Each artist leaves behind a visible mark on Earth. Paintings and sculptures express the spirit of the time in which he lived. Pavel Korin began as an icon painter. In addition to this, he depicted historical events on canvas.
Tough predestination
According to the apt expression of one of the Soviet poets, a person is not given the opportunity to choose the time for his life. This tragic rule does not apply to everyone, but only to those who are devoted to a certain idea. Pavel Dmitrievich Korin is a large, complex and tragic figure in Russian art of the first half of the 20th century. The artist was born on July 7, 1892 in the family of a hereditary icon painter. Parents lived in the famous village of Palekh. This settlement has long been known as a center of folk art - lacquer miniatures and icon painting.
When the boy was ten years old, he was sent to the local icon-painting school. According to the current rule at that time, the most diligent and capable students were sent to improve their skills in Moscow. Here, within the walls of the Donskoy Monastery, the famous icon-painting chamber operated. Korin was distinguished by a meek disposition and a keen eye. He masterfully worked with a brush. As a student, he helped mature masters paint new temples and update the interiors of old ones. In 1911, Pavel entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.
The artist of the passing era
After receiving an academic education, Korin equipped himself with a workshop on the Arbat. By this time, drastic changes had taken place in the country. Church hierarchs enter into an unspoken struggle with the red commissars. The troubles taking place outside the workshop windows do not fit into the canvases that Pavel Dmitrievich is planning to write. In 1925, the Patriarch of All Russia Tikhon died. Watching the funeral procession, the artist saw the composition of his new painting and a few days later set to work. For a large-scale panorama, I had to write dozens of sketches and fragments.
In 1935, the proletarian writer Maxim Gorky visited the artist’s workshop. He advised Pavel Dmitrievich to name the picture "Outgoing Russia." By that time, the artist himself had already felt this tendency. New subjects and new people appeared on his canvases. Comrade Gorky procured Korin permission to travel to Italy. According to established traditions, all Russian artists had internships in this sunny country.
