Ph: Kirill Gorozhanin
Exhibition: New Tretyakov Gallery
Besides the dreaded compulsory materials, students of NNGASU were terrified of taking art history exams. Imagine covering all epochs in just a few semesters, studying in detail a good half of the paintings and sculptures scattered around the world. Dr. A.N. Donin, a professor of art history, was our nightmare (and we thank him for that!). I vividly remember the lecture hall for 60 people, with the December chill outside, an old projector humming, tables laden with tomes of notes and sketches of paintings, and instead of electric lights… candles. Such romance!
Exhibition: New Tretyakov Gallery
Besides the dreaded compulsory materials, students of NNGASU were terrified of taking art history exams. Imagine covering all epochs in just a few semesters, studying in detail a good half of the paintings and sculptures scattered around the world. Dr. A.N. Donin, a professor of art history, was our nightmare (and we thank him for that!). I vividly remember the lecture hall for 60 people, with the December chill outside, an old projector humming, tables laden with tomes of notes and sketches of paintings, and instead of electric lights… candles. Such romance!
Like most students, I barely scraped through with satisfactory grades. But some things left a profound impact. Semiradsky etched himself so deeply in my memory that he remains one of my favorite artists to this day.
If you need a guide on how to use light, perspective, volume, and composition in your work, study Semiradsky.
Pardon the tautology, but you might have noticed that the light in his paintings "shines". It’s not an effect of gallery lighting or photo post-production; they really are like that.
What I hadn’t seen before were Semiradsky’s early sepias and sketches. They help understand why his paintings have such a hypnotic effect. He did not separate form from light, working with both simultaneously in his search for composition. As a result, we see a deep harmony in everything displayed on his canvases.
The exhibition also features works by Semiradsky’s contemporaries, but even the chaotic arrangement of the paintings won’t let you mistake their authorship.