" to the local executive committee. In the early 1940s the "Terem" burned down in a fire.

He was an artist of "light and joy"

Kustodiev was a recognized master of genre and everyday painting. His favorite subjects were scenes from the life of the Russian provinces: fairs, holidays and festivities (paintings like "The Fair" (1906), "Maslenitsa" (1916)). His works are characterized by bright colors and a cheerful palette. Another favorite subject for Kustodiev's paintings was well-rounded women exuding beauty and health. Among the master's best-known canvases celebrating the female ideal are "Beauty" (1915), "Girl on the Volga" (1919), "Russian Venus" (1925–1926), and "The Merchant's Wife at Tea" (1918). In addition, Kustodiev was a gifted portraitist. Notable portrait works include: "Portrait of I. Ya. Bilibin" (1901), "Portrait of Fyodor Chaliapin" (1922), "Group Portrait of the Artists of the 'World of Art' Society" (1910–1920), and "Portrait of Professors Kapitsa and Semyonov" (1921).

He had a phenomenal memory

The artist had an extraordinary visual memory. He could reproduce shop signs, architectural details of houses and façades, and street lamps. He remembered Astrakhan especially well. The artist wrote: "Now I would trade ten Yalts and as many Black Seas for Astrakhan. I think even my soul is by nature Astrakhanian." He never forgot views of his native city and celebrated it in his paintings from memory.

B.M. Kustodiev. Self-portrait. 1912.

Worked in the genre of caricature

There was a period in Kustodiev's work when he worked in the atypical-for-him genre of caricature. He accepted Ivan Bilibin's invitation and created a series of caricatures for the satirical magazine "Zhupel." Alongside Kustodiev, Ivan Bilibin, Valentin Serov, Dmitry Kardovsky, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky and other artists from the "World of Art" association participated in the magazine. All three issues of the magazine were banned. Kustodiev's drawing "Vstuplenie" ("The Entry"), created under the impression of the suppression of the workers' uprising on Krasnaya Presnya, became the most famous. The composition of the drawing formed the basis for the painting "The Bolshevik," created by the master in 1920.

B.M. Kustodiev. Paper, gouache. 1905.

He was one of the best stage designers

Kustodiev's debut as a theatrical designer took place in 1907, when he became an assistant to Alexander Golovin at the Mariinsky Theatre. The artist created sketches for plays by Ostrovsky, Gogol, Saltykov-Shchedrin and Zamyatin, the plots of which were often connected with life in the Russian provinces. Some 15 productions of Ostrovsky's plays featured Kustodiev's scenography. The theatrical life inspired the artist to create independent paintings.

Was skeptical of the avant-garde

In the early 1910s futurism quickly gained popularity among the artistic youth. Kustodiev often joked about the avant-gardists and once made a bet with Mstislav Dobuzhinsky that he could create a futurist painting in three hours. Dobuzhinsky decided to support his friend and entered the playful contest. Both artists finished within the allotted time and then decided to send their works to a futurist exhibition. A week later they received an answer: the works were accepted, and Kustodiev's canvas titled "Leda," signed under the pseudonym Pugovkin, was to become the main painting of the exhibition.

He was deeply passionate about photography

Besides painting, Boris Mikhailovich was passionately interested in photography. During his travels at home and abroad Kustodiev took more than two hundred photographs. For him this was not only a way to capture the surrounding reality but also an opportunity to experiment with light and composition. His photographs are intimate in nature and focus on the theme of the Russian hinterland, a common thread running through all forms of his art. He also used photographs to record studies for his paintings.

In his final years he was confined to a wheelchair

Kustodiev suffered from a serious illness — a spinal cord tumor. The artist underwent multiple operations, but the tumor recurred, resulting in paralysis of the lower limbs and leaving him confined to a wheelchair. The severe illness did not break his will; he continued to work and travel. It was during this period that the artist's "Kustodiev women" and canvases depicting the Russian troika, symbolizing movement and the strength of the Russian spirit, appeared. Kustodiev died in 1927 of pneumonia.

Boris Kustodiev in his final years.

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