Vasily Surikov

He was born to an old {{ill|Yenisey Cossacks|lt=Yenisey Cossack|ru|Енисейские казаки}}{{cite web |url=https://www.gazeta.ru/culture/2018/01/23/a_11622913.shtml |title=Василий Суриков: мастер, который везде искал красоту |trans-title=Vasily Surikov: a master who was looking for beauty everywhere |date=24 January 2018 |first=Ksenia |last=Kislitsyna |website=Gazeta.ru |access-date=22 January 2021 |language=ru}} family descending from Don Cossacks that had settled in Siberia.{{Cite web |last=Kenneth |title=Vasily Surikov |url=https://www.rusartnet.com/biographies/russian-artists/19th-century/late-19th-century/realist/vasily-surikov |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=www.rusartnet.com |language=en-gb}}{{unreliable source|date=April 2024|reason=No bibliography.|certain=y}} His father was a Collegiate Registrar, a civil service rank that often served as postmasters. In 1854, as a result of his father being reassigned, the family moved to the village of Sukhobuzimskoye, where he began his primary education.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In 1859, his father died of tuberculosis so the family returned to Krasnoyarsk and were forced to rent the second floor of their house to survive financially. He began drawing while attending the district school and was encouraged by the local art teacher. His first formal work dates from 1862, but his family could not afford to continue his education, and he became a clerk in a government office. This brought him into contact with {{ill|Pavel Zamyatin|ru|Замятнин, Павел Николаевич}}, the governor of Yenisei, who was able to find him a patron: {{ill|Pyotr Kuznetsov (merchant)|ru|Кузнецов, Пётр Иванович (купец)|lt=Pyotr Kuznetsov}}, a local merchant who owned several small gold mines.{{Cite web |title=Русские художники. Суриков Василий Иванович. |url=http://www.artsait.ru/art/s/surikov/main.htm |access-date=2024-11-04 |website=www.artsait.ru}}

In 1868, he rode on horseback to Saint Petersburg but was unable to qualify for admission to the Imperial Academy of Arts, so he studied at the drawing school of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. After a year there, he was allowed to audit classes at the academy and became a full-time pupil toward the end of 1869.

From 1869 to 1875, he studied with Pavel Chistyakov, Bogdan Willewalde, and Pyotr Shamshin, winning several medals. His great attention to composition earned him the nickname "The Composer". In 1875, he graduated with the title of Artist, first degree.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

File:V.Surikov, Self-Portrait (1879, Tretyakov gallery).jpg)]]

In 1877, he received a commission to paint murals at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (then still under construction), and he moved to Moscow. Unable to afford a house, he lived in rented apartments and hotels and visited Krasnoyarsk whenever possible. In 1878, he married Elisabeth Charais (1858–1888), a French woman who was descended from the Decembrist, {{ill|Pyotr Svistunov|ru|Свистунов, Пётр Николаевич}}, on her mother's side. They had two daughters.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

After that, he chose to remain in Moscow and began the series of historical paintings that would establish his reputation, starting with The Morning of the Streltsy Execution. In 1881, he had his first exhibition with the Peredvizhniki, an artists' cooperative. In 1883, Menshikov in Beryozovo was bought by Pavel Tretyakov for a sum that allowed him to take a European tour. In 1887, he added portraits to his repertoire, beginning with one of his mother.

In 1888, his wife died, and he returned to Krasnoyarsk with his daughters for two years. There he painted his most lighthearted picture, The Capture of Snow Town. This was followed by a visit to his ancestral home in Siberia. There, on the Ob River, he made sketches for one of his most familiar works, The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich (an event in which some of his ancestors had participated). This brought him a full membership in the Imperial Academy. In 1897, he visited Switzerland and painted Suvorov Crossing the Alps, which was purchased by Tsar Nicholas II.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

In 1907, he left the Peredvizhniki and joined the Union of Russian Artists. Three years later, he visited Spain, together with his son-in-law, Pyotr Konchalovsky. That same year, he and the architect Leonid Chernishyov opened an art school. Four years later, he had an extended stay in Krasnoyarsk, painting landscapes.{{citation needed|date=January 2021}}

File:Суриков Василий Иванович.png

By this time, he was suffering from chronic coronary disease. A trip to Crimea for treatment in 1915 failed to ameliorate the problem, and he died early the following year after returning to Moscow. He was buried at Vagankovo Cemetery, next to his wife.

In 1948, on the 100th anniversary of his birth, his estate in Krasnoyarsk became a museum. Two monuments have been erected there, in 1954 and in 2002. A biographical movie of his life (Vasily Surikov) was made by Mosfilm in 1959, written by Emil Braginsky, and directed by {{ill|Anatoly Rybakov (director)|ru|Рыбаков, Анатолий Михайлович|lt=Anatoly Rybakov}}, with Yevgeni Lazarev as Surikov and Larisa Kadochnikova as Elisabeth.{{Citation |last=Rybakov |first=Anatoli |title=Vasiliy Surikov |date=1959-11-10 |type=Biography, Drama |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053406/ |access-date=2024-11-04 |others=Evgeniy Lazarev, Larisa Kadochnikova, Leonid Gallis |publisher=Mosfilm}} Numerous streets and squares throughout Russia have been named after him, as well as a crater on Mercury.{{cite web |url = https://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/5767|title = Surikov |publisher = NASA |work = Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature |access-date = 27 July 2021}}

File:Surikov streltsi.jpg|The Morning of the Streltsy Execution

File:Vasily Surikov - Suvorov Crossing the Alps in 1799 - Google Art Project.jpg|Suvorov crossing the Alps

File:Vasily Surikov - Боярыня Морозова - Google Art Project.jpg|Boyarina Morozova

File:Surikov-Horseman2.jpg|The Bronze Horseman

File:SurikovMenshikovBerezovo.jpg|Menshikov in Beryozovo

File:SurikovSnowFortress.jpg|The Capture of Snow Town

File:Surikov Pokoreniye Sibiri Yermakom.jpg|The Conquest of Siberia by Yermak Timofeyevich

File:Stenka Razin by Vasily Surikov 1906.jpg|Stenka Razin

{{reflist}}

• Vladimir Kemenov, Vasily Surikov 1848–1916, Parkstone Press, 1997 {{ISBN|1-85995-325-5}}
• Maria Tsaneva, Surikov: 154 Paintings and Drawings, Lulu Press, 2014 {{ISBN|1-304-90431-8}}
• Tamara Kozhevinkova, Василий Суриков, Белый город, 2000 {{ISBN|5-7793-0222-7}}
• Lydia Lovlyeva and Galina Churak, Василий Суриков, Пинакотека, 1998 {{ISBN|5-89580-003-3}}

{{commons category|Vasily Surikov}}

• [http://artsurikov.ru Vasily Surikov Russian Web site. Biography, full galleries, memories, etc.] (in Russian)
• [http://www.art-drawing.ru/gallery/category/685-surikov-vasily-ivanovich Vasily Surikov. Pictures] [http://www.art-drawing.ru/biographies/brief-biographies/1421-vasily-surikov and Biography] @ Арт-Рисунок
• [http://artiststudiomuseum.org/studio-museums/vassily-surikov-museum-estate/ Vasily Surikov Museum Estate, Russia]

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Category:1848 births

Category:1916 deaths

Category:People from Krasnoyarsk

Category:People from Yeniseysk Governorate

Category:19th-century painters from the Russian Empire

Category:Russian male painters

Category:20th-century Russian painters

Category:Watercolorists from the Russian Empire

Category:Peredvizhniki

Category:19th-century painters of historical subjects

Category:Burials at Vagankovo Cemetery

Category:19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire

Category:20th-century Russian male artists