Nikolai Petrovich Krymov - landscape painter, set designer, teacher, art theorist. Born and died in Moscow. (May 3, 1884 - May 6, 1958).
During his studies at the art school because of his poverty, he used the remains of paints after the work of other students. After decades of fruitful work, he received the title of Honored Art Worker, and then People's Artist of the RSFSR. He was at the Academy of Arts of the USSR. For the 70th anniversary of Nikolai Petrovich Krymov was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor for great services in the field of art.
The beginning of creativity
Krymov is called a classic of Soviet art, a successor to the genre of realistic landscape and a successor to the outstanding Russian painters V. Polenov, I. Levitan, K. Korovin, V. Serov. Valentin Serov and Konstantin Korovin, moreover, were one of his teachers. The artist Korovin named the name of Krymov among the best students of the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, where he taught Konstantin Alekseevich since 1901.
However, the first drawing lessons to Nikolai were given by his own father - artist Krymov Petr Alekseevich. Pyotr Alekseevich and his wife Maria Egorovna were the parents of 12 children. A large creative and friendly family lived in a cramped house near the famous Moscow Patriarchal Ponds. Two sons went along the father’s path - Vasily and Nikolai also became artists.
Nikolai first graduated from a real school. Then he began to prepare for admission to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (abbreviated as MUZHVZ), which his father graduated from. Pyotr Alekseevich thoroughly engaged in the preparation of his son, and Nikolai literally broke into the school in 1904, having endured a huge competition. In tsarist Russia, this educational institution was one of the leading in the artistic sphere of the country. From 1904 to 1907, Nicholas received an architectural education, and then moved to the class of landscape painting. He graduated in 1911.
The first successes and stages of development
Already in 1906, his painting "Roofs under the Snow" turned out to be so good that it was acquired by Vasnetsov Apollinarii Mikhailovich, a school teacher. A year later, at the suggestion of Valentin Serov, who was then a member of the Board of Trustees of the Tretyakov Gallery, the work of a talented student entered the museum's collection. By the time MUZHVZ ended in 1911, Nikolai Krymov was already a famous painter.
Nikolay Krymov. Roofs under the snow, 1906
The art of the outstanding landscape painter is conditionally divided into the following intervals:
A noticeable trace in his work belongs to the "Zvenigorod period." Every summer from 1920 to 1927 Krymov went to Zvenigorod near Moscow. The outskirts of the city were connected with Isaac Levitan, whom Nikolai Petrovich considered his most beloved artist and even a teacher, although he did not study directly with him. Krymov enthusiastically painted nature and paintings on the theme of the Russian countryside.
Exhibitions by Nikolay Krymov
Nikolai Petrovich Krymov demonstrated his work at various exhibitions of various art associations of the early 1900s, such as Blue Rose, Makovets, Wreath, Union of Russian Artists.
The premiere of Krymov's individual exhibitions did not take place anywhere, but at the Tretyakov Gallery in 1922. Many paintings for the exhibition provided from their collections of several dozen collectors. The works of a recognized master actively diverged among art collectors during his lifetime. In 1954, his next successful solo exhibition was held. This time at the Academy of Arts of the USSR.
After Krymov’s death, exhibitions of his creations were held: in 1967 at the USSR Academy of Arts, in 1984 at the Central House of Artists. In October 2009, to the 125th anniversary of the painter, an exhibition of his works from private collections was held in the Moscow gallery "Our Artists", and in July 2014 in the Krasnodar Regional Art Museum named after F.A. Kovalenko dedicated to the 130th anniversary of Nikolai Krymov.
Versatile activity of Nikolay Krymov
The activity of Nikolai Krymov was not limited to landscape painting. He created theatrical costumes and decorated performances. He even happened to work at the Moscow City Council on the Commission for the Protection of Monuments of Art and Antiquities. Nikolai Petrovich also had the talent of a teacher: for about 10 years, since 1919, he was a teacher at the Prechistensky Institute, Vkhutemas (Higher Art and Technical Workshops), and the Moscow Regional Art College in memory of the 1905 uprising.
Theory of "General Tone" by Nikolay Krymov
As a theorist of art, Krymov developed the so-called "theory of general tone." He believed that a correctly chosen basic tone plays an important role in a painting. He subjugates and fills with light colors, creates the overall color of the picture. Color - an indicator of the subject's illumination. To determine the exact degree of illumination, Krymov suggested using the fire of a burning match or candle against the background of the depicted object. Nikolai Petrovich said that the same white house at noon and at sunset is tonal and in color two different spots.
Nikolay Krymov. A change in the landscape of relationships in tone and color at different times of the day. Educational landscape table, 1934
Health Issues and Creativity
Around 1935, Krymov began to manifest a disease that limited his movements. Therefore, he painted Moscow views that opened from his apartment on the fourth floor of a house in the Prechistenka district. All the years of World War II Nikolai Petrovich spent in Moscow. His health deteriorated noticeably, he barely walked.
In the summer of 1945, Nikolai Krymov went to Tarusa, which he loved and regularly came to work and rest from 1928. A workshop was equipped on the balcony, and he painted cozy houses with gardens, streets leading to the Oka - something that he could see from the height of his unpretentious workshop.
Nikolai Petrovich Krymov passed away on May 6, 1958. He was buried at the Novodevichy cemetery.
