Nikolai Nikolaevich Baskakov (; May 8, 1918 – October 14, 1993) was a Soviet painter, a member of the
Saint Petersburg Union of Artists (before 1992 known as the Leningrad branch of Union of Artists of Russian Federation), who lived and worked in Leningrad, regarded as one of the leading representatives of the
Leningrad school of painting, most famous for his genre and portrait painting.
Biography
Nikolai Nikolaevich Baskakov was born May 8, 1918, in a village seven kilometers from the
Astrakhan
Astrakhan (, ) is the largest city and administrative centre of Astrakhan Oblast in southern Russia. The city lies on two banks of the Volga, in the upper part of the Volga Delta, on eleven islands of the Caspian Depression, from the Caspian Se ...
city on the
Volga River
The Volga (, ) is the longest river in Europe and the longest endorheic basin river in the world. Situated in Russia, it flows through Central Russia to Southern Russia and into the Caspian Sea. The Volga has a length of , and a catchment ...
. His father, Nikolai Evlampievich Baskakov, was a carpenter. His mother, Evdokiya Vasilievna, was a housewife raising their children – nine sons and two daughters.
From 1933 to 1939 Baskakov studied under the Russian art educator Pavel Vlasov in the Astrakhan School of Art. In 1939 he was drafted into the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
, having served in the Far East. There, in 1943, he participated in an art exhibition. His work ''Khabarovsk, the year 1942'' was one among the thirty-eight works of artists of Khabarovsk that had been presented in the exhibition in Moscow.
In 1945 Baskakov went to Leningrad and entered the Department of Painting of the
Leningrad Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he studied under Leonid Ovsannikov,
Boris Fogel,
Genrikh Pavlovsky
Genrikh Vasilievich Pavlovsky () (October 15, 1907 – December 17, 1973) was a Russian and Soviet painter and art educator, who lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists, who played an important role in the fo ...
, and
Alexander Zaytsev.
In 1951 Baskakov graduated from the
Ilya Repin Institute of Arts under the supervision of the
Boris Ioganson's workshop, together with
Alexei Eriomin
Alexei Grigorievich Eriomin (; 17 March 1919 – 11 June 1998) was a Russian Soviet realist painter, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, who lived and worked in Saint Petersburg (former Leningrad). He was a member of the Saint Peters ...
,
Mikhail Kaneev
Mikhail Alexandrovich Kaneev (; 5 April 1923 – 6 March 1983) was a Soviet Russian painter and art teacher, lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists, regarded as a known representative of the Leningrad school o ...
,
Maya Kopitseva
Maya Kuzminichna Kopitseva (; 18 May 1924 – 6 June 2005) was a Soviet Russian still-life painter and an Honored Artist of the RSFSR who lived and worked in Leningrad - Saint Petersburg. She was a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artis ...
,
Anatoli Levitin
Anatoli Pavlovich Levitin (; July 16, 1922 – October 11, 2018) was a Soviet Russian painter and art educator, People's Artist of the Russian Federation, a member of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists (before 1992 — the Leningrad Union o ...
, Avenir Parkhomenko,
Arseny Semionov
Arseny Nikiforovich Semionov (; January 23, 1911 – September 13, 1992) was a Soviet painter and art teacher, lived and worked in Leningrad, a member of the Leningrad Union of Artists, regarded as one of the representatives of the Leningrad Sc ...
,
Mikhail Trufanov,
Boris Ugarov, and other young artists of the time. His graduation work had been the historical painting ''Lenin and Stalin in Smolny''.
Since 1951, Baskakov had been a permanent exhibitor of the Leningrad Art exhibitions, where he presented his work among with others pieces of art by the leading painters of fine arts in Leningrad. He painted historical paintings and war-depicting works,
genre scenes
Genre art is the pictorial representation in any of various media of scenes or events from everyday life, such as markets, domestic settings, interiors, parties, inn scenes, work, and street scenes. Such representations (also called genre works, ...
, portraits, landscapes and made sketches of everyday life. Baskakov worked in the technique of oil painting. In the same year together with artists Grigory Chepets and
Mikhail Trufanov he performed his first large order – the painting ''Presenting of the Order of Lenin to the Kirov factory'', for which he was admitted as a member of the
Leningrad Union of Soviet Artists.
In the 1950 and 1960s, Baskakov also created the paintings ''On a floating fish factory'' (1954), ''A Winter'' (1955), ''Masha'' (1956), ''A Letter'' (1957), ''On the River'' (1958), "Grandma and granddaughter", "A Teacher", "Summer" (all 1960), ''Pig farm workers'', ''Chiefs on the farm'' (both 1961), ''Plasterers'' (1964), and others. Notable among these are the paintings which date back to the dramatic events of wartime. Baskakov creates images filled with domestic drama, among them the paintings ''Music'' (1957), ''During the war'' (1967), ''On the Russian land'' (1968), ''A Victory'' (1974), and ''Conversation with son'' and ''Day of Victory'' (both 1980).
In 1956 Baskakov created the painting ''Lenin in the Gorki'', where Lenin was depicted sitting in a chair on a summer day in the garden. The author's approach is seen in large genre painting ''
Lenin in Kremlin'' (1960). Later Baskakov created the paintings ''Lenin on vacation'' (1970) and ''On New Year's celebration in Gorky'' (1972).
Baskakov also gained fame as a portraitist. Among his best-known works created in this genre were ''Guitarist'' (1949), ''Portrait of a Mother'' (1955), ''Portrait of a tractor driver'' (1956), ''Portrait of a Fisherman'' (1959), ''The Son of a shepherd'' (1962), ''Girl with willows'' (1967), and a large series of portraits of the workers of the Kirov factory, created in 1960–1980 years, including ''Schoolgirl'', ''Hunter Grisha Eriomin'' (both 1971), ''Grandma with the grandchildren'' (1972), ''The guy from Dudinka'' and ''Old Nganasanka'' (both 1973), ''A worker Fadeev with pupils'', ''Collective Farm keeper Mitrich'' (both 1975), ''Portrait of an old Uzbek woman'' (1977), ''Sisters'' (1979), ''Portrait of a welder'' (1980), ''Portrait of Vasily Shukshin'' and ''Portrait of the Artist'' (both 1984), ''A Group portrait of Kirov factory workers'' (1985), and ''A Portrait of the poet Nikolai Rubtsov'' (1988).
Baskakov was most known for his impressive portraits of contemporaries painted in realistic style.
The West discovered the art of Baskakov in 1989, when his portraits and genre paintings were first shown in Paris at the auctions of the Leningrad school artists. Subsequently, many of his works were acquired by American private collections.
In 1991 Saint Petersburg publishing house "Khudozhnik RSFSR" issued a monograph by V. Kirillov, devoted to the work of Nikolai Baskakov. Baskakov was elected a full member of Peter's Academy of Sciences and Arts. In 1989–1992 his paintings were exhibited in France in auctions of Russian paintings by ''L'École de Leningrad'' and others.
Baskakov died on October 14, 1993, in
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...
, at the age of 76. His paintings reside in the
State Russian Museum and in art museums and private collections in Russia, Japan, the U.S., Germany, England, France,
[''L' École de Leningrad. Auction Catalogue.'' - Paris: Drouot Richelieu, 21 Decembre 1990. - p.74-77.] and other countries.
See also
*
Fine Art of Leningrad
*
Leningrad School of Painting
*
House of creativity «Staraya Ladoga»
*
List of 20th century Russian painters
*
Saint Petersburg Union of Artists
References
Sources
* ''Central State Archive of Literature and Arts. Saint Petersburg.'' F.78. Inv.8/2. C.208.
*
''Весенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1954 года. Каталог''. Л., Изогиз, 1954. С.8.
*
''Осенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1956 года. Каталог.'' Л., Ленинградский художник, 1958. С.6.
*
''1917 — 1957. Выставка произведений ленинградских художников. Каталог.'' Л., Ленинградский художник, 1958. С.9.
* All-Union art exhibition (Moscow, 1957), ''Всесоюзная художественная выставка, посвящённая 40-летию Великой Октябрьской социалистической революции. Каталог''. М., Советский художник, 1957. С.11.
* Autumn exhibition (Leningrad, 1958), ''Осенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1958 года. Каталог.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1959. С.7.
* ''Шведова В. Над чем работают ленинградские художники'' // Художник. 1959, № 9.
*
Annual Exhibition of Leningrad artists (1960), ''Выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1960 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1963. С.7.
*
''Выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1960 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1961. С.9.
*
''Выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1961 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1964. С.9.
*
''Осенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1962 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1962. С.8.
*
''Ленинград. Зональная выставка 1964 года. Каталог''. Л, Художник РСФСР, 1965. C.10.
*
''Третья республиканская художественная выставка «Советская Россия». Каталог.'' М., Министерство культуры РСФСР, 1967. С.19.
*
''Весенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1969 года. Каталог.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1970. C.8.
* Exhibition of Leningrad artists (1970), ''Выставка произведений ленинградских художников, посвященная 25-летию победы над фашистской Германией. Каталог.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1972. C.6.
* ''Художники народов СССР. Биографический словарь. Том первый.'' — М: Искусство, 1970. — с.298-299.
* ''Весенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1971 года. Каталог.'' — Л: Художник РСФСР, 1972. — с.7.
*
''Наш современник. Каталог выставки произведений ленинградских художников 1971 года.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1972. С.8.
*
''Наш современник. Вторая выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1972 года. Каталог.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1973. C.5.
* ''Наш современник. Третья выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1973 года. Каталог.'' — Л: Художник РСФСР, 1974. — с.7.
* ''Дмитренко А. Мир современника''. // Ленинградская правда, 1975, 12 октября.
*
''Наш современник. Зональная выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1975 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1980. C.12.
*
''Портрет современника. Пятая выставка произведений ленинградских художников. Каталог.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1983. C.6.
*
''Изобразительное искусство Ленинграда. Каталог выставки''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1976. C.14.
*
''Выставка произведений ленинградских художников, посвящённая 60-летию Великого Октября.'' Л., Художник РСФСР, 1982. С.12.
*
''Осенняя выставка произведений ленинградских художников. 1978 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1983. С.6.
* ''Справочник членов Союза художников СССР. Том 1.'' М., Советский художник, 1979. C.98.
*
''Зональная выставка произведений ленинградских художников 1980 года. Каталог''. Л., Художник РСФСР, 1983. C.10.
* ''Artists of the USSR. Biography Dictionary. Volume 1.'' Moscow, Iskusstvo Edition, 1970. P.298–299.
* ''Vianor A. Kirillov. Nikolai Nikolaevich Baskakov.'' Leningrad, Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1991.
* ''Charmes Russes. Auction Catalogue.'' Paris, Drouot Richelieu, 15 Mai 1991. P.48-51.
* ''L' École de Leningrad. Auction Catalogue.'' Paris, Drouot Richelieu, 21 Decembre 1990. P.74-77.
* ''L' École de Leningrad. Auction Catalogue.'' Paris, Drouot Richelieu, 25 Novembre 1991. P.24-29.
* ''Peinture Russe. Catalogue.'' Paris, Drouot Richelieu, 18 Fevrier, 1991. P.7,68-71.
* ''Peinture Russe. Catalogue.'' Paris, Drouot Richelieu, 26 Avril, 1991. P.7,47-50.
* ''Matthew C. Bown. Dictionary of 20th Century Russian and Soviet Painters 1900-1980s''. - London: Izomar, 1998. , .
* ''Vern G. Swanson. Soviet Impressionism''. Woodbridge, England, Antique Collectors' Club, 2001. P.186–188. , .
* ''Sergei V. Ivanov. Unknown Socialist Realism. The Leningrad School.'' Saint Petersburg, NP-Print Edition, 2007. P.9, 20, 24, 357, 388-401, 403-406, 439. , .
* ''Artists of Peter's Academy of Arts and Sciences''. Saint Petersburg, Ladoga Edition, 2008. P.22–23.
* ''Nikolai Baskakov.'' Lenin in Kremlin // 80 years of the Saint Petersburg Union of Artists. The Anniversary Exhibition. Saint Petersburg, 2012. P.203.
* ''Иванов С. Инвестиции в советскую живопись: ленинградская школа'' // Петербургские искусствоведческие тетради. Вып. 31. СПб, 2014. С.60.
* ''Иванов С.В. Баскаков Николай Николаевич // Страницы памяти. Справочно-биографический сборник. 1941—1945. Художники Санкт-Петербургского (Ленинградского) Союза художников — ветераны Великой Отечественной войны.'' СПб., Петрополис, 2014. Кн.1. С.90—92.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baskakov, Nikolai
1918 births
1993 deaths
People from Astrakhan
People from Astrakhan Governorate
Soviet painters
Socialist realist artists
Members of the Leningrad Union of Artists
Leningrad School artists
Repin Institute of Arts alumni