Famous Russian battle painter

In the visual arts, the term "battle genre" refers to paintings depicting scenes of war. The canvas depicts people in dynamics, there is a high level of attention to detail. The battle genre is dedicated to all events related to the war: campaigns, battles - land and sea.

Goals

Tasks and goals of artists working in this genre:

• Demonstration of the importance of the historical moment, battles, life of soldiers during the war;
• Capturing the most iconic moments of battles;
• Demonstration of the heroics of soldiers;
• Development of a sense of patriotism, duty.

The depiction on the canvas of real military operations and historical events associated with them brings the battle genre closer to the historical one. There are features of the everyday direction - a demonstration of ordinary life, outside the battlefield, but associated with hostilities.

History of formation

The official formation of the direction took place in the 16th century, but the works showing battle scenes are typical of the art of ancient times:

Artists

Famous artists representatives of battle painting:

Alexander Sauerweid

An artist of the first half of the 19th century, a battle painter, his works are distinguished by great attention to the general arrangement of objects in the picture. The hand of the artist is easily recognizable by the depiction of horses. Works: "The Battle of Leipzig", "The Siege of Varna". Images are considered too generalized, without details - the master conveyed the big picture, without attention to nuances.

Bogdan Villevalde

Batalist, professor, typical representative of the direction of the first half of the 19th century. In his work he was greatly influenced by German painters. His works do not have any special differences from similar canvases by artists of the battle genre. Pictures: "Kulm", "In front of Paris", "Leipzig", "Ferschampenoise".

Famous illustrator of novels by Jules Verne, French battle painter. The canvases are distinguished by the expressive spirit of patriotism, the realism of the transfer of objects, and dynamism. Features of the works - almost all the paintings convey anxiety, chase, sudden attack, persecution. Works: "Bourget", "Cemetery of Saint-Privas", "Protection of the gates of Longboyo".

One of the brightest battle painters in Russia, a writer. Traveled the world, received an excellent art education. One of the most famous works in the battle direction of fine art belongs to his pen - “The Apotheosis of War”. The battle genre is represented by the following works: “Religious procession at the Moharrem festival in Shusha”, “Former fortification of Kosh-Tigermen”, “Entrance to the city of Katta-Kurgan”, “After the attack. Dressing station near Plevna", "Suppression of the Indian uprising by the British".

Nikolai Karazin

Batalist and writer. He paid attention to the details of life, the situation. He drew from life, being a war correspondent during the Serbian-Turkish and Russian-Turkish campaigns. Karazin is considered the creator of a special style of watercolor painting - his works are easy to recognize thanks to the special manner of creating lighting effects, contrasts, building a composition, and gloom. Paintings: “The Capture of Tashkent”, “The Entry of Russian Troops into Samarkand on June 8, 1868”, “The First Appearance of Russian Troops on the Amu Darya. Crossing of the Turkestan Detachment at the Sheikh-aryk”, “Teke Expedition of 1881. Assault on Geok-Tepe.

Professor of painting, battle painter, panorama painter, founder of the Russian school of panoramic painting. He created about 200 ingenious monumental works. Scale is the main feature of Roubaud's painting. Pictures of the artist: "Defense of Sevastopol", "Storm of the village of Akhulgo", "Battle of Borodino".

Mitrofan Grekov

Batalist, one of the most famous representatives of the direction. Most of the works belong to the Soviet era. He himself was a direct participant in the battles of the First World War and the Civil War, from where he brought sketches made from nature. Works: “Trumpeters of the First Cavalry”, “Battle of Yegorlykskaya”, “Frozen Cossacks of General Pavlov”, “Storm of Perekop”. A creative team headed by Grekov worked on the last panoramic work.

Mikhail Avilov

Soviet battle painter. Fought on the fronts of the First World War. His paintings were awarded the highest marks for realism, ideology, spirit of patriotism, attention to detail. Avilov was a member of the studio founded by Mitrofan Grekov - in its composition he participated in the creation of the work "Storm of Perekop". Created posters, graphic drawings. Works by Mikhail Avilov: "Breakthrough of the Polish Front by the First Cavalry Army in 1920", "Duel of Peresvet with Chelubey on the Kulikovo Field".

Rudolf Frenz

Soviet painter, battle painter, teacher, head of the workshop that was engaged in battle painting - LIZhSA named after I.E. Repin. He was engaged in different areas of painting, but it was battle works that brought fame. Created dioramas, panoramic paintings, watercolors, landscapes, portraits. The battle genre is represented by paintings: “On Znamenskaya Square in the February Days of 1917”, “Storming the Winter Palace”, “Joint Actions of Tanks, Aviation and Cavalry. Combined attack", "M. V. Frunze directs the crossing over the Sivash”, “Storm of the Winter Palace”, “Stalingrad. February 2, 1943".

The battle genre is also represented by: N. Samokish, I. Vladimirov, R.-K. Sommer, Yu. Kossak, V. Mazurovsky, A. Sokolov.

Character traits

Battle paintings are characterized by:

1. Scale.
2. Particular attention is paid to details.
3. Realistic transfer of objects.
4. Tension, emotionality, dynamism.
5. historical authenticity.
6. Ideological direction.

Meaning

The battle genre is called a kind of historical painting. This is both true and false at the same time. The truth is that the battle canvases reflect the real events of history, the differences are different ideological content. The direction under consideration tends to promote patriotism, heroism, rather than to the development of moral and religious norms.

N. Dmitriev-Orenburg "The Battle of Plevna on August 27, 1877" (1883) Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842-1904) - Russian painter and writer, one of the most famous battle painters. Mitrofan Borisovich Grekov (1882-1934) - Soviet battle painter of Russian Cossack origin. “Trumpeters of the First Cavalry” is his most famous work.

famous Russian artist battle painter - 4 (four) letters

The horrors of the hunger strike have already laid like a heavy stone on the shoulders of these once magnificent warriors. Now the road lay in Italy. Studio of military artists. Fate was generous to Aivazovsky for interesting meetings, acquaintances and friendship.

Aivazovsky set out to make his house not only comfortable for living and working, but also intended to arrange an art school in it "in terms of painting sea views, landscapes and folk scenes." The surface of the sea, on which a light breeze draws a quivering swell, seems like a field of sparks. Forgive me, great artist, if I was mistaken in taking the picture for reality, but your work fascinated me and delight took possession of me. regimental stable. Vasily asked for his resignation. The unbending courage of the defenders of Sevastopol, their firm determination to fight to the last breath, was shown by Deineka in the film “Defense of Sevastopol” (1942, Russian Museum) imbued with heroic pathos. V. Frunze directs the crossing over the Sivash”, “Storm of the Winter Palace”, “Stalingrad. What a fiery flood.

Famous Russian battle painter 4 letters

By 1848, the house and the working workshop were built, and in 1865 the artist opened the school he had conceived, it became known as the "General Workshop". Batalist and writer. Such a picture was a large composition, which the artist called Chaos. The battleship began to sink into the water and, after the explosion of the boilers, having broken, went to the bottom. Aivazovsky took part in the landing, landed in the Subashi (Lazarevskaya) area.

Paintings: “The Capture of Tashkent”, “The Entry of Russian Troops into Samarkand on June 8, 1868”, “The First Appearance of Russian Troops on the Amu Darya. He painted the picture Landing in Subashi immediately, returning to Feodosia. The road to the church of St. Sergius was strewn with flowers. V. Vereshchagin "The Apotheosis of War" (1871).

The cycle "Napoleon in Russia" includes 20 paintings, as well as studies, drawings and unfinished compositions. By the Renaissance in Italy are the first experiences of a realistic depiction of battles. At every exhibition in European cities, he was a success. Vereshchagin accidentally, instead of the sick artist Metelitsa, ended up on the battleship Petropavlovsk. Gradually, official battles are being replaced by images of real military episodes. The well-known English marine painter William Turner, who lived in Rome in 1842, expressed his amazement at the art of Aivazovsky, composing admiring poems in Italian about the painting of the Gulf of Naples on a moonlit night: “In your picture I see the moon with its gold and silver, standing over the sea, reflected in it. The whole city said goodbye to the artist.

Famous Russian battle painter

But he sought to find his own, a new theme in the landscape, peculiar only to him. Combined attack", "M. With particular pleasure, he painted the Sevastopol raid with handsome ships solemnly entering the bay, with great skill and flair Aivazovsky reconstructed the naval battles of the 18th century: the battle of Gangut, the famous battle in the Chios Strait and the battle of Chesme, which took place in June 1770. Having painted pictures about the "Sevastopol suffering", he brought them to the besieged city and opened an exhibition that greatly contributed to raising the spirits of the soldiers who fought on the bastions.

The artist traveled all over the Neapolitan coast, worked in Sorrento, Amalfi, Vico. So, the great Russian battle painter died at a military post. Napoleon's main task - to destroy the Russian army in one general battle - was not fulfilled. Why does the picture belong to the battle genre. Crossing of the Turkestan Detachment at the Sheikh-aryk”, “Teke Expedition of 1881.

The painting caught the attention of Pope Gregory XVI. The low-income public was allowed free of charge several days a week. He paid attention to the details of life, the situation. The fortress was defended. Leonardo da Vinci (copy of Rubens) fresco "Battle of Anghiari" (1503-1506) The fresco was commissioned by Leonardo da Vinci in honor of the restoration of the Florentine Republic after the expulsion of Piero Medici. The battle genre is represented by paintings: “On Znamenskaya Square in the February Days of 1917”, “Storming the Winter Palace”, “Joint Actions of Tanks, Aviation and Cavalry.

Famous Russian battle painter, 4 letters, 3 letter "B", scanword

A year later, Vasily Vasilyevich ended up with Kaufman in Samarkand. The exhibition also evoked lively responses from leading figures in Russian culture. The scandal was huge.

Here, on the Borodino field, the myth of the invincibility of the Napoleonic army was dispelled. For the paintings exhibited in the Louvre, Aivazovsky was awarded a gold medal.

Something is burning on Red Square there at that time there were various old wooden buildings. At the beginning of 1874, Vereshchagin presented the paintings in St. Petersburg. Two became professional soldiers, one went on the path of social activity. All the details of the picture, including the yellow color of the canvas, symbolize death. He purchased it for the Vatican and awarded the artist a gold medal. The reliefs on the ancient Roman triumphal arches are the conquests and victories of the emperors.

Famous Russian battle painter

For the winner, who occupied a foreign city, there is nothing sacred. St. Petersburg (1762-1764) The Battle of Poltava is the largest battle of the Northern War between the Russian troops under the command of Peter I and the Swedish army of Charles XII. In September, the Academy of Arts honored its former student with the title of academician, and a few days later the Ministry of the Imperial Court issued an order to assign him to this department with the title of painter of the Main Naval Staff "with the right to wear the uniform of the Naval Ministry and so that this title was considered honorary without production monetary content."

But it was a real way out of the fire and into the frying pan. One of his best paintings, Among the Waves, was painted by him when he was eighty years old. The general went to fight the emir's troops, and the artist remained in the fortress with five hundred fighters.

The most famous Russian battle painter

In 1934, after the death of the artist, by a special resolution of the Council of People's Commissars, the “Iso-workshop of amateur Red Army art named after M. B. Grekov” was created in Moscow. Gradually, official battles are being replaced by images of real military episodes. He died on March 31, 1904, together with Admiral S. O. Makarov, during an explosion on a mine of the battleship Petropavlovsk on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur. He created a series of battle paintings: the Turkestan series, "Napoleon in Russia", the "Barbarians" series. The most significant battles are depicted in such works as the panorama "Battle of Stalingrad" in Volgograd (made by a group of artists led by M. Samsonov), the diorama "Battle of Perekop" in Simferopol (author N. But) and others.

The glorious victory of the Russian fleet over the Turkish fleet was captured by Aivazovsky in the film The Battle of Sinop. Mosaic of M. V. Lomonosov in the building of the Academy of Sciences. Assault on Geok-Tepe.

He made soldiers, ordinary Russian people, the heroes of the paintings. Yes, simply because Marshal Davout was not one of those people who are able to pay attention to their surroundings. They are perceived as musical or poetic improvisations. Working with pleasure on a variety of seascapes, trying not to repeat themselves in their plots, Aivazovsky each time looked for new shades of lighting sea water or clouds, the state of the atmosphere.

The battle genre experienced a new rise during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years - in posters and "TASS Windows", front-line graphics, painting, and later in monumental sculpture. All of Europe closely followed the development of events near Breda. The military garrison of Feodosia gave the last honors to his artist. When the Russo-Japanese War began, Vereshchagin went to the front. This is an allegory painting, a protest painting against wars. The horses in this picture, as it were, emphasize the features of their owners: a calm, modest horse belongs to the vanquished, and the graceful, playful horse Spinola is to match the winner. In passing, it should be noted that people's war should by no means be confused with guerrilla warfare.

World famous Russian marine painter, battle painter Collector

The whims of war can reach the most monstrous proportions. The squadron leader went to sea to give battle to the enemy, but while maneuvering, he ran into a Japanese mine. At 0943, a deafening explosion was heard in the bow of the Petropavlovsk, then the ammunition detonated. "Poltava battle".

Napoleon, forced to flee from the Kremlin, left it on foot, heading for the Arbat. Before going to Italy, the artist left for Feodosia for two years. Vereshchagin studied and sketched the local architecture, but an uprising soon began. The battle took place on the morning of July 8, 1709, 6 miles from the city of Poltava. Karazin is considered the creator of a special style of watercolor painting - his works are easy to recognize thanks to the special manner of creating lighting effects, contrasts, building a composition, and gloom. In the Middle Ages, battles were depicted on carpets and tapestries, in book miniatures, sometimes on icons (as scenes of the heroic deeds of one or another saint).

Despite the numerical superiority, the Milanese were defeated by a small Florentine detachment. He was engaged in different areas of painting, but it was battle works that brought fame. D. Vasari wrote about this picture: “. State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow) On the frame of this picture is the inscription: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future." Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane."

All of them are bright creative individuals, professionals in their field. On a huge pictorial canvas (length - 115, height - 15 meters), the artist captured the most difficult moment of the battle - at 12:30 pm, September 7, 1812.

Sometimes the state, sometimes the Church, did not like it. Created dioramas, panoramic paintings, watercolors, landscapes, portraits. Ironically, the graves of the artist's relatives lie under the waters of the Rybinsk reservoir. Your art is eternal and powerful, because you are inspired by genius. M. B. Grekova is a unique creative team of 30 artists (painters, graphic artists and sculptors). Everything is destroyed, only crows remain, but they have nothing to profit from here.

Electronic album "Heroes of great battles through the eyes of battle artists"

Davout was a stern, gloomy man, who knew martial arts perfectly, unshakably devoted to Napoleon, with whom he was brought up together at the Brienne military school, always busy, concentrated, and for him questions, even the most elementary comforts of life, absolutely did not exist. That is, the battle genre is dedicated to military topics. Oil on canvas, 127 x 197 cm. He returned to his homeland in 1844, crowned with recognition and European glory.

Three brothers Vasily received a military education. By the Renaissance in Italy are the first experiences of a realistic depiction of battles. Take a look at the reproduced picture and. whose heart does not tremble at the sight. Aivazovsky has a picture that was absolutely unusual for this genre, the Brig "Mercury" after defeating two Turkish ships meets with the Russian squadron.

Famous Russian battle painter 4 letters scanword

By the age of 27, he became a member of the St. Petersburg, Rome and Amsterdam Academies of Arts.

There is a second fierce attack on the village of Semenovskaya, after fierce fighting, the famous Semenov (Bagrationov) flushes are occupied and another attack on Kurgan height is repulsed. This tradition was also preserved by the battle painters of the 20th century. In Rome, he often visited Gogol's small apartment, which he called "my cell." Ambrosio Spinola, using a pause in the war, laid siege to the fortress. The latter offered to ask for whatever you want.

Russian soldiers fought without sparing their lives. He was not young, but just as in his early youth, he continued to work tirelessly. This tradition was also preserved by the battle painters of the 20th century. But Vereshchagin firmly decided to become an artist. But he tries to accept what happened with dignity. Their activity is based on the method of realism. Here is a picture of a member of this studio. Aivazovsky took the words from the book of Genesis as the basis for the idea of ​​the picture: “The earth was formless and empty, and darkness was over the abyss, and the Spirit of God hovered over the water.”

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The Russians had to defend the fortress from the onslaught of the 20,000th enemy. Fire horror. The 6th of September arrived. The memory and pain of these events and losses never left the artist: on the slope of his life, in 1893, he painted a picture of Malakhov Kurgan and on the back of it he made the inscription: “The place where Kornilov was mortally wounded.” The end of October was approaching.

The future artist was born in the city of Cherepovets. A. Mylnikov, Yu. P. Kugach and others). War is always death and devastation. February 2, 1943".

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His father was the leader of the local nobility. On the morning of March 31, near Port Arthur, the ship hit a mine and sank in a matter of minutes. The Russian battle genre is imbued with a special spirit of patriotism, it seeks to express admiration for the heroism and courage of warriors.

The battle genre experienced a new rise during the Great Patriotic War and the post-war years - in posters and "TASS Windows", front-line graphics, painting, and later in monumental sculpture. The battle lasted 15 hours. Napoleon, having learned that the Kremlin was completely intact, decided to return there. The word "bataille" means "battle" in French. E. Moiseenko and others) and the Great Patriotic War (A.

For 80 years, Spain fought to maintain the power of the Habsburgs over the Spanish Netherlands. The leader is shown shorter, wearing baggy clothes and worn boots. A year earlier, he created a canvas-memory of the ship "Maria" during a storm (on which Nakhimov commanded the battle of Sinop).

Battle genre

Battle on the Vozha River. Second half of the 16th century.

History of the development of the genre

The formation of the battle genre began in the 16th century, but images of battles have been known in art since ancient times. The reliefs of the Ancient East represent a king or commander exterminating enemies, sieges of cities, processions of warriors. In the painting of ancient Greek vases, on the reliefs of temples, the military prowess of mythical heroes is sung. Reliefs on ancient Roman triumphal arches - aggressive campaigns and victories of emperors. In the Middle Ages, battles were depicted on carpets and tapestries, in book miniatures, sometimes on icons (as scenes of the heroic deeds of one or another saint).

Notable battle painters

Battle painters- these are artists who have devoted their lives to creating works in the battle genre, or those in whose work it prevailed.

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See what the "Battle genre" is in other dictionaries:

- (from the French bataille battle), a genre of fine art dedicated to the themes of war and military life. The main place in the battle genre is occupied by scenes of battles (including naval ones) and military campaigns of the present or the past. Pursuit… … Art Encyclopedia

Battle genre- Battle genre. M.O. Mikeshin. The feat of the battery of Colonel Nikitin in the battle of Krasnoe. 1856 Museum and Panorama of the Battle of Borodino. BATTLE GENRE (from battle), a genre of fine art dedicated to the war and military life of our time ... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (from battle) a genre of fine art dedicated to war and military life ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

A genre of fine art dedicated to war and military life. Masters of this genre are called battle painters. Big explanatory dictionary of cultural studies .. Kononenko B.I .. 2003 ... Encyclopedia of cultural studies

- (from the French bataille battle) a genre of fine art dedicated to the themes of war and military life. The main place in B. Zh. occupy scenes of battles (including naval ones) and military campaigns of the present or the past; B. g. inherent... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Battle genre- (from the French bataille battle) the genre of the image. lawsuit, dedicated theme of war and war. life. Ch. place in production B. g. occupy the scenes of battles, campaigns, cavalry and naval battles, etc. It is already present in the suit of Dr. Rus', in the book. miniatures (Front… … Russian humanitarian encyclopedic dictionary

- (from battle), a genre of fine art dedicated to war and military life. * * * BATTLE GENRE BATTLE GENRE (from battle (see BATTLE)), a genre of fine art dedicated to war and military life ... encyclopedic Dictionary

- (French genre, genus, type), historically established internal divisions in most art forms. The principles of division into genres are specific to each of the areas of artistic creativity. In the visual arts, the main genres ... Art Encyclopedia

GENRE IN ART- (French genus, type): internal subdivision of art forms, formed in the process of artistic development of reality. Each art form has its own system of genres. So, in the visual arts, in terms of content, they distinguish ... ... Eurasian wisdom from A to Z. Explanatory dictionary

Aya, oh. Depicting battles, campaigns and other military events. B. genre in art. Second painting. Used scenes… encyclopedic Dictionary

Books

• Encyclopedia of painting. In 15 volumes (set of 15 books), . TERRA publishing house offers readers a unique encyclopedia dedicated to the story of one of the most popular types of fine arts. Preparing the Encyclopedia...

The guest smoked his second cigarette intently, enjoying every puff. It occurred to Volk that only an old soldier or a former prisoner could smoke like that. He saw how different people smoke in different wars, where sometimes a cigarette is the only comrade. The only consolation.

“When the soldier was released,” Markovich continued, “he tried to find out something about his wife and son. Three years without a single news, imagine ... And after a while he found out everything. It turns out that the famous photo appeared in their village. Someone got hold of a magazine. Among the neighbors there will always be someone who willingly takes on such matters. There are many reasons. - a bride who got another, a job taken from her grandfather, a house or a piece of land that you want to get ... Envy, jealousy. The usual thing.

The setting sun peeped into the room through a narrow window, illuminating Markovich with a crimson glow, like the glow of a fire depicted on a wall: a city burning on a hill, a distant volcano illuminating stones and bare branches, fire reflecting on metal weapons and armor that seemed to protrude outside the fresco and invading the space of the room, the outlines of a man sitting on a chair, a spiral of smoke rising from a cigarette held between fingers or teeth. The red flames and the rays of the setting sun made the image on the wall strangely believable. Perhaps, Volk suddenly thought, the fresco isn't as bad as I think.

“One night,” Markovic continued, “several Chetniks broke into the house where a Serbian woman and a Croat’s son lived… Slowly, one after the other, they raped the woman as much as they wanted. A five-year-old boy was crying and trying to protect his mother, and then they nailed him to the wall with a bayonet, like a butterfly to a piece of cork - the same one from the theory about the effect that we talked about earlier ... Tired of the woman, they cut off her breasts, and then cut her throat . Before leaving, they drew a Serbian cross on the wall and wrote: "Ustasha rats."

There was silence. Volk tried to make out the eyes of his interlocutor in the scarlet radiance that flooded his face, and could not. The voice that told the story was even and unruffled, as if reading a prescription for medicine. The guest slowly raised his hand with a cigarette sandwiched between his fingers.

This time the silence was longer. Volk didn't know what to say. Gradually, shadows deepened in the secluded corners of the room. A crimson beam crawled from Markovich's face to the part of the picture where charcoal sketches were visible, black on white: a soldier kneeling with his hands tied behind his back, another soldier raised his sword over his head.

“Tell me this, Señor Volk… Does a person become callous when necessary?… Does he become callous so much that he no longer cares where the camera lens is pointed?”

Volk raised the empty glass to his lips.

“War,” he said after a pause, “can be filmed well only when what you point the camera at is indifferent to you ... And the rest is better to leave for later.

“Did you film scenes like the one I told you about?”

- It was business. More specifically, I filmed the aftermath.

– And what were you thinking while adjusting the focus, choosing the lighting and so on?

Volk got up to take the bottle. He found it on the table, next to the paint jars and the guest's empty glass.

– About focus, lighting and so on.

- And that's why you received an award for my photo? ... Because I was also indifferent to you?

Volk poured himself some cognac. Holding a glass in his hand, he pointed to a fresco shrouded in twilight.

Perhaps the answer is in there somewhere. Markovic turned half-turn, once again examining the walls.

“I think I understand what you want to say.

Volk poured brandy for the guest and put the bottle back on the table. Between two puffs, Markovich raised the glass to his lips, and Volk returned to his chair.

“To understand is not to approve,” he said. “Explanation is not pain relief. Pain.

At this word, he stuttered. Pain ... In the presence of a guest, the word did not sound quite usual. It was as if it had been taken away from its rightful owners, and now Volk had no right to pronounce it. But Markovich didn't seem offended.

“Of course,” he said understandingly. - Pain ... Forgive me for being personal, but you somehow don’t feel it in your photographs. Your work certainly depicts someone else's pain, that's what I want to say; however, your feelings are completely invisible ... When did you stop being offended by what you see?

Volk touched the edge of the glass with his lips.

- Hard to tell. At first it was an exciting adventure. The pain came later. Rolled in waves. And then powerlessness set in. It seems that for some time now nothing hurts me.

“Is this the same hardening I was talking about?”

- No. More like humility. The code is not solved, but you already understand that there are laws. And you calm down.

“Or you don’t resign yourself,” the interlocutor objected gently.

Suddenly Volk felt a kind of cruel satisfaction.

“You survived,” he said coldly. - This is in your case, too, in some way humility. You said that you were in captivity for three years, right? ... And when they found out about what happened to your family, they didn’t die of pain, they didn’t hang themselves on a bitch. And here you are. You are alive.

“Yes, he is alive,” Markovich agreed.

“Every time I meet someone who is still alive, I ask myself what did he do to survive?

There was silence again. This time, Volk regretted that the gathering twilight made it difficult to distinguish the face of the interlocutor.

“It's not fair,” said Markovich.

- Maybe. Fair or not, but I ask myself about it.

The shadow sitting on the chair was barely illuminated by the reflection of the last crimson ray.

“Perhaps you are right in your own way,” said Markovich. “Perhaps, when you stay alive, while others die, this is meanness in itself.

Volk raised the glass to his lips. It was empty again.

“You should know better. Volk bent down to put the glass on the table. - Judging by your story, you have some experience.

The interlocutor made an indefinite sound. Either he coughed or suddenly laughed.

“You are also one of those who survived,” he said. “You, Señor Volk, felt great where others died. But the day I met you, you were kneeling beside the corpse of a woman. In my opinion, at that moment you embodied real pain.

“I don’t know what I embodied then. There was no one to photograph me.

“Nevertheless, you are not taken aback. I saw you raise your camera and take a picture of a woman. And here's what is remarkable: I know your photos as if I took them myself, but I have never seen that one anywhere ... Do you keep it with you? Or destroyed?

Volk didn't answer. The darkness was thickening, and before his eyes, as in that cell with the developer, the image of Olvido, lying face down on the ground, appeared; a camera strap wraps around his neck, a lifeless hand almost touches his face, a small red spot, a dark thread, stretches from the ear along the cheek to another shiny puddle spreading below. Fragment of an explosive projectile, Leica lens 55 mm, U25 exposure, aperture 5.6, black and white film - the "ekta-chrome" of another camera was rewound at that time - average quality; maybe not enough light. A photograph that Volk did not sell and subsequently burned the only copy.

“Yes,” continued Markovich, without waiting for an answer. - To some extent you are right ... No matter how burning the pain, sooner or later it subsides; perhaps that was your only consolation. A photograph of a dead woman... And, in a way, meanness that helped you survive.

Volk slowly returned to the familiar world, to the interrupted conversation.

“Don't get sentimental,” he said. “You don't know anything about it.

“I didn’t know then, you’re right,” Markovich said, putting out his cigarette. - I didn't know for a long time. But then I realized a lot that had eluded me before. Your fresco is an example of this. If I had come here ten years ago, not knowing you as I know you now, I would not have looked at these walls. I would give you a little time to remember who I am and then be done with it. Now everything is different. Now I understand everything. That is why I am talking to you now.

Markovich leaned forward slightly, as if he wanted to get a better look at Volk's face in the last dim light.

Volk shrugged.

“The answer will come when the work is finished,” he said, and he himself found his own words strange, the vague threat of death hovering invisibly somewhere nearby. His interlocutor was silent, thinking, then declared that he also had his own painting. Yes, that's right - its own picture of the war. Seeing this wall, he immediately understood what it was that brought him here. This fresco should contain everything, right? ... Everything should be conveyed in as much detail as possible. It turned out pretty interesting. Markovich did not consider the author of the picture an ordinary artist. He has already admitted that he does not understand anything in painting, but, like everyone else, he has some idea of ​​\u200b\u200bfamous paintings. And Volk's fresco, in his opinion, has too many sharp corners. Too many straight, broken lines in the image of human faces and bodies ... Cubism, is that what it's called?

- Not really. There is also something from cubism, but you cannot call it pure cubism.

- And it seemed to me, real cubism, imagine. And these books scattered everywhere... Do you have your own opinion about each?

“Let them tell me that I turned to forgotten words…”

- Did you write it yourself?

Volk smiled out of the corner of his mouth. In the thickening darkness, he and Markovich resembled two dark boulders. This poem is about a date, he replied, that in this case it does not matter. He just wants to say that books helped him put his own thoughts in order. Books are also a tool, like brushes, paints and everything else. In truth, the creation of a fresco is just a technical task that needs to be solved as efficiently as possible. Tools help in this, even the most outstanding talent is powerless without them. And he just lacks talent, he stressed. Or just enough to carry out the plan.

“I'm not going to judge your talent,” Markovitch remarked. – Despite the sharp corners, the picture seems interesting to me. original. And some scenes are just... Really, you could say. There is more truth in them than in your photographs. And that's exactly what I'm looking for.

Suddenly, a flame lit up his face. He lit a new cigarette. With a burning match in his hands, he took a few steps, went up to the fresco and illuminated the figures with a dim light. Volk saw the distorted face of a woman in the foreground, written in sharp strokes of ocher, sienna and cadmium, a soundless scream of a mouth, wide strokes, thick, opaque paint, tones dull as everyday routine, a fleeting glance until the light went out.

Did you actually see this face? Markovic asked when it got dark again.

“That's how I remember it.

They fell silent again. Markovich took a few steps, probably trying to find his chair in the darkness. Volk sat motionless, although he could light the "bat" or the gas lantern at hand. The darkness gave a sense of advantage. He remembered the trowel lying on the table and the pistol kept on the ground floor. But the guest spoke again - his voice sounded softer, and Volk's suspicions finally dissipated.

- No matter how perfect the tools, it's mainly in the technique. Have you painted before, Señor Volk?

- Once upon a time. In young age.

- Were you an artist?

- I wanted to be.

– I read somewhere that you studied architecture.

- Very short. I liked drawing better.

For a moment, the flame of a cigarette flared up. - And why did they leave? ... I mean painting.

I stopped drawing a long time ago. When I realized that each of my paintings had already been painted by someone else.

And did you take up photography?

- One French poet said that photography is the refuge of failed artists. Volk was still smiling in the dark. – He is right in his own way… On the other hand, photography makes it possible to notice unexpected aspects of things that people usually do not notice, no matter how hard they try. Even artists.

“And you believed that for thirty years?”

- How to say. Believe me, I stopped a long time ago.

“And that’s why you started painting again?”

- Hasty withdrawal. And superficial.

In the darkness, the light of a cigarette flared up again.

“But why is there a war?” Markovich asked. – There are more peaceful subjects for both photography and painting.

Suddenly Volk wanted to be sincere.

“It all started with a trip,” he replied. – When I was little, I spent a lot of time in front of a reproduction of an old painting. And one day I decided to visit inside it. I mean the landscape painted in the background. The painting was called The Triumph of Death. Its author is Brueghel the Elder.

- I know her. It is in your album "Mogі-shgi". The title, let me tell you, sounds a bit pretentious.

- May be.

“One way or another,” continued Markovich, “this album of yours is interesting and unusual. Makes me think. Battle paintings exhibited in museums, visitors staring at them as if the war had nothing to do with them. Your camera has managed to convey their ignorance.

He's smart, that Croatian mechanic, Volk thought. “Very smart.”

“As long as there is death,” he said, “there is hope.

- Another poem about a date?

No, it's just a bad joke.

The joke was really bad. It belonged to Olvido. It happened around Christmas, in Bucharest, after the massacre organized by Ceausescu's "Securitate" and the street revolution. Volk and Olvido were in Bucharest in those days. They crossed the Hungarian border in a rented car; crazy journey, twenty-eight hours of driving in turns, skidding on icy roads. Peasants, armed with hunting rifles, blocked the bridges with tractors and looked at them from their hiding places, as in films about the Indians. And a couple of days later, when the relatives of the dead were pounding the frozen ground of the cemetery with jackhammers, Volk saw Olvido, like a hunter, sneaking among the crosses and gravestones on which snow falls, and taking pictures: impoverished coffins, hastily knocked together from boards, the legs of relatives, standing in a row near the open graves, gravediggers' spades, stacked among the frozen clods of black earth. Some poor woman, dressed in a mourning dress, knelt down near the freshly buried grave and, closing her eyes, quietly muttered some words that looked like a prayer; Olvido asked the Romanian interpreter accompanying them what the woman was saying. “How dark is the house where you now live,” they translated. She prays for her dead son. And then Volk saw how Olvido silently shook her head, shook the snow from her face and hair and photographed the back of a kneeling woman dressed in mourning - a black silhouette next to a pile of black earth sprinkled with snow. Then she hung the camera on her chest again, looked at Volk and said: as long as there is death, there is hope. Then she smiled an unfamiliar, almost cruel smile. He had never seen her smile like that before.

“Perhaps you are right,” Markovich agreed. “There is almost no mention of death in the world. The certainty that we will not die makes us more vulnerable. And evil.

For the first time in the whole evening spent in the company of a strange guest, Volk suddenly became genuinely interested. He was occupied not with facts, not with the fate of the person sitting opposite - he had photographed all this more than once during his life - but with the person himself. Gradually, a vague sympathy was established between them.

“How strange,” continued Markovich, “The Triumph of Death is the only picture in your album that does not depict war. The plot of the picture, if I'm not mistaken, is connected with the Day of Judgment.

- In this picture, too, the war, the last battle.

“Oh yes, of course. It didn't occur to me. Skeletons are soldiers, in the distance the glow of fires. Executions.

The edge of a yellowish moon peered through the window. The rectangle with the arch at the top turned dark blue, and Markovic's white shirt stood out from the darkness as a bright spot.

- So you decided that you can get inside the picture depicting the battle only through a real war ...

Perhaps you are not far from the truth.

“Landscape is a special subject,” Markovic continued. “I don’t know if what happens to me happens to you. In war, you survive thanks to the features of the landscape. This gives the landscape a special significance. Don't you think? The memory of the piece of land on which he put his foot is not erased from memory, even if other details are forgotten. I'm talking about the field, which you peer into, waiting for the enemy to appear, about the shape of the hill, behind which you hide from the fire, about the bottom of the trench, where you hide from the bombing ... Do you understand what I mean, señor Volk?

- I understand perfectly.

Markovich was silent. The flame of the cigarette flared for the last time: he finished smoking.

There was a pause again. Through the window came the sound of the sea beating against the foot of the rocks.

“Once,” Markovich continued in the same tone, “when I was sitting in a hotel room in front of the TV, a thought occurred to me. Ancient people looked at the same landscape all their lives, or at least for a very long time. For example, travelers - the road was not close. Involuntarily I had to think about the road itself. And now everything has changed. Highways, trains… Even on TV they show several landscapes in a matter of seconds. There is no time to think about anything.

It's called distrust of the area.

I haven't heard the term, but the feeling is familiar to me.

Markovich fell silent again. Then he moved, as if about to get up, but remained seated. Maybe he just found a more comfortable position.

"I've had enough time," he said suddenly. - I can’t say that I was lucky, but I had time to think. For two and a half years my only landscape was barbed wire and the slope of a white stone mountain. It wasn't a distrust of the area or anything like that. Just a bare mountain, without a single blade of grass; in winter, an icy wind blew from it ... The wind that shook the barbed wire, and it made such a sound that forever stuck in my head, and I will never forget it ... The voice of the icy frozen earth, do you understand, Senor Volk? ... It looks like your photographs .

Then he got up, groped for the backpack, and left the tower.

Paradoxically, it was only when he put down his camera and took up his brushes in search of another perspective - perhaps he saw in it new promising possibilities - that he had never been able to catch with the lens, that Volk felt the closeness of what he had been looking for and could not find. After all, he reflected, the goal of his endless quest had nothing to do with the delicate green of the rice fields, the bustling bustle of the marketplace, the crying of a child, and the clay of the trench; she existed within himself, in the bitterness of his own memory and the ghosts that inhabited its shores. In the lines of the drawing and color spots, unhurried, neat strokes that succeed only when the heart beats evenly, and the old pitiful gods with their hateful passions cease to annoy a person with anger and mercy.

Panorama depicting the war. Such pictures shock everyone, be it a connoisseur or an inexperienced viewer; and Volk set to work with the greatest zeal, painstakingly using all his modest technical means. Before acquiring this tower and settling in it, he collected materials for several years, went to museums, studying a genre that had not interested him in the least before - even during his apprenticeship and youthful passion for painting. From the battle halls of Escorial and Versailles to the frescoes of Rivera and Orosco, from Greek amphoras to the Fraile mill, from special books to works exhibited in museums in Europe and America. Volk's eyes, greedily absorbing images of war for three decades in a row, comprehended twenty-six centuries of military iconography. His fresco was the result of these searches; it had it all: warriors donning armor on red or black terracotta, legionnaires engraved on Trajan's column, the Bayeux tapestry, Carducho's Fleury, Luca Giordano's San Quintin, Antonio Tempesta's massacre, The Battle of Anghiari » Leonardo da Vinci, Calot’s engravings, Collantes’ “Trojan Fire”, Goya’s “Second of May” and “Disasters”, Brueghel the Elder’s “Suicide of Saul”, Brueghel the Younger’s robberies and fires and Falcone, “Battle of Borgognone”, “Tetouan” Fortuny, the Napoleonic grenadiers and horsemen of Meissonier and Detaille, Moulin and Rode's Cavalry Charge at Line, Pandolfo Reshi's The Capture of the Cloister, Mateo Stoma's Battle of the Night, Paolo Uccello's Medieval Fight and many other masterpieces that he studied all day , months and years in search of a key, a secret, an explanation, or a correct technique. Hundreds of articles and books, thousands of images accumulated around Volk and inside him, in his tower and in his memory.

However, the battle painting was not limited. The technical tasks that such a genre posed for him forced him to study works devoted not only to the war. In some chilling paintings and engravings by Goya, in frescoes and canvases by Giotto, Bellini and Piero della Francesca, in Mexican wall paintings or in the works of contemporary artists - Léger, Chirico, Chagall or the early Cubists - Volk sought and found solutions to practical issues. Like the skill of a photographer who chooses focus, light and exposure, carefully aiming the lens at the subject that he is going to capture, painting also involves a certain system of formulas, laws, experience, intuition and, of course, inspiration - if there is one. Volk knew some tricks, mastered the technique, but he was very lacking in that special quality that distinguishes craft from talent. Realizing this, he abandoned attempts to paint in his youth. But now life experience and the necessary knowledge pushed him to a desperate creative adventure: to convey the image that he had been trying to catch in the viewfinder for a long time and had been hatching in his memory all the last years. To the eyes of an attentive viewer, the panorama on the wall revealed the inexorable laws of war, seemingly chaotic, but in fact a true reflection of life.